<p>I'm trying to plan out the rest of my high school schedule (I'm in 10th grade now) and was just wondering if you guys could give me some advice on how this courseload looks</p>
<p>I'm planning to apply to more-elite schools:</p>
<p>10th (currently):
H. English
Photography
AP Computer Science
AP US Gov't - NSL Government
H. Chemistry
Spanish Immersion 5
AP BC Calculus</p>
<p>11th (planned):
IB English (HL)
IB History (HL)
IB Spanish 6 (HL)
Multivariable Calculus w/ Differential Equations
AP Chemistry (double period)
AP Physics C</p>
<p>12th (planned):
IB English (HL)
IB History (HL)
IB Spanish 7 (HL)
IB Mathematics (HL)
IB Psychology
AP Economics
a semester elective
AP Comparative Gov't</p>
<p>I'm not in IB, but your schedule looks really hard. Don't be surprised if you pull all-nighters every week. Take what interests you. It's not a game to see who can take the most IB/AP classes.</p>
<p>um ya if you could pull all A's you'd probably be the next valadictorian. I personally think your taking way to hard of classes and they seem to be nonrelevant to the other classes. If you have the choice to take a class that intrests you, do it. Most people are in the AP classes for the sake of AP. That isn't good at all. I can see you're very good at math for taking either precalc or AP calc AB freshmen year. I suggest fitting in AP stats if you have room.</p>
<p>Well - I'm waffling back and forth on full diploma and the main reason i don't wanna do it is cause of the sciences</p>
<p>I'm more of a math/science person - and the sciences in ib seem a lot weaker than the same classes in ap - at least in our school</p>
<p>that and I really want ot take AP Chemistry, something I most likely couldn't take if I did the full diploma</p>
<p>I don't want to take classes just for the sake of them being AP IB
I really want to take psychology - my grandfather's a professor
and
economics really interests me, so does comparative gov't</p>
<p>I couldn't throw these courses in with the full ib diploma requirements</p>
<p>what do you mean "they seem nonrelevant to the other classes"</p>
<p>That's a wonderful way to look at it. Take what you want to take. If it becomes too hard (and if you're able to handle all that in sophomore year either you have insanely easy teachers or are just crazy good at everything) you can always drop something early in the year.</p>
<p>Your interests may change by the time you're planning for senior year, but it looks like you know what you're doing. Again, I'm stressing you to take what you want, and not what you think you need to take...if all of those classes interest you, go for it...just be prepared to spend most (if not nearly all) of your time on schoolwork.</p>
<p>Edit: Are you leaving yourself enough time for ECs, too? Make sure you have enough time for those. ;) In senior year, balancing classes with apps and ECs is hard, so again, make sure you're able to do it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
what do you mean "they seem nonrelevant to the other classes"
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think he meant that your schedule looks like a mess of AP/IB without a concentration in one area. Like, looking at your schedule, I can't really see where your interests are.</p>
<p>Your schedule is a difficult one. Colleges look at the schedule as well as grades. If you get A's in these classes, you are a candidate at any school you might be interested in, as long as you have something else to offer. If you dont' get a lot of A's and your personal growth suffers because of academic demands, it will hurt you in the application process. Colleges love academically strong students but they usually like to see other passions also. You would not need this level of academics if you have something else to offer. If you have nothing else to offer, this schedule might get you into tier 2 schools but might not be enough for the top tier.</p>
<p>-11th grade is a stressful year because of all the testing.</p>
<p>-Many second semester seniors have trouble keeping their noses to the grindstone. If you could lighten up in anticipation of that, it might be good.</p>
<p>I second AP Stats -- it's probably the most useful course I've ever taken. It's great if you're thinking about scientific research.</p>
<p>And if you're more of a math/science person you might as well take something like Linear Algebra at a local college instead of Economics or Government (unless they're required classes).</p>
<p>Well, I'm not sure about taking statistics now because I still really haven't figured out what I want to do in college, after all, I'm only a sophomore.</p>
<p>As far as extracurriculars go (the bigger ones) I've played baseball for various school and other teams for nearly 8 years, and I've played piano for 8 as well - our school doesn't really offer a great advanced music course, however. Those are by far the biggest. I have other clubs and activities at school, etc. I also will have an internship, not so sure as to where, however.</p>
<p>Government and economics aren't required courses -- they're just things that I'm really interested in. I'm from the DC area so they government and all of those things surround me on a daily basis.</p>
<p>mvalenstein--This is a bit off-topic, but how does your Spanish immersion class work? (I assume it's a class, anyway, and not a program that applies to all your classes...?)</p>
<p>But anyway, like many people have said, your planned schedule looks very strong, as long as you can get good grades and still have time for ECs (i.e., time to not go crazy!). :) If you can handle that, then I'd say you'll make an impressive college applicant... as long as your essays and test scores are as remarkable as your transcript. (Of course, there are various other factors that go into creating an "impressive college applicant," but I won't go into that. After all, it's just your class schedule you're asking for advice about.)</p>
<p>Our spanish immersion class is mostly composed of people who did have a type of program where they took history and other classes in spanish. For now though, we follow parallel to the honors curriculum in terms of the history they teach, but we do a significant amount more of reading and writing. The whole class is in spanish, as immersion would imply.</p>
<p>We just finished reading "Como Agua Para Chocolate" by Laura Esquivel
and we're read other things by Marquez and other authors</p>
<p>I'm a big proponent of bilingual education. Well... at least, I think it's an excellent idea... and that's how I want to raise my kids, when I have them... and if I ever become America's first woman dictator (wish me luck!), that's part of how I'll restructure the education system... if that qualifies me as a "proponent." :p ;)</p>
<p>Really, I took three years of Spanish (required 3 years at my school), and my teacher wanted me to go on to Spanish 4. I think I almost had a heart attack at the thought of another year of Spanish. She would make us write 100+ word essays every day in Spanish. It was horrible.</p>
<p>Oh, I looooooove foreign languages! :D:D:D I agree with mvalenstein: traveling to foreign countries and seeing how other people live and learning other cultures has been one of the most important learning and becoming-human experiences of my life--and it's an experience that you really can't expect to have if you can't communicate with the world you've traveled to. The typical American life is sorely deficient in that sort of experience. </p>
<p>Some of my best* memories are from traveling/living in Mexico, Spain, Ecuador and France. I think it makes you so much more of an interesting person to have done these sorts of things--because when you travel, if you're an even moderately sentient being, you become interested in (or at least curious about) the new and unfamiliar things and people you meet, see, hear, smell... :D</p>
<ul>
<li>"Best" in this context means "makes the best stories," and includes all the times I've been deathly ill, fainted from dehydration in Third-World medical clinics, etc.</li>
</ul>