Am I doing too much?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Hi! I am new to college confidential and had a question or two. The first is I am in the 8th grade and I am wondering if this is too soon to start thinking about college and how to pay for it. The second is I am wondering if I am going to be doing too much in high school. I have already planned out my high school schedule from 9th to 12th grade, and have talked to my mom and she says do not do too much. But I am really want to do a lot and I do not trying to pack my college appliacations. I just want to get the most out of high school and do all I can. What I want to do is have done a lot of clubs and activites so I can apply for a lot of scholarships. I am middle class with more than most, but I am afraid my parents will be paying a large bill just for my education when they also may have to pay for my little sister and brother college tutions. Below is my high school schedule I have planned. </p>

<p>9th Grade
English 9H
Global History and Geography 9H
Integrated Algebra H
Earth Science
Lab/Physical Education
Spanish 2 H
Lunch
Studio Art 1
Business Law ½ year and Business Management ½ year</p>

<p>Clubs and Community Service for 9th grade
Monday: Meals on Wheels right after school for about an hour or two
Tuesday: Newspaper
Wednesday: History Club or Newpaper depending on the meeting planned
Thursday:
Friday: Heart 2 Heart which a community service club
Saturday: Community service at an art museum
Sunday: Community service at an art museum</p>

<p>Summer of 9th Grade
Some summer classes at a local college like Hofstra that do not count as college classes
Volunter at Red Cross </p>

<p>10th Grade
English 10-11 H
AP World History
Integrated Geometry H
Living Environment H
Lab/Physical Education
Spanish 3 H
Lunch
Health ½ year and Introduction into Psychology ½ year
Journalism ½ year and Entrepreneurship ½ year</p>

<p>Clubs and Community Service for 10th grade
Monday: Meals on Wheels right after school for about an hour or two
Tuesday: Newspaper
Wednesday: History Club or Newpaper depending on the meeting planned
Thursday: Spanish Club
Friday: Heart 2 Heart which a community service club
Saturday: Community service at an art museum
Sunday: Community service at an art museum</p>

<p>Summer of 10th Grade
Two summer courses at NYU that will count toward college
Volunter at Red Cross </p>

<p>11th Grade
AP English Language
AP US History
AP European History
Integrated Algebra 2 and Trigonometry H
Chemistry H
Lab/Physical Education
Spanish 4 H
Lunch
Ethics in Print ½ year and AP Psychology ½ year</p>

<p>Clubs and Community Service for 11th grade
Monday: Meals on Wheels right after school for about an hour or two
Tuesday: Newspaper
Wednesday: History Club or Newpaper depending on the meeting planned
Thursday: Spanish Club
Friday: Heart 2 Heart which a community service club
Saturday: Community service at an art museum
Sunday: Community service at an art museum</p>

<p>Summer of 11th Grade
Two classes at Cornell that will count for college credit
Volunter some where in Ithaca </p>

<p>12th Grade
AP English Literature
AP United States Government and Politics
Math 12 H
Physics H
AP Spanish
Lab/Physical Education
Lunch
Myths and Legends ½ year and College Business Law ½ year</p>

<p>The History Club at my school basically goes on field trips, Heart 2 Heart volunters some times as well as the Spanish Club, and in 10th grade when I have to take health class I have to do community service but I may be able to take care of that if I can get the help of my family friend, as well as communtiy service in 12th grade for my AP United States Governemnt and Poltics class. Is this too much? I am not sure. I got a little scared about what I am doing when I read people who do alot may not be able to get into the college of their chocie. I want to attend eithe NYU, Cornell, or Princeton. I am also going to try and be one of the editors of my school newspaper. I also might want to join the National Honor Society and Soanish Honor Society, but I think I might be pushing it. I also have to go to the gym for an hour a day because I am trying to lose weight because I am considered overweight.</p>

2

<p>Compared to people on CC, no, but you have a busy schedule. It’s commendable to say the least.</p>

3

<p>Hi! (I posted this on another thread from a 7th grader, but I think it can apply to you as well).</p>

<p>When I was in 7th grade, I started to look at colleges I’m in 9th grade now, but my dream colleges back then are the same dream colleges now. I’m happy because I’m now able to work for my dreams.</p>

