I recently signed up for my senior year classes, and my parents are trying to get me to rethink my choices. Here’s the schedule I’m signed up for:
AP Biology
AP US Government and Politics (S1), Economics (S2)
AP English Language and Composition
AP Spanish Language and Culture
AP Capstone Research
AP Psychology
Multimedia Arts
DE Linear Algebra and Differential Equations
I know it’s a rather heavy coarse load for senior year, but that’s mostly because I’m required to take 4 of those courses, and the rest are my interests. Also, I’m taking 5 APs and a DE class this year and have a 4.0 GPA.
My parents want me to slack off on classes in my senior year so I could do more sports, get a job, and help them with more chores. They want me to take 1 DE during first semester so I could write about it in college apps and none during second semester, and they want me to drop AP Spanish and Psychology since I got a 5 on AP Chinese in freshman year without a class and they don’t find AP Psychology worthwhile.
Personally, I want to take DEs throughout next year since I’m interested in them. I want to take AP Spanish since I actually enjoy the class and want to learn all the way through AP Spanish, and I want to take Psychology since it slightly interests me.
I would listen to your parents and drop AP Spanish unless you REALLY want to take it
Core classes for selective universities include: English, Math, Foreign Language, Social Science, Science. Keep those.
Capstone research and psychology are two electives, so if you were to drop anything it’d have to be one of those (or both).
Now, it’s true that your schedule is TOO packed. Ideally you’d have 4 AP’s/DEs, 5 max. Right now, you have 7, which is crazy.
Don’t commit on Diff.Eq second semester perhaps - also, have you taken Discrete Math? Calculus-based statistics? Both of these would be foundational classes that are more important to understand the diversity of math than Dif.Eq.
If your parents want you to “do more sports” because they think you’ll get recruited, here’s the bad news: D1 teams have already filled their ranks. D3 teams you can contact yourself right now and see if they’re interested, but if you’re not recruitable at D3 level AND don’t want to play at D3 level, sport is just another EC, same as Theater or Choir or whatever.
Final recommendation:
AP Biology
AP US Government and Politics (S1), Economics (S2)
AP English Language and Composition
AP Spanish Language and Culture
Multimedia Arts
DE Linear Algebra, DE Calculus-based statistics
Fun elective (Culinary Arts is very useful in life, Current Events can be interesting, as is Debate…)
@MYOS1634 My school does not allow us to drop AP Capstone Research at this point since otherwise we’d have to do the senior project (basically a research/service project to be done from second semester of junior year and due towards the end of first semester during college apps). The senior project started 2 months ago and all advisers are taken. Also, I heard AP Psychology is a fun class at our school and I’m also somewhat interested in Psychology, so I’m considering keeping it. The coursework isn’t too heavy either.
Also, I really want to take Discrete Math next year, but I couldn’t find a nearby college that offers it without conflicting with my high school schedule. Ideally I’d want to take Graph Theory or some other combinatorics class (since I’m more interested in it), but unfortunately none of those seem to be available to me at the moment.
And my parents want me to do more sports solely for college apps…
Unless your sports performance is good enough to get recruited (or perhaps walk on at a small sports oriented college that you apply to), it will just be another EC (though it could be impressive as an EC if you win a state or national championship).
Sports only matter if you’re recruitable. Typically it’s pretty evident by junior year. Are you good enough to play in college? To know whether you are, whatever your sport is, look at some D3 colleges, look at their performances - how do you compare?
@ucbalumnus @MYOS1634 I’m not particularly good at sports, and honestly I’m not trying to get recruited by colleges for sports. I only do them if I enjoy them (such as volleyball and cross country). I’m far from being recruited by any college for sports, especially since I’ve only done intramural sports at my school.
Then continue running and volleyball for fun. There are intramurals in college (teams representing dorms for instance, competing against each other for fun).
If you’re not recruitable, the best way to improve your odds of admission and scholarships is to increase your standardized test scores and kept your grades up.