For future and beginning high-schoolers: "Am I doing enough?" "Are my ECs good?" etc.

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

The purpose of this post is not to show one’s “bragging rights”. I believe many high-school students worry they’re not doing enough to get into the colleges they want, that they’re not going to be able to get enough financial aid due to a “lack” of rigorous courses, this or this this or that, and so on. There is not a lot of information available online about the life after highschool. “Oh, I took 5,000 APs” Great! What happened after you graduated? Did someone going to an average school (some APs, but not a whole lot of chances to stand out) get an equivalent offer? I think it would be useful to know not only how current high-schoolers are challenging themselves but also how they turned out. Juniors and seniors can help address this issue by talking about themselves, their “stats”, their troubles in highschool, and how they solved their problems. After graduation, these same seniors can post where they went. IT SHOULD NOT be a simple “I got accepted into XYZ.” but should also include one’s original post.

Please post in the same order:
4-year high school stats:

  1. Courses (IB/AP/college/honors/dual enrollment, etc., regular) Include self-studied ones with an asterisk *. Please break it down into semesters.
    1.5) How many hours you usually worked on a course per week.

  2. Grades in said courses or if you did not take an official course, your final exam, AP exam, or some other measure such as the SAT II if you can. DO NOT round up your grades or lie. We juniors and seniors should tell the truth to help future students do better than we did. There is nothing to be embarrassed about. Type N/A if there’s no grades or you’re unschooling or something.

  3. Extracurricular activities (School, music lessons, 3rd party organizations) and how many hours, days, and weeks you do this.
    3.5) Volunteer work including hours, days (of a week) and the number of weeks you do this.

  4. Any troubles (bullying, hard teacher, loneliness, etc., hatred of school)
    4.5) How you overcame these troubles (extra studying, talking with one’s teacher, finding friends [mention how])’

  5. How you think these troubles may affect your college dreams.

  6. Your PSAT etc. scores
    6.5) SAT, ACT, SAT II scores. Type N/A if you haven’t taken anything yet. If you have, explain how you studied, if you did, to improve your score.

  7. Next year’s courses you’re going to take.

The post should be done annually either at the end of a school year or the end of the first semester. Use your own judgement if your school runs of a trimester or quarter system.

If done during a school year, do not post updated stats after the school year ends. Wait. After graduation, post which colleges you applied to and got in or were rejected from. Then, when you start college, post your courses you’re going to take and inform us how your transition was for the 1st year after your 1st year of college ends. You don’t need to post again unless you want to.

By documenting our successes and our failures and possible helping younger students avoid our pitfalls, we can help anyone who comes upon this post and maybe let them stop being afraid of themselves.

I’ll start in the next post. Double posting’s certainly allowed.

2

Homeschooled.
9th grade:

Year-long:
Eng: Reading comprehension (Shakespeare, Miller, Tolstoy, etc.)*
Math: Algebra I, geometry
Science: Earth Science
History: N/A
Elec.: Latin I

Semester: Piano, Voice

1.5)
N/A. I did whatever I wanted and felt like. Sometimes it was 3 days a week of the same courses or maybe only 2 ocourses.

N/A — Samples exist of schoolwork with mostly correct answers, but no grade calculations.

  1. Voice (30 min lesson/week, 3+ hours of daily practicing) for 26 weeks.
    Piano (30 min lesson/wk, 1+ hour of daily practicing for 26 weeks.

3.5)
None.

I’d missed 7th and 8th grade, so I never did 2/3 of Middle School due to dropping out from bullying and health issues.
4.5)
I just took my time at my work, didn’t force myself, didn’t fret about anything.

I think my situation in 7th and 8th grade makes my 9th grade performance more understandable and appropriate. Sorry I couldn’t do Calc BC, but I don’t care!

N/A
6.5)
N/A

4-year high school stats:
Grade 10

  1. Courses: C = college level, not for credit, MOOC, etc. CC = College course, not dual enrollment, for college credit
    Year:
    English: Saylor Academy ENGL101: Introduction to Literary Studies* ©
    History: Saylor Academy HIST 102: Early Globalizations (1200 ~ 1600)* ©
    Science: General Chemistry (CC)*
    Electives: Singing
    Semester:
    Math: Algebra II, Pre-calculus (75% done)
    Electives: Spanish*

1.5)
Saylor Academy courses took forever to finish because I was bored to tears with their dry material though the topics themselves were interesting.

N/A

Voice (30 min lesson/week, 3+ hours of daily practicing) for 52 weeks.

3.5)
None

I was so bored with the Saylor material!! I loved the books and plays but I don’t care at all what Hamlet and his mother felt in your thesis paper!
I’d done no chemistry prior to this year.
I had to change chemistry material several times until I settled on something (wound up doing bits of work until starting a different course in May)

4.5)
I just stuck with the boring courses and savored learning things like POV terms and reading things such as the Castle of