<p>Don’t join every single club possible, and don’t do anything to impress colleges… Find a couple of areas of interest, and excel in them. For me, that’s learning languages (Japanese, Korean, and Spanish), acting (hopefully in television shows and movies), and writing (books, short stories, etc). (not including school and community service!)</p>

<p>Find awards that go with your area of interest. If your interested in writing, like I am, don’t just write stories, but write them and enter them into contests and get them published in magazines. It takes just a bit more time, and it seems a lot more prestigious. Once you hit 16 (or older…) you can sell your works in magazines (varies upon the magazine).</p>

<p>Find an organization that’s meaningful to you and spend most of your CS hours towards that. Like, something that you “stand” for. For me, that’s orphans and Canvan because a) I’m adopted and b) an immediate family member died from Canavan when I was young. I also help out a lot with the local Asian society with events and such.</p>

<p>Besides those earlier interest/activities, do well in school. An A should do fine, but don’t kill yourself if you get a B. If you think about it logically, a single test is 10% of all test (usually) in a class, out of 7 class, out of 4 years (for most people… i think). So bombing one test isn’t bad, as long as it doesn’t become a habit.</p>

<p>I suggest finding Cal Newport’s Study Hacks in google. It’s an amazing site, no matter how old you are, for school advice and life in general. I highly recommend the site.</p>

<p>I know I’m only a freshman, but hopefully what I posted helped a bit. Of course I haven’t gone through the application process, but what I read from this site (and study hacks) and my older brother’s experience, I think what I mentioned above is pretty good advice.</p>

<p>Good luck! And don’t stress yourself this early on!</p>

4

<p>Hmm. No your schedule is pretty average. Below average for CC standards.
Depends on what you’re interested in.
Make sure you finish your average core classes, AP lit, ap lang, ap world history, apush, ap bio, ap chem, ap physics, ap calc bc, ap micro/macro econ, ap comp gov, ap us gov, ap foreign language, and then supplement it with higher level classes if possible.</p>

<p>Don’t join too many things. otherwise, I agree with rayna.</p>

5

<p>I actually picked my clubs based on what I like not to so I have a boost on my appilication. I am intersted in mostly school and community service which is what my clubs represent in my opinion. I really want to do a lot and I feel a little theartened considering the kids at my school. I am going to be attending Garden City High School in New York but almost everybody can do something. I am already very smart considering I do not study for my test and recieve 90’s and 100’s with the occasion 80’s but some of these kids are really smart. I am afraid of the competition at at school because I want to get valerdictiorian. I am going to start working super hard next year, but I do not want to kill myself with work. Mostly it is the price of college that worries me. I am going to try to get any type I can apply for. I also got instersted in poetry lately. Could that somehoe help me with a scholarship.</p>

6

<p>^^ hehe thanks :)</p>

<p>^That’s great! Make sure you don’t overload yourself. You could be like me, I joined 6 clubs beginning of freshman year because I was interested in them. I probably should have joined 2 or 3.</p>

<p>Don’t focus on Vali. Focus on learning, and focus getting good grades because you like to learn. If you go in focused on becoming Vali, you’ll be devastated if you get an A- on a test or if you forget about a quiz and bomb it.</p>

<p>You can get scholarships for like, anything interest as long as you have decent grades (decent = b’s here). There are more scholarships the better your grades are, of course. If you’re an A student, there will be a TON of scholarship money, even if you’re not Vali. Most scholarships require an essay to be written (or statement or something), so writing is important.</p>

<p>As many said before, you’re schedule is average. CC is an odd place, filled with probably the best students in America, wanting to get into HYPSM. So for CC, it’s probably average at best. Just take the hardest level classes possible, and you’ll survive. High schoolers with hard schedules have lived on 2 hours of sleep on a good night. Kids always find a way to add a little fun to something, as long as you’re not complaining.</p>

<p>Remember! Sleep = important!</p>

7

<p>While planning is good, you should probably wait until you get to high school to think about most of these things. It may be completely different than what you expected.</p>

8

<p>Life doesn’t always go the way you planned. So it is likely that your schedule will change. So don’t get fixed on everything yet.</p>

9

<p>^ So TRUE!</p>

<p>I wrote out a schedule for all 4 years before high school, and changed it so many times within the last year, let alone the last month!</p>

<p>My interested had changed between: acting, filmmaking, writing (creative), journalism, music, voice, dance, animation, and academics!</p>

