Am I doing too much?

Applying to College
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I’m an ambitious freshman in high school and my ultimate dream is to go to Brown PLME; I know this is sort of a lofty goal, but I’m prepared to study hard and put in the effort required although chances are I won’t get in.

I have diverse interests, and I do realize not to take AP courses for the sake of taking them. My high school is in NJ and I would say is not that competitive, but there’s always a handful 10 ish or so who go to top 30 schools. The most common ivies of choice at our school are Princeton and U of Penn. So far; my grades are very high;

I don’t know if it helps any but I’m female and I’m African American first/second generation American.

I would consider myself a good writer and I have a couple achievements in writing. I’ve played the violin since kindergarten and im advanced in that though I plan to showcase viola since it’s similar and it’s less competitive (I’ve played the viola since around 6th but my skill is about the same).

I love politics and law as well and I am currently in a club that centers around that.

Finally, my school has these “academy” sort of things that are like majors. Im currently in the Allied Health one; I hope to be in the medical field thus me wanting to apply to Brown PLME/BU SMED (preferably brown though)

Here are the classes I am currently taking/plan on taking:

Freshman year:

H World History
H Biology/Lab
Ceramics
Physical Education 9/Health
French II CP 9
H ELA 1
H Geometry
Financial Literacy
(I’m taking a semester study hall, will that hurt me)

Sophomore year:
APUSH I
Intro to Art 3 Day
H Chem/Lab
PE 10/Health
Honors French III
H ELA II
H Algebra II
AP Seminar
Video Production I

Junior Year
APUSH II
CP Psychology/Sociology
AP Chem/AP Physics 1
AP French
AP Language and Comp
AP Calc AB (I can do this if I take precalc as CP over the summer; not sure if that’s wise though)
AP Research

(My school has an independent PE option if I do sports and to fit this schedule I would I have to give up my lunch which is fine)

Senior Year
AP US GOV and Politics
AP PSYCH
AP bio/h anatomy and physiology
AP English Lit and Comp
AP Calc BC
Creative Writing/American and British humor

I plan to get the seal of biliteracy by my Junior or senior year; I can read proficiently in French, so that’s an easier class

I would say that my weakest subject is math but it’s not that weak, mostly A minuses

Our school is on a 100 scale so I’m afraid that’ll look worse than someone who isn’t

I plan to do medical related activities during the year/summer; I’ll try and get leadership positions eventually in my clubs;

I plan to take 1 or 2 science related courses over the summer at a local Community College

I also figured I can spend the summer before learning the AP Classes on resources like Khan Academy and such so I don’t walk in completely clueless

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this

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Keep up the good work. I think you’re on the right track and when the time comes, you may have a real shot. But make sure you research other options along the way. Have a frank discussion now with your parents about how they will pay for college.

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My mum supports my decision as long as I’m not overworking myself. She’s willing to pay whatever needed for college as my father alone makes a bit over 150k per year.

I really don’t want her to take out a massive loan even though I know the ivies and likewise say they’re need blind and they’ll meet our need.

I hope that I can hit two birds with one stone by showing my creative writing skills by entering essay contests while also receiving scholarship money from them. Like, just this morning, I applied to one I found off my schools database because I feel like it’d be better to get a head start.

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Be careful with this. Any grade stays with you forever including possible future medical school applications. It is also likely that any class taken at a CC will not fulfill a med school prerequisite.

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Okay, so at what point would I know whether or not would be able to succeed at it.

I’m not really concerned with fulfilling a prerequisite, but I truly enjoy science and I think it’ll benefit me/demonstrate interest in the subject.

But I’ll probably not end up taking them. If I do, it would probably be a subdivision of biology or a form of genetics.

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Deleted. Site is screwed up!

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This is a very good idea.

