My rising 9th grader needs to select her HS courses this month. I need advice on electives. Since we’re years away from college, it’s hard to say where she’ll apply though current grades and test scores indicate that a selective college is not an unreasonable aspiration.
Here are the core academic classes she’ll take:
English 9 Honors
Algebra 2 w/Trig Honors
Biology Honors
AP Human Geo
She definitely plans to take a world language (honors n/a in 9th) all four years. She also wants to take orchestra all four years but I’m not sure if this makes sense or not. In planning for selective colleges, I also want to encourage her to take four years of social studies and science. This pretty much leaves no other room for other electives.
Assuming that she does well with honors/AP classes throughout her HS career, how would selective colleges look at world language/orchestra as her electives? Is this considered too boring? Or interesting? Also, an AP world language will not be available. Orchestra classes are not weighted either so these electives won’t give her a boost in GPA. A big reason for taking orchestra would be the social aspect since she will likely not do a HS sport. While I want her to succeed academically, I also want to protect her mental health. Her instrument playing skill is above grade level but she’s not on track to be playing at Carnegie Hall so she likely wouldn’t be showcasing her music skills in the college app.
Regardless of how the HS classifies it, for colleges, world language is a core class. The fact that honors is not offered for 9th graders or that AP is not available later is not uncommon. Taking 4 years of foreign language is valued by all colleges.
Arts electives are fine. Many high schools have an arts requirement for graduation, and California public universities have as an admissions requirement. Whether she wants to continue orchestra in later years is something she can decide later. Whether she chooses to continue after 9th grade or not will not matter to colleges. And the impact of an unweighted class in later years is not something that needs to be considered now.
World language is not an elective.
Her core classes should be:
math
science (life and physical with labs)
social studies
English
language other than English
Does she have a PE requirement? Are there other courses such as health or art that are required at your school?
My opinion is that, if your daughter enjoys orchestra, it is a great elective. Try it out her first year and if she doesn’t enjoy it, she can choose a different elective her 2nd year. There should be room in her schedule for science all four years. If she takes 4 years of social studies, it may be considered an elective one year. You can plan to take SS all four years but be flexible if her decisions change.
World language to some level is expected by more selective colleges. The expected level varies by college. Some of the most selective colleges expect to see the 4th year high school course or equivalent if available.
Some colleges also expect a year of art or music in high school for frosh admission.
World language is a core class for selective college admssions.
Orchestra is a terrific elective, especially if she plays well (spectacular isn’t required!) ans it IS social; added bonus, some colleges even have “talent” (not need based) scholarships for accomplished students who’d play in their orchestra/band However if at the end of freshman or sophomore year she doesn’t like Orchestra anymore, she can switch to something else, no problem.
Suggested progression
English 9 Honors → English 10H → AP Lang → choice of senior English class
Algebra 2 w/Trig Honors → precalculus (H) → calculus AB → AP calc BC or AP stats
Biology Honors → chemistry Honors → AP Physics 1 → AP bio, AP Chem, or APES
AP Human Geo → AP World or Euro → APUSH → Choice of social science, AP or not
World Language through Level 4 (Spanish if she is thinking premed, French/German (etc) if she wants something less ‘default’+smaller classes)
Orchestra-> orchestra or anything she likes
My daughter (currently a junior) faced this exact same predicament - she was very sad that, because of language and orchestra, she had no room for any art classes she wanted to take. We made her stick with her language through French 3 (which she took sophomore year because she started HS French in 8th grade and it will be on her transcript). So this year, as a junior, we let her drop it because she isn’t aiming for the T20s. She managed to fit in one art class last year, is doing one this year, and will take one more next year. Having the art class makes her much happier. She decided to keep doing orchestra because she really does enjoy it. On a recent college tour we were told that three years was fine since she was going STEM anyway, but if your kid is aiming for the top or not going STEM then I’d say stick to four years.
