ok…so…i’ve only got two real classes my senior year. ap bio and ap english lit. you may think i’m slacking but let me explain. I already took the senior history class last year. i took calculus outside of school at the local cc during the spring 04 and fall 04 semesters, so my principal suggested that i don’t take it during my senior year. there is no senior french class at my school, and once again, had to take a fall 04 semester at my state u. sacrificing time during the fall 04 semester for these classes were fine by me. However, spring and second semester is different. I have much more extracurriculars (very passionate ec’s) that are taking place during these semesters. I don’t want to take extra classes because they are def. going to cut into my ec’s, but i don’t want colleges to look at my second sem. schedule and think that i am slacking. Any comments? advice? pointers?
<p>where are you applying?</p>
<p>My first thought is that many good students take what are expected to be senior year classes a year (or more) early, but they don't leave a space in their schedule thereafter: they fill the slots with something else academic. My gut tells me that regardless of how passionate you are about your ECs, if you only take 2 formal classes spring '05, most schools <em>will</em> think you are slacking off. Unless the ECs are somehow academic, or you're getting transcript credit for them, I'd guess adcoms might not look favorably on it. But that's just a sense, I do not have admissions experience on which to base this.</p>
<p>I wish I was in that situation.
I'm in the IB program, and I am fully booked all the way from grade 10 to grade 12. Finally, in the last semester of grade 12, I get one option block (which is going to be Spanish). My school has an amazing range of courses offered and I wish I could take them all, but I don't have time. I even take International Politics, Band and Choir outside the timetable.
You have the time.
Take fun, easy courses. Your school can't only offer academics - if they do, that's just weird. Take art. Take band. Take law, psych or another language. Take cooking/home ec or another tech course. My school even has a special gym course for athletes who want a whole period to work out and train. It might not be the most interesting for you but it will look WAY better than having a bunch of spares. Who knows, you might learn something in the world outside of academia?</p>
<p>hopkins, carnegie mell, and princeton...so even though i exhausted all the course offerings that my school gives, i should still go for some more courses?</p>
<p>im not sure about your school, but the school report that my school has shows all the APs offered. if they see that u've taken all the APs that sound reasonable (no reason to take AP music theory if you've never done band or anything) then i'm sure they won't see you as slacking off</p>
<p>i really dont think that you should take more "hard" courses. i applied ED to hopkins and got in, and my senior year schedule are just required fine arts classes (gym, music, etc) one "senior research seminar" class which is basically doing nothing all day and handing in my research paper on time to submit to competitions. finally, my only "real" full year courses are ap bio and english. of course, there are two other courses that can be counted as academic classes like anatomy and physiology and then theres genetics. i also take spanish, but its not really a real class because i dont have exams for them. so overall, im trying to say that i'm not exactly taking 8 ap classes senior year but i was still admitted ed to hopkins with they knowing my schedule for 12th grade. as long as you showed that u didnt take all easy classes to get a 4.0 gpa...i dont think you should overload yourself senior year. it's not really "slacking off" it's just that I (and you also) have worked hard all 4 years, senior year should be kind of different (at least i think so).</p>
<p>They like to see 4-5 classes no matter what. How about taking a course at a community college that your school does not offer ie psychology, anthropology or whatever</p>
<p>this is how my first semester looked like....ap bio and ap english, choir, art, gym..then calc II at the local cc and intensive advanced french grammar at the state U...would drama or accounting at school be good add-ons for this semester? </p>
<p>and signing up for more classes may mean financial difficulty.</p>