<p>I’m interested in everything, it’s not fair :P</p>

10

<p>Thanks for all the advice. I know it may be werid to plan this out now, looking at scholarships, and trying to figure out my major but I just want to be prepared. I know that I do not want to get loans when it is time for college which is why I am planning now. I know high school will be hard and I am expecting a complete change from middle school like all my teachers keep telling me, but I am going to just really hard to just keep high grades and keep up with all my clubs and activites. By the way should I consider the National Honor Society and Spanish Honor Society considering my course and activites load. Just wondering how long does an average night of all honors classes homework going to take?</p>

11

<p>Don’t sweat so much, this high school planning starts to look like a Paegant!
Enjoy a little, you are only a kid once. Also, don’t let your parents become “helicopterous” thay can get out of control as well. Schools that want you won’t reject you, that’s what fate is!</p>

12

<p>What is an average CC schedule look like because I have read that mine is not very packed considering my high school schedule. I am intersted in a lot which is why I find it hard to do more. I would love to do more community service, but then I may become overscheduled. I actually am trying to get my mom into this. I had to schedule a day when she will look at half of this stuff. She let me pick whatever I wanted to do, but I do admit I am be pushing myself because of how she controled my grades and schedule in the past. I do want to enjoy high school and get the most out of it which is why I am doing so much.</p>

13

<p>When people say do what you want to do, it means, what you are passionate about, excluding getting into a good college.
Not what you want to do to get into a good college.
Not what you want to do because it is reputable/good for colleges.
Not what you want to do because you want to do things that are good for getting into a good college.
Etc.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/872195-tentative-schedules-2010-2011-a.html?highlight=schedule[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/872195-tentative-schedules-2010-2011-a.html?highlight=schedule&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Here is a good thread for looking at average schedules.</p>

14

<p>You’re in 8th grade. 8th grade. Do you know many times I’ve changed my mind so far? And I’m only in 10th.</p>

<p>My point:</p>

<p>-Work hard
-Yes, find something you’re interested in.
-Get really good at said thing.
-Yes, take more APs
-However, your “plan” will probably change. Just a heads-up. It’s ok if it changes.</p>

<p>You could probably do more in terms of schedule difficulty, and ECs, but then again, this is coming from somebody who sleeps 4 hours on average, so you might now want to listen to me.</p>

<p>National Honor Society:</p>

<p>Join it, it won’t take much of your time. However, does not count remotely in college admissions. Anyone with a brain can get in.</p>

<p>Spanish Honor Society:</p>

<p>See above. Both rather useless (unless your school is unique) but you might as well.</p>

15

<p>

</p>

<p>Absolutely no time at all.</p>

16

<p>NHS and SHS aren’t much really, but if you get in, just join. you’ll probably have to tutor someone for x amount of hours… not much. lots of people just pretend to tutor.</p>

17

<p>A lot of people on this site really have packed courses. I actually can not do more on the harder classes. I messed up in 7th grade so I can not get into an AP science class in 12th grade, but I can get into AP Calacus if I do really well in honors math in 12th grade. Well I coul get into AP Biology or AP Chemistry but I like history more so I picked AP European History in 11th grade, but I have to get the history department’s approval to take it in 11th grade. Should I stick with it or just take an easier class so I do not stand out among the seniors? I am also going to get honors credit for my business classes so that could help with college. Mostly I am passionate about learning and helping others so I hope my schedule and activites reflect that. I know this plan will change. I made this in Janurary or Februry and I have changed it a little. I do not expect it to change a lot though. Is high school that hard compared to middle school? My teachers keep going on about how I am not going to babied and that it is really tough, but I am one of the top students in all my core classes and one of the most mature.</p>

18

<p>Honors = easy, basically the same as middle school.</p>

<p>Their talk is more for the dumb kids (to be blunt)</p>

<p>APs are where it’s at.</p>

19

<p>Take a look at some of the tentative Junior/Senior year schedules here on CC and you’ll see that you’re definitely not doing too much. In fact CC has a tendency to make people think they are not doing enough.</p>

20

<p>It actually does make me feel like I am not doing enough. Not very much but a little. Are the courses I am taking enough or should I take more. I am a little afraid because a read part of a book and some articles that say that people who do too much can not get into their choice college or have some type of breakdown. Could someone manage my course load or is it too much? Can you not do a lot in the National Honor Society or Spanish Honor Society and still stay in or put it on your appilication?</p>