Am I shooting myself in the foot?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hello all. I'm a freshman in high school. Usually at my school, students have a period of over 2 weeks in April to select their courses online for the next year. Plus, guidance counselors come around to homeroom and take scheduling questions during this time. However, due to a long teacher strike, the amount of time I had we had submit our next grade courses was cut to 3 days, and if you wanted help from guidance, you had to come down in the morning. To top it all off, I was absent with a fever all 3 of those days. </p>

<p>Basically, my schedule selection for 10th grade was a crapshoot decided mostly during a Tylenol high.</p>

<p>My big concern is that it's way too easy. I meant to take AP Euro, the only AP class available to sophomores, but I missed the deadline for application (don't ask). I'm taking 2 "easy electives" - Publications I 3 out of 6 days, Drawing & Painting I 2/6 days - instead of another "core" class. </p>

<p>My main neurotic worry is that I signed up for regular-level Algebra II instead of honors. I took regular Geometry this year because my 8th grade teacher said it would be hard. It's not; I have a 97. I'm concerned that Algebra II will be the same way. Basically, I'm worried colleges will look at my shunning of high level math classes and think I'm a lazy bum! </p>

<p>I'm a straight-A kid. I'm definitely not bad at math, but I'm not especially good either - I'm worried I might get a B or even a C in Honors. More importantly, I really do (sadly & stereotypically) hate math in general, and I love being able to relax just a little during my least liked subject. The EVERY DAY 50-problem math homework that goes along with Honors Algebra II... I experienced that kind of thing in 8th grade, and it's soul-crushing experience for me. Really soul-crushing. French, science, any other subject I can handle it, but I cannot think of a better word to describe how I feel doing math problems out of a book.</p>

<p>If I had been lucid during course selection, the little "I wanna go to an elite college!" creature inside me would have picked Honors. But now that Regular is submitted and the process to change it is extremely difficult, I'm second-guessing that ambition. </p>

<p>Is it worth all the pain next year? An extra hour of miserable homework each night that could be spent doing a hobby or working on a project? Do colleges (LACs, specifically) even care, as long as I get As in the regular class? I just look through CC and see everyone taking 5 AP classes in their sophomore year, and here I am skipping out on an Honors class, feeling lazy and stupid. All my other classes are Honors (besides the aforementioned electives, as well as Health): English, Social Studies, French 4, and Bio 1.</p>

<p>Should I go running to my guidance counselor tomorrow and BEG her to change my schedule? Make it Honors Alg, and/or even replace those two electives with a second language and core class, Latin I?</p>

<p>By the way, sorry for posting such a trivial problem. But... okay, I don't really have an excuse.</p>

2

<p>It sounds like you really want that language. I would ask your GC to switch to Latin. But you really, really don’t sound like you want the math. Honestly, I doubt that Honors will give you much of a boost in the admissions process. Algebra II is still Algebra II (as a fellow current freshman in Algebra II, though, it’s really not that difficult). However, you might consider pushing for that AP Euro. Quickly. Just scurry along to the GC and tell her about your illness (a note from parents always helps) and whine/bat your eyelashes a bit. </p>

<p>Viola, a more substantial schedule, and yet, your soul’s intact.</p>

3

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<p>It should not be. It’s your schedule. Be assertive and vehement. Man, if I could have redone the way I enrolled for freshman year courses …</p>

4

<p>The thing is, I was looking forward to Drawing & Painting … but I can’t take that and Latin without going way over limit for classes. </p>

<p>Would Latin be much more substantial than the electives? Well, I guess of course it would be. But geez, it’s like, a dead language. <em>shot</em> I would also have to take Health for two weeks over the summer to free up enough periods… bad.</p>

5

<p>Well, if you really, really wanted to study Latin, you could study it outside of school…</p>

6

<p>Get your parents to fight for you. This whole scenario is unreasonable.</p>

7

<p>I think if you had posted this on the parents forum you would be getting different answers. If you really do want to go to an LAC your admissions applications will ask the GC if you took the most difficult courses offered. They will ask the high school for a list of courses offered. They will note that you did not take the AP and that you took regular instead of honors sections. You should definitely try to change these selections. </p>

<p>The way I look at it is that by not changing it you are limiting your options down the road. By taking the most difficult courses, you have lots of options to what schools you want pursue.</p>

8

<p>Don’t worry about it; you can take really hard classes your Jr. and Sr. years, if you want. It sounds like a reasonable schedule. I do not believe you are limiting your options down the road, especially if you get straight A’s.</p>