Hi, I am planning out my classes for junior and senior year. I know what I am going to take for my main subjects (math, science, history, english) but I don’t know what electives to take. I heard that colleges look at what your school offers and then your classes to see if you selected your classes wisely.
(I want to be a chemistry OR biology major, still deciding)
My school provides a lot of academy courses, which are career based electives. I am not really sure if they are worth it. People usually say to take classes that will help your major, but I am not sure if academy classes count.
I have 3 elective spaces, and for junior year, I was thinking of taking AP biology and health/medicine (which is an academy class that is worth TWO elective spaces)
For senior year, I was thinking of taking AP chemistry and medical assistant (which is also an academy class that is worth two elective spaces)
Because they take up two elective spaces, I feel like I am wasting them. They help increase my knowledge on the medical field and gives me experience in hospital work, but does it look good on my transcript?
If i do not take those two, I will take other classes like continuing Spanish (not necessary but still good), AP stats, AP psychology, and Sports medicine.
I know many schools out there don’t offer academy classes so many of you won’t be able to help.
You should take a total of 5 core courses and they do not all have to be APs --not sure what your school offers. In our school system AP Chem and AP Bio are double period classes, so you would be fine there and can take 2 electives but don’t overdo it. Your proposed schedule looks pretty tough to me, but I am not familiar with academy classes, so it’s hard to say. Your senior year schedule should be as rigorous as junior year.
Keep in mind that some colleges do like to see continuing with a language, and if you take it to the AP level, and do well on the AP exam, you may place out of foreign language in college. With a foreign language, you would have one elective and you can take something fun, or maybe do an internship if your school offers that.
Ap chem and Ap bio for me are only one block. I decided to do Ap bio as a science class rather than elective for senior year, so i will have an elective space open. Academy classes here basically go indepth with the selected career and are most of the time more enjoyable than challenging, so i guess it is good for showing my passion. Even if i take them, i will still have an elective space open, so i can do spanish but it’s a shame I can’t do AP psychology. @firstwavemom
It may be more worthwhile to continue Spanish, as many colleges want three or four years of foreign language.
Are you saying that AP Chem would be IN ADDITION to another science class, or that it would BE your science class? If you have another non-AP science, what subject would it be?
English, Math, History, TWO Sciences, and Spanish is six academic classes - seems like plenty!! What about arts electives?
The academy classes may not be the best use of time if you’re not planning to follow through with a vocational program in that area… though I’m not specifically familiar with them so I can’t say for sure.
Selective colleges don’t expect high school to be a specialized or career preparation.
They do consider Foreign language through level 3,4,or AP, a core class. As such,vypu should not consider them electives.
Have you taken regular or honors physics?
Where do you want to go to college, what do you want to do with that science major, and how bdly do you need to have a decent job while in college? I used to live in a community where many of the high school students who were interested in studying medicine did exactly what you are considering with the academy classes. They finished high school with their CNA certificates and went to work at the local hospital part time while in college. They were able to earn decent money and to have flexible schedules that fit around their classes. When it was time to apply to med school, they had plenty of patient contact hours and a very good sense of why they wanted to be doctors rather than have a different health-related career.
To make a long story short, if you are aiming for top tier colleges it is more important to take all of their recommended/required HS coursework (which you can find if you google the common data set for each college you plan to apply to) than it is to take an elective. To be safe, I’d take Spanish up to level 4. You can take Psych 1 in college.
@aquapt Yeah I will have two science classes. The only physics my school offers are regular physics or AP physics (not as electives) so I am still deciding whether I should do AP or not depending on how well my sophomore year goes. I don’t find any arts interesting but i may continue journalism to work on my school’s newspaper.
The academy course will give me a certificate that will allow me to work at clinics during college.
I want to go to Georgetown University with chemistry or biology major to become a doctor. I know it is very competitive so I need to have a good schedule to increase my chances. Yeah, I heard the certificate will let me work at clinics and hospitals so it caught my interest. @happymomof1
@MYOS1634 No, physics is the required science for my junior year and there is no honors option, so it will either be AP or regular. I am taking spanish 3 next year and I thought it was good enough, but many people told me to get to spanish 4.
@happymomof1 , that is a great point. I worked as a CNA myself, while in college, and it’s really not a bad option to have. I think where this line of reasoning logically leads, though, is that it’s probably best to identify ONE academy class with the best and most beneficial (pre-health experience wise) employment potential, and prioritize that one. It seems to me that there would be a real diminishing-returns aspect to doing two, at the expense of other valuable and college-app-enhancing classes. And offhand, I would think that it might be better to tilt junior year toward the college-prep academics, so that those classes are already on the books by application time, and then reward oneself with the more “fun” and employability-enhancing program senior year… unless one fully intends to work in the academy-class field over the summer between junior and senior years.
If OP really doesn’t want to spend elective time on Spanish during the school year(s), taking FL classes in the summer can be a good strategy, particularly if they can be taken for college credit. This is especially true if the goal is to max out at Spanish III. A third-semester college Spanish class will transfer into virtually any college without a problem, whereas the same level taken in high school give you nothing - you have to get through the AP level and test in the fourth year before college credit will happen.
Strictly speaking, college 3 Spanish is either equivalent to high school Spanish 4 or AP (depending on the college). So re student oils have to take college Spanish 2 one summer and College Spanish 3 in the Fall and then she’d meet the highest entrance requirements (and may even meet college graduation requirements in the subject).
A high level in at least one foreign language is expected at Georgetown.
Language levels are confusing. My daughter didn’t have any trouble going from second-year HS French to a summer French 3 class at Boston University, where she got an A without difficulty. But then she got to Scripps and placed into French 3 again, and found only about a third of it to be review. (And for some reason I see no point in questioning, they’re giving her credit for both French 3 classes… shrug)
But anyway, yes, at least three and preferably four years of FL will be important for Georgetown and most schools at that level of selectivity.
So electives in high school are there just to help initiate broadening your horizons. Most of mine were art related and I just ended up doing photography. This got me into a few places, but most of my friends do something related to their future field of study. I did not know what I would be doing in the future so I just stuck with taking photos.
Try and discovers field that reflects of what you would like to do in the future, but if you have any second thoughts it should still be ok. Try and find a hard or challenging elective to set yourself apart form other applicants.