Course selection for senior year

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>I'm on the fence as to what to take my senior year. As it stands, I have:</p>

<ul>
<li>AP Calculus (Probably AB, school doesn't say.)</li>
<li>AP Biology</li>
<li>AP Government (Again, not sure which. Comparative?)</li>
<li>College English</li>
<li>Computer Science (Independent study)</li>
<li>Spanish IV</li>
<li>Adv. Band</li>
</ul>

<p>Sadly, this fleshes out my school's full seven-period day, requiring me to wake up every day around 5:00 a.m. and stay after school for biology labs. As I do not wish to do this, I'm considering dropping a class--probably Band or Spanish. (Or, at the very least, have CS first so that I skip it when I chose. Bio labs wouldn't have to be after school this way either.)</p>

<p>Unfortunately, my Guidance department is more-or-less useless in giving me suggestions--they assume (correctly) that the vast majority of the school will be attending state schools, and thus cater to these school's preferences. To their credit, the state school of choice is UVA.</p>

<p>I am being told to take Spanish IV. Doing so is not something I relish; even though I have excelled at Spanish, the "other" Spanish III teacher--whom I have--has a reputation for not preparing his students for IV very well. I, personally, do not think Spanish is very important to my success in a technological field, although I am looking to attend many liberal arts schools.</p>

<p>On the other hand, I have taken Band since 4th grade. (Counting one year of Orchestra as Band.) Since my list of extracurriculars is rather sparse--Scouting since 1rst grade, Marching Band for 2 years, and Robotics for 2 years--I feel that not retaining Band will shine poorly upon me. (I'm assuming that colleges look at Band more as an EC than an actual course, even though it is part of the school day. Correct me if I'm completely off here.) The Guidance people say dropping Band will not reflect negatively on me at all, unless I choose to major in Music.</p>

<p>Any ideas about what I should do? Keep in mind that shoving Computer Programming into 1st period isn't preferrable unless taking both Spanish and Band is absolutely essential.</p>

<p>(For reference, my top choices are Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science and Carleton College.)</p>

2

<p>I had the highest grade with the hardest teacher in honors spanish 3 and she consistently nagged me to take honors 4, but I did not. It's worthless unless you're going to be in those countries or working with Spanish people. I think dropping either one of these would be VERY acceptable.</p>

3

<p>Ap Cal
Ap French
Ap Lit
Physics
honors gov/ economics
World Religion
I believe drama, </p>

<p>these are the only aps my school offers seniors :(</p>

4

<p>We have 9 periods. </p>

<p>This is the schedule if everything works out:</p>

<p>AP Cal (not sure which one yet) (4 single pds, 1 double/week)
AP Chem (5 double periods/week)
AP Span
Regular Senior English
Economic/Gov (regular required S.S. class)
Epidemiology (science elective)
Lunch (not all days I'm guessing)
Gym</p>

<p>Now:
Don't get into AP Chem >> add AP Psych to my sched</p>

5

<p>We have 8 periods, ans sports are after school.</p>

<p>This is my tentative schedule
-AP English Lang&Comp
-AP Calc AB
-AP Euro
-AP Economics (I wonder if I have to take both econ exams or just one? Not a specified micro/macro class)
-Journalism/Newspaper</p>

<p>If not AP English (highly doubt it because my English teacher is kind of a pushover) then English electives.</p>

<p>I'm wondering if I should do AP Enviro or if it's ok not to do a science. My first choice school is NYU/Stern (ED/RD).</p>

6

<p>9 Periods</p>

<p>-AP Lit
-AP US Gov
-AP Micro
-AP Bio
-AP Spanish
-AP Calc BC
-Advanced Research
-Lunch (thank GOD!)
-Band (whew)
-Gym</p>

<p>...Wow...the storm is a-coming...</p>

7

<p>i feel so bad for all of you juniors!!!! i did the whole "take all ap classes senior year" thing. and i regret it so much. i have a terrible case of senioritis. so, before you load up on all of those classes think about the potential workload for next year.</p>