If you might be interested in medical school at some point then I agree with the other comment that you should be cautious about taking science classes at community college while you are in high school. Just as one example we occasionally see posts here on CC from strong students who have bad grades in community college science courses taken when they are in high school and this will impact medical school applications. Similarly, we occasionally see posts from students who are taking premed organic chemistry as freshman in university and who are suffering. One daughter said that organic chemistry was the most difficult B- that she ever had in her life (this daughter is currently studying in a DVM program). Our other daughter postponed organic chemistry until her junior year of university and found it relatively straightforward. She did not take regular university chemistry until her sophomore year of university. You will be a stronger student as you get older.

Expect AP US History to require a lot of reading and be a lot of work.

I think that you are doing very well. You should be careful to pace yourself, and understand that even if you are a strong student now you will become stronger as you get older as long as you do not burn yourself out by taking on too much. The medical related activities that you are planning to do are important, will allow you to get a better sense of the medical environment, and do not run the risk of bringing in a bad grade early on in this process.

Keep your budget in mind when looking at universities. You do not need to attend an Ivy League level university to get into a top medical school. Doing really well at an affordable in-state public university can help to set you up for a very strong medical school. You do need to figure out how to budget for your full time in university (which might be 8 years).

I think that violas have a deeper, richer sound compared to violins. Good choice!

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Thank you so much for the advice!

Based on what @Eeyore123 and you have said, I’ll probably not take the college courses as I think my current path will be rigorous enough.

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For US History I the teacher is infamous as he’s really a nice guy but his work is challenging. I have friends in his class that are struggling to maintain a B and that partly worries me.

I’m fine with the reading, but I’m going to have to take the first week or two of school to find my balance I suppose.

There’s two H History teachers for freshman and mine just so happened to be the more rigorous one in which he assigns DBQs every day and there’s potential pop quizzes at any given moment in which students often fail. My grade last marking period was an 100 until around the last week or so (dropped to a 97) and this marking period I’m hoping it stays 100.

I know it’s different at every school but do you have any advice for this class?

Thanks

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I definitely remember some very difficult classes that I loved, and some very difficult classes that my daughters loved. One daughter for example found AP Music Theory very tough, but loved it and got an A+ in the class and a 5 on the AP test. This was also from a teacher who is super nice but very challenging. After you are done it feels good to have been able to do it. Also, top universities will expect you to take tough classes, and taking tough classes now will help to prepare you for tough classes in university. Knowing how to study for a tough class is a valuable skill.

Therefore I do not recommend avoiding tough classes.

Perhaps we just have to apply some caution when taking tough classes. Take the tough classes that you want to take, and that are in subjects that you are good at and enjoy.

Then stay ahead in your work. Putting in the effort to stay ahead will help a LOT further down the road.

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One course I see missing is AP statistics, all of my STEM kids took it in HS and really liked it (one took it as a sophomore as well as pre-calc), they all had more stat in college.

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I sort of lurked the forums here a bit and people have said to others to take Calc over stats somewhere. I’m not sure where. I wasn’t sure if I was going to self study that and thought I’d decide based on how I feel about pre Calc;

I also don’t want to double up on the class because I’m not as strong on certain forms of math;

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I’d honestly rather be challenged in a class than bored as is the case with my current French class.

I don’t necessarily want to avoid tougher classes, but I don’t want to go over my tipping point in which I’m cancelling my extracurriculars and other hobbies that genuinely make me happy for the sake of having the most impressive transcript though I would like to be in the top 10 in my class with my dream goal as valedictorian (I would say around 6-9 kids share that goal, so I need to really work for it). I don’t it’s likely to happen, and I sort have accepted that.

The teachers in our school in terms for honors/AP are split with some being extemely passionate while others couldn’t care less about their jobs.

My current bio teacher has us copy/paste notes and she’s not very good so I am trying to get external resources to learn about Bio. In fact, a lot of the science teachers are bad on my list (there’s a new chem tacher next year so I can’t speak for that) except for probably Physics 1 which is probably the person I want to ask for LOR; though he does reject students request if he feels he doesn’t have a good enough bond but on the plus side you know you’re getting a stellar letter

I’ve sort of gone on a tangent; sorry

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There’s an APUSH II?

