<p>Hi there, I'm currently a sophomore and facing an issue. MIT is my #1 choice for EECS, but I'm also looking at places like Caltech and Stanford. The problem is, once I hit senior year I will run out of classes to take and I would have 2 free periods, because the only classes left would be stupid ones like planetary sciences, etc. My next year schedule (junior year):</p>
<p>AP English 4
Honors Marching/Concert Band
Honors German 3
AP Biology
AP Physics
APUSH
AP Calculus AB</p>
<p>And senior year:</p>
<p>AP English 5
Honors Marching/Concert Band
AP German 4
(I would take AP Chemistry, but it's getting pulled next year.)
(Another free period)
AP Government/AP Macroeconomics
AP Calculus BC</p>
<p>I definitely want to take more classes, but I'm afraid of being perceived as lazy by the universities. I've looked at taking college courses, but I also have heard top universities look down upon "transfer" students. I mean I'm definitely not lazy (Rank 9/660, all sorts of band stuff, national honor society, president of the programming club, etc etc) but I don't know how these free periods would look. Thanks for any suggestions!</p>
<p>…you’re not a transfer student if you take classes at a local college…
in fact it’s the opposite…I took a class at my local college (ran out of math classes) and got in EA…</p>
<p>The free periods wouldn’t to me sound that bad but they do present a wasted opportunity to you. </p>
<p>AP Physics is usually a two year class, the first being mechanics and the second electricity and magnetism. Does you school offer the second one?</p>
<p>You call planetary science a “stupid” class but it might be interesting (it would have been to me).</p>
<p>Tacking college classes might be the way to go (and as previously stated they won’t make you a “transfer” student) but the logistics can be somewhat problematic (scheduling and transportation the biggest issues).</p>
<p>Thanks for all the feedback. Let me be clear, I definitely don’t think planetary sciences is “stupid” in general I simply misspoke, but it’s neither honors nor AP and is taught by one of the worst teachers in the school. Unfortunately, only AP Physics B is offered at my school so I cannot take C. I think that I’ll take the courses at my local community college, which is conveniently 5 miles away. Thanks again everyone!</p>
<p>TrumpetTerm, I applaud you for planning your classes in advance. Here are some suggestions/observations based on my experience with my two kids: older one attending Stanford and younger one just accepted early to Caltech. If allowed at your high school, you could replace AP Calc AB with AP Calc BC in your junior year and then take Multivariable Calc/Diff Eqns/Linear at your local community college in your senior year. Doubling up in science in your junior year may be too heavy a load given you will be taking 4 AP classes and will also need time to prep for SAT/SAT 2’s/AP exams, etc. You could consider delaying AP Bio until your senior year. Also, I would strongly recommend taking a computer science class, either AP Comp Sci at your high school (if offered) or one at your community college. I would not leave two periods open in your senior year, nor limit yourself to the classes offered at your high school. Don’t worry about colleges perceiving you as transfer student because you have taken community college classes. It’s actually viewed as a positive that you are pursuing more advanced coursework. Good luck! </p>
<p>Coll1tbd’s post is dead-on great advice and exactly the kind of schedule favored by MIT and other colleges. Also AP Physics next year is going to a two-year program for all schools. Your high school may not have this new info on their website but if you check Collegeboard.org’s section on AP’s you will see that. </p>
You will not be viewed as a transfer student for taking college courses. You will be viewed as a transfer student if you matriculate as a college student–if you become an official college freshman and are no longer a high school student. In your case you are interested in dual enrollment–concurrently taking college and high school courses. If you do this you are still a high school student, not a college student. This is 100% okay with all universities, as far as I am aware.</p>
<p>Even if you are a full-time college freshman there are ways to not be viewed as a transfer student: I took college courses full time, as a college freshman, using the early enrollment program at my local university, and then I applied to college again as a freshman (not as a transfer student) and that was perfectly okay with MIT and Caltech (and possibly Yale, Harvard, and Stanford, but I’m not 100% sure about those; also it was completely NOT okay with Princeton). This is a special program and it does not exist at all universities, but if you are running out of classes in high school it is a wonderful option.</p>