<p>I'm a junior and I'm trying to fix my schedule for next year, I have two choices and please let me know which one you think is better:</p>
<p>Choice 1 (At school)
AP Literature
AP Macro
AP Gov
AP European History
AP Physics B
AP Art History
AP Music Theory
AP Calculus BC</p>
<p>Choice 2 (Full time dual enrollment)
Organic Chem I
Organic Chem II
Biochem I (concurrent with OC II)
General Physics I (Order physics C classical mechanics exam at end of year)
Programming I (Order Computer Science A exam at end of the year)
Inorganic Chem I
Calc I
Calc II (order Calc BC exam at end of the year)</p>
<p>Online classes (part of the choice 2 curriculum)
AP lit
AP macro/gov
AP Calc AB (for the sake of an AP credit)</p>
<p>I might not take programming or inorganic chem if the schedule gets too out of wack. I'm thinking of attending MIT or Stanford and I called the admissions office but neither gave a definitive answer as I had predicted and my guidance counsellor thinks that the AP route is better while I personally think the dual enrollment route is better since I have yet to see a senior take organic chem but I'm not very experienced so please let me know what you think!</p>
<p>Usually the rule at top universities like Stanford and MIT is that you must take community college classes at the college, with a college teacher, and receive no high school credit. So if you are basing your decision only on advanced credit, then AP would be the way to go.</p>
<p>BTW, you don't need to take Calc AB if you're taking Calc BC. The BC exam covers all aspects of the AB exam, and even gives you an AB subscore. AB would be for Calc I, and BC for Calc II.</p>
<p>It really depends on what you like. If science is your thing and you can get better science courses at the community college, go for it. Otherwise you might want to stick with the APs.</p>
<p>Thanks! Well what I'm actually trying to do is to "stand out" because the AP classes in schedule 1 are taken all the time by seniors. I like chemistry alot oh, and one thing to clarify is that they won't be taken at a community college, they'll be taken at FSU (Florida State University) and I heard that Harold Kroto (nobel prize winner) walks into the inorganic chem classes sometimes too.</p>
<p>The Calc AB thing is just for the sake of an extra AP credit, which might bump me up to val or something.. just a thought but I won't be ordering the AB test and I don't think you're allowed to anyway.</p>
<p>Overall though, will the dual enrollment thing look better? And will MIT and Stanford even know that I didn't taken them at a community college?</p>
<p>They'll see the Florida State transcript if you send it in, but more than likely you wouldn't get any credit out of it. So you'd lose money, but still would probably get a great education out of it. Watch out for those 300 student classes, though. A traditional high school enviornment might be more beneficial.</p>
<p>You don't need to stand out with your courses. They usually just want the most difficult course load possible. They want your grades and board scores and ECs to stand out, not necessecarily the classes you take.</p>
<p>The FSU thing sounds really cool though. Wish we could do that.</p>
<p>Another thing to consider, although not so important is that I'm doing an internship at the Mag Lab (in FSU) after school and I don't have a car so it would take forever if I were to ride a bus there. I was also thinking of smooching onto a prof's research so I could work with them. So if I was a full time student at FSU, I could literally walk to these labs everyday after class and it would be MUCH easier transportation wise. But this is just a little concern.</p>
<p>And keep in mind though that my test scores are absolutely horrible, so I need to stand out in every single possible way even though the courses aren't the most effective :)</p>
<p>The issue about getting the credit isn't that important for me. But if you were in my shoes, what would you do?</p>
<p>
[quote]
since I have yet to see a senior take organic chem
[/quote]
I took an organic chem class junior year and hated it (I really loved inorganic chem the years before though).
Concerning your question; as high school is supposed to give you a broad education, I don't think that taking only sciency college classes is a good idea. If you want to take organic chemistry that badly (and organic chemistry is VERY different from inorganic chemistry), go ahead and take that class at the college but take the rest of your classes at your high school. If the dual enrollment policy is all-or-nothing, cut programming, biochem and inorganic chem out of your schedule and substitute the classes you suggest taking online.</p>
<p>Well, if science is your passion and something you are absolutely certain you are going to do with your life, then the FSU thing with the internship and research would be what I would do.</p>
<p>If you are a science fan, but not sure if you want to go into science, then perhaps the AP option with an additional AP Bio or Chem (unless you've already taken them) would be the way to go.</p>
<p>One more aspect to consider: when you take classes at FSU and don't get straight As, you are setting yourself up for a rejection at top universities like Stanford and MIT. "Only" average grades would indicate that you don't belong to the cream of the crop of all college students (and high school seniors are not that different from college freshmen).</p>