<p>Freshman: (my school only offers one AP class for freshmen)
AICE Math
AICE General Paper
AP Environmental Science
AICE Marine Science
AICE Thinking Skills 1 and 2
AICE Art and Design
Spanish 2 Honors
(I earned all As in all of my classes, including As on my semester exams. I think I passed all of my AP and AICE exams with the highest marks. Hoping for a perfect score on AICE Math.)</p>
<p>Sophomore (anticipated):
AP Biology
AICE Biology (must take with AP Bio)
AP Seminar paired with AICE Environmental Management
AP Calculus BC
AP World History
AICE English Language (sadly the highest level of english for sophomores..)
Spanish 3 Honors
Most likely self-studying for AP Japanese (native speaker)</p>
<p>Junior (anticipated):
AP Chemistry
AICE Chemistry (must take with AP Chem)
DE Multivariable Calc or Linear Alg
AP USH
AP English Lang
AP Stats
AP Computer Sci or AICE Spanish</p>
<p>Senior (anticipated):
AP Micro/Macro Econ
DE (some sort of a math class, preferably 2)
AP English Lit
AP Psych
AP Computer Sci or AICE Spanish (whichever one I did not take Junior yr)
possibly AP Human Geo (online)
possibly AP Seminar paired with AICE Global Perspectives</p>
<p>Not a native Spanish speaker
Did and will be doing 2 varsity sports (definitely captain for one of them starting sophomore year)
Officer for at least one club starting sophomore year
I will do anything it takes to earn the highest grades possible.. I work very hard and am hoping for a 4.0 or close to 4.0 GPA.
Will be joining a nationally ranked Science Olympiad team starting next year. </p>
<p>Freshmen Year Accomplishments:
Qualified up to Regionals individually for XC and track
Volunteer Hrs: 110 (freshman year, summer not included)
Was selected to attend a science camp at a university
Earned academic excellence award for 5 classes
Earned dedicated member award for Key Club
Attended district and zone conference for Key Club
(those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head)</p>
<p><strong>I know that being selected to attend some of the nation's top universities requires beyond good grades and good classes.. All I want to know is if my schedule is difficult enough/challenging enough to compete with the future attendees of those schools. I am also planning on majoring in something math-related.</strong></p>
<p>Impressive schedule, but quite frankly, it all seems very “paint-by-numbers”. You’ll be in competition with thousands of kids with a schedule like this, and hence, you’re anonymous. What distinguishes you from them? Taking every hard class isn’t going to get you in - or it will get you in someplace, but perhaps not at what you’re aiming for. Try doing something that will demonstrate creativity and original thinking, not just book learning.</p>
<p>I hate when people say that someone needs to take a certain AP. What if it’s not available? When looking at schedules, you need to know the context of the school and what is available, so we can’t comment on that. What I will say is, it seems as though you are taking arbitrary courses simply because the name AP is attached to them. You don’t need World History, USH, or Psych and colleges will wonder why you are taking them. It comes off as superficial. Keep that in mind. If you are applying as undecided, this would be fine, but if you are really into STEM, try to build your schedule around that IF possible</p>
<p>Also make sure you can do well in these courses. If you can do well in AP Bio sophmore year, more power to you. But honor Bio would be okay too.</p>
<p>@AnnueBeats not true. Taking AP classes that you find interesting regardless of your potential major is your best bet. If I was you, I would load up on APs–all APs you can possibly fit into your schedule. Course rigor is extremely important and the best way to show course rigor is with the AP designation. By the way, what is Thinking Skills 1 and 2 hahaha?</p>
<p>This looks like a good plan. Just completing freshman year now, so you have plenty of time to modify. I agree that physics should be included. I would disagree with prior poster who suggested not taking the history classes. I would keep doing one social studies/ history per year. AP psych is not important - take it if the topic excites you, but it could be dropped for physics. </p>
<p>@guineagirl96 @bopper I still don’t exactly “get” the system, so how come physics is necessary? I can definitely drop some of the classes and take online physics (as it is unavailable at my school). I also heard that calc BC material is in Physics but is that true? And is it treated more as a science course or a math course? If I were to take physics, which one should I take and how many levels of the courses?