My daughter took basically this coursework, including band/orchestra through Senior year and French for 4 years through Junior year, and I think it’s fine.
How many courses can she take at a time? Our school has 8 non-lunch periods, so my daughter would interleave gym with the lab period of science all year and take 7.9 credits (1.4 lab science, .5 gym). This allowed her to take a CS elective three of the four years in addition to the core courses and music. I think this was plenty.
She did take the required 1/2 year health class on-line over the summer.
So my S24 did not take orchestra as a freshman because he wanted to try something else. Did not enjoy it and rejoined the orchestra this year and will almost certainly continue through senior year. He enjoys it and the other kids. I agree with everyone above and add that with a difficult all honors courseload ,including an AP class and advanced math that taking an elective you love makes a lot of sense.
If her school offers dual enrollment, she can take advantage of that when she’s older. My D did a required Econ class online last summer so she could devote more time to an intensive elective (newspaper) this year.
If she takes 4 years of social studies and science, then she’d have to take summer school to meet the practical art and consumer ed requirement (1 credit each). Like you said, we plan to wait and see if 4 years of social studies is really necessary but it seems like the most selective schools require or recommend it so we want to at least plan for it.
Thanks for the link to the threat - I’ll check it out.
My son’s, nieces and nephew all took PE/Health or an art requirement course during the summer so they could free up their schedules for extra Science or Social Science classes. Spending one summer to get these courses out of the way, that are less intensive then core classes, was worth it to them.
One of my kids took a zero period in order to fit in the extra classes. I’m not sure what practical art or consumer ed are but is there an online option that would fulfill those requirements?
Thanks for the suggested progression! What you suggested is more or less what her school follows. Makes me feel better that it seems like we’re on the right track. The only big difference is that the kids at her school take US Government (reg or AP) during their sophomore year so she’ll likely take AP World or European History her senior year. Since AP US Government is only a semester class, I don’t know what she’d take the other half of the year. Of course, a lot will depend on her interest, but do you have any suggestions?
I am nervous about her dropping orchestra after her freshman year (or later) because I don’t want her to seem like a quitter. Sometimes I wish kids can just take classes just to learn for fun without worrying about colleges apps!
They can and they should. College admissions officers do not just look at courses taken. They also look at what a student does outside of school and they expect students to try different things. Is she involved in any other extracurricular activities? Look for volunteer opportunities in your community that fit her interests.
I’m still new to this, so I’m still learning but at our school, practical art includes classes in industrial tech, business, family & consumer science. Consumer ed classes include econ and personal finance. Classes in these areas are offered during the summer but I hear that kids frequently don’t get to enroll in the classes they want. Good point about online classes!
At many schools, AP Econ fulfills those requirements and has the additional advantage of triple counting as personal finance, social studies, and AP weight.
HS students can drop electives without consequence. The role of HS is to explore subjects and find new interests through electives, in addition to providing a strong general background.
Yes! Volunteering so important, and can be as intense or non-demanding as they want it to be.
There is so much change that happens to these kids over the course of high school — they should not be locked in to an activity. My daughter started high school thinking she wanted to swim in college, but other amazing interests eventually took priority. She still swims, but not club swim, etc. It will be a continual evaluation of time-management and priorities. She is most definitely not a quitter.
I do think there is value in showing commitment to an activity, but they should be there because they want to be.
Kids in our school take orchestra or band all four years, do not take zero period classes (it does not exist), take no AP classes in freshman year and no more than 1 (and that is a special circumstances) as sophomores, and take zero classes over the summer and get into T20 schools. Fun and taking classes you like in HS is so important!
However if at the end of freshman or sophomore year she doesn’t like Orchestra anymore, she can switch to something else, no problem.
The only big difference is that the kids at her school take US Government (reg or AP) during their sophomore year so she’ll likely take AP World or European History her senior year. Since AP US Government is only a semester class, I don’t know what she’d take the other half of the year. Of course, a lot will depend on her interest, but do you have any suggestions?