EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: I need an answer ASAP

<p>I think you should read post #17 twice and honestly think about this question:</p>

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So how do you decide between the two options- decide like this. Look into the future and see that you've been rejected by both schools. What are you glad you spent your time doing?

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<p>Nobody here can give a better answer (for you) than you can. So don't ask us; ask yourself.</p>

<p>[also the fact that i am agreeing with pebbles should suggest to you that it is really very good advice and you should be taking it immediately. this is like when dennis kucinich and the shah of iran agree about something.]</p>

<p>I totally agree with Ben Golub and pebbles. As someone entering Senior year, whose parents don't help with class selections at all, I definitely had many dilemmas in terms of class picking.
I made a very bad decision last year by picking AP U.S. History just because it was an AP class. It is known as one of the hardest APs at my school and everyone who took it said you have to REALLY love history to survive it. I told my self " well, history is cool, i like it and I always done pretty will in it". When the school year started and the homework started piling up, doing tons of hw in a subject that one doesn't care for much isn't fun at all. AP USH took up so much of my time from the things I do like that i had to drop the class and take the normal one. So this year I am more like .... "who cares about AP English and gov, I am taking Calc C/D + calc based Physics Mech, E&M at local community college because I'll actually like them, and won't mind the work".
You might think " well , what is the trade off for you? its either AP classes or CC classes" If you check the school secondary report, it asks the school whether it offers AP english, history,language and whether the student taken it. Chinese is my first language, I was going to take the AP for that last year, but it was at the same time as AP stats (both after school) and not enough people qualified for AP Chinese this year that they won't have a class. So By taking CC classes, I won't have checks next to any of those AP english, history, language. Yeah sure, it might look bad for my dream school, but won't matter much at all for the other schools I am applying to like UCs. Furthermore, I won't regret what I spent my time on classes I like. At one point this summer I was very tempted to take AP English and the AP Gov just so I can have the check next to the box that said if the student have taken the class. I decided that it is not worth hours of my life just so I can have checks on my application. </p>

<p>Don't do things just for college!!You'll hate yourself later!!!</p>

<p>it's not so rare, ben golub :P</p>

<p>well, thanks guys! I have pretty much decided to stay in my school band. I will just have to work a lot harder to make sure that I don't drop too many places in rank. Hopefully, my class rank won't matter too much since after this year I will be going to TAMS, which is another high school for 11th-12th graders. Also, there isn't rankings at TAMS, so I would think that the cumulative class ranking from 9th-10th grade won't matter too much. There is only GPA at TAMS.</p>

<p>wait... you made this big fuss and even got golub to agree with pebbles for your 9th-10th GPA? I thought you were talking about your GPA at TAMS. In 10th grade nobody cares about your GPA or your rank. Get good grades and have fun.</p>

<p>i feel used :(</p>

<p>lol im sorry guys... i didn't know tat i wasn't being clear</p>

<p>Think about the previous posts. Life is more than a collection of awards and goals. Do not, I repeat, do not live your life around resume building for college. Believe me you will have plenty of time to pursue that later in your life and career if you are so inclined. For teens, college students and adults the holy grail is learning what is interesting and important to you. Resume building may be useful in the short term, but in the long term follow your interests and passions.</p>

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Now, for everyone who is nodding along at these nice words, please note that it's much easier to say and believe them after getting into the college of your choice.

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<p>That is clearly true. And yet, there is a cause and effect question here. I cannot help but think that those of us who are nodding along to those words from the perspective of having gotten into the extremely selective colleges that we wished for, got into those colleges in part because we were the sorts of people who would nod along to those nice words.</p>