Ok so here is my dilemma. I am extremely driven and achieve the best grades I can. I am not sure what scheduling would lead me to be the most successful and raise my chances into getting into a school like University of Florida and later go on to a school like Emory for med school. I have a 4.0 unweighted GPA as of now which is obviously subject to change in my next 3 years of high school. I intend not to get lower than a 3.5 (worst case scenario).
My freshmen classes were: (I got all As)
AICE Global Perspectives AS/AICE General Paper AS
AP Seminar (for the Capstone diploma)
AICE Thinking Skills AS
Spanish 1 (regular)
Geom Honors
AICE Marine Science AS
AP Environmental Science
There are a few options for my sophomore year:
AICE Global Perspectives A/AICE English AS
AP Research (for the Capstone diploma)
Either AICE Business, AP Art History (which my teacher recommends), or Spanish 2 (I am not sure whether to do online or in school. Since it is a regular class it ruins my rank and brings down my HPA. If I do it online through FLVS should I also do Spanish 3 on FLVS or try it in school. Is Spanish 3 honors difficult online?)
AICE International (I would have taken AP World but I need the AICE credit for my AICE diploma from Cambridge)
Algebra 2 Honors
Ap Bio
AICE Bio
Junior year:
Some AP writing/english such as AP Lit or something
AICE Business, AP Art History, Spanish 3 Honors, Spanish 2 (if I do not do it sophomore year for some reason), AP Psych or another AICE/AP elective
I either do a block of AP Chem and AICE Chem or just AP Physics 1
This depends on whether I do a blocked class, if I do Chem, this slot is filled. If not I have another elective spot for something such as AP Psych or whatever.
AICE Math or Trig Honors (probably AICE math)
Either AP US History or AICE US History
Another elective spot (I probably won’t take privilege and leave early)
Senior:
Have not planned that far ahead yet but probably a year to take extra AICE/APs
Wow - I had to look twice because I thought you might be my daughter for a minute there! She had almost the exact same schedule as you for 9th & 10th grades and is now trying to plan her 11th grade schedule. You are doing great so far and finishing your AICE diploma will be a huge help for UF.
You have 3 years to finish your AICE classes (they say 2 years but the timing starts when you take your fist exam) so you do not have to take AICE History this year. You could take AP World and an AICE elective or you could just do the AICE elective your junior year. We have heard AICE international is easier but my daughter chose AP World instead and did fine. It is a TON of reading though.
She did French 1 & 2 through school but hated it. They never even spoke French, just did worksheets. She has just signed up for French 3 online for the summer. We have never done an online class so I can’t help with that yet.
Our dean said most juniors take AICE Business which looks interesting to me but not my daughter. She needs her last AICE credit as well (didn’t do thinking skills freshman year, dropped it to take yoga.) She is thinking about AICE Photo or AICE Sociology so far.
We are having a heard time planning her schedule for next year. She does not want to do the Chem block but the school will not let you take either AICE or AP Chem on its own. This leaves her with Chem honors which is worth less as you know. (I’ve heard our school won’t let you take AP Physics unless you have done AICE Math - I will find that out when I talk to the dean soon) Same problem with AICE Math vs Trig honors. Math is her least favorite and hardest subject. Her best friend is a math whiz and took AICE freshman year and had a super hard time with it. Makes us a little nervous so we are thinking of doing Trig this year and AICE senior year, but again that would be going from a 6.0 class to a 4.5 class.
It is vary hard to decide on classes when the school keeps reminding you that not doing AICE and AP for everything will drop your class rank. I am trying to figure out a way for my daughter to have rigorous classes while also not being too stressed out! Good luck to you!