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No, my school split it into two years for some reason.

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If you work hard in these classes, and do well, you have a chance of getting into a great college. I’d urge you to consider Penn very seriously. It’s closer to home - you’d be surprised at how much it can mean to go home to study during midterms and finals, to get out of the dorms. And you have two fantastic hospitals right on campus - HUP and CHOP - for shadowing/volunteering. Med school labs right on campus so you can get involved in research. Wistar Institute for biomedical research is right smack in the middle of campus. Significant AA student population with supportive organizations. You could not ask for a more perfect match for you for undergrad.

Look into high school summer school classes for sciences and math classes (not taken for credit). Or do the free online CLEP courses offered by https://modernstates.org/ the summer before, so that you’ll have seen the material, and be prepared to do well, without making a college transcript. It’s sometimes possible to take regular high school science during the summer in a neighboring town, then the AP level in your high school. That way you don’t go into AP levels in science without having had high school science.

There are a lot of summer programs for ambitious AA girls who are interested in science. Take a look at Swarthmore Summer Scholars. Summer Scholars Program :: Swarthmore College. I bet there are plenty more like this.

Ask older students in your high school , “Who are the best teachers for AP classes?” Then register for the maximum # of classes, no lunch, no study hall, choosing all the best APs, and take the ones that you get with a great teacher, drop the others. Try again the next year, too. If there’s an amazing teacher for, let’s say, AP Econ, even though you have no intention of becoming an economist, consider it. Let’s say there’s a great teacher for APUSH, and a bad one, and there’s a great teacher for AP Euro, and a bad one. Request all of the APs that have at least one great teacher, then drop the ones that you get a bad teacher, and try again the next year.
Yes, you have to take certain classes eventually, and if you get to 12th grade and it’s a mandatory class, you’ll have to take it with whomever they assign you to, but you’ll have had three shots at getting the good teacher. Think of high school as an education in and of itself, not just as a dress rehearsal for the premed classes. When else are you going to take AP Art History, if it has a good teacher? The colleges that you’re applying to are going to look at your grades, your SAT/ACT, your ECs. You will get a huge boost as an AA woman wanting to go into medicine. They’re not going to care that you didn’t take Calc BC, or Physics C. So get a broad education in the best AP classes that your school has to offer, while you have the opportunity. Use your summers to take advantage of all the excellent programs for high school minority girls interested in STEM. Many are free. They’ll look great on your applications, and they’ll broaden your horizons tremendously.

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Thank you so much for this advice. I’ve considered Penn and it’s about a half hour away. I love Philly so much it just has an amazing vibe and I love city life.

I think one of the major things that pulled me more to brown was the open curriculum and bs md program. I know Penn has an amazing pre med program and when it opens up (if Covid doesn’t ruin it again), I want to apply to the Penn Hospital Junior Volunteers Program;

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@parentologist I know this out of STEM already wrote and self published a fictional book two summers ago and I’m almost done a second one that I think is written much better and developed well. My ultimate hope is to get an agent and get into a top publisher and hopefully a big four where it’d have a major chance at succeeding.

I know it’s very difficult getting an agent in of itself and then on top of that them being able to sell it to the big four. Do you think I should still try my luck or should I focus on figuring out certain research opportunities. I thought about doing bother but I think I could just research during the AP Capstone.

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My kids’ school was hardcore and rigid about schedule changes. What you’re suggesting would not have been possible at that school. Maybe OP’s school is more flexible.

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We have to make changes before the first day of school. However, if one is going to fail or some other extreme reason (like scheduling doesn’t work out or something like that) they can switch. People normally drop classes and switch to a lower level/study hall, but I haven’t heard of anyone entirely switching it out because “I didn’t like it”.