@MrMom62 Yes… I am aware, which is why I wrote that last few sentences at the bottom. I am still more than a year and a half away from college apps (just finished freshman year) and am still thinking about the personal/original aspect that will distinguish me from others.
@AnnieBeats From what I understand, a world history credit and US history credit are necessary for graduating (at least in my state or county). If I do not take AP for those classes, my school only offers regular, and I am not willing to sit in a class full of unenthusiastic students. And I could drop psych for physics…
@spuding102 Thinking Skills 1 and 2 is a class that focuses on critical thinking that requires you to solve “tricky” (not really) math problems and write argumentative essays. It’s actually a pretty easy class and exam.
@VSGPeanut101 Just one question. Is it smart to take Physics (which seems to be a class that I should really take) senior year and not be able to submit an AP score? Or should I take it junior year and take let’s say Stats senior year instead? </p>
<p>I don’t agree with the people who say skip USH, etc. Even for STEM students, colleges want to see that you can handle the humanities too. Otherwise, why do they require a math major to study humanities in colleges? Yes, skipping those will make you stand out. But it’s standing out to raise flag that you are avoiding those and are an incomplete person. So maybe not all 3, but at least some to show you are proficient.</p>
<p>Colleges will have a rough idea about the classes available at your school since your school will supply a profile and there may be also other applicants from your school. Yes, if you are studying STEM, physics is important. But if it’s not available, it’s probably ok. The top colleges want to see that you challenge yourself with what’s available.</p>
<p>But most importantly, you also need to have good grades on those. So you need both, taking tough classes and do well. Afterwards, you need to worry about scores and ECs. You need all those for top schools.</p>
<p>Highly selective colleges look favorably on taking all three of biology, chemistry, and physics in high school (they do not all have to be AP or advanced level). High school science courses are typically recommended preparation for college science courses. If you are applying to MIT, then you should realize that all three college science courses are part of MIT’s general education requirements.</p>
<p>Physics in college may be either with calculus (for physics or engineering majors) or with less or no calculus (for biology majors and pre-meds), or a “physics for poets” type course. Note that MIT only offers physics courses suitable for physics or engineering majors.</p>
<p>Understand that MIT (And Cal-Tech) have extremely small student bodies compared to most universities. As such, admission is difficult for every student applying. Don’t put all of your dreams in one school or you may be crushed, no matter how well you do. I would suggest focusing on what you want to do with your life, not where you go to school.</p>
<p>Physics is definitely a must. Agree that history is important, too. Your school offers a lot of AP. I hope you have some fun and get a chance to be a kid in there somewhere too!</p>
<p>The key to schools like MIT is to have something that sets you apart from the thousands of students. If you want something math related, then work with a local math professor or someone in a math related field (preferably someone doing your dream career) and actually accomplish something in that field. Write a book to help younger kids understand it. Develop a new hypothesis. Win a national contest related to your chosen field. Something that helps you point out that you are better than your competition and are truly dedicated to your dream. The dream cannot just be ‘go to MIT’.</p>
<p>@ScholarAthleteXC Based on the rest of your schedule, I think your best option for physics would be to take AP Physics C instead of AP Psych your senior year. AP Psych is a pretty easy class and as others have said, MIT requires physics for admission. I recommend C because you will be already into Calc 3, so AP Physics 1 and 2 will be way too easy for you since they are only algebra based. Also, I wouldn’t take AP Human Geo because a lot of schools don’t accept credit for it (is MIT one? others help me out here…). In addition, multivar is usually only one semester, so your junior year, you would take multivar first semester and then linear second semester. The next track is up to you, i would recommend complex or numerical analysis and then possibly diff eq. Also forgive me for not knowing, since it seems that others do, what is AICE?</p>
<p>@guineagirl96 Thank you so much. This was very helpful!
And AICE is a program by Cambridge that is starting to be available in many high schools as alternatives to APs. While this is not true for all courses, many AICE courses (especially AS levels) are fairly simple compared to AP and can be passed easily by just learning the system (by that, I mean practicing a few released exams). </p>
<p>If I were you I’d drop Psych for Physics junior year. AP Psych is well known as one of the “easier” AP courses -so it won’t really enhance your course rigor- while taking Physics could help a lot for the more selective schools.
What is AP Seminar? As far as I know that’s not a “real” AP class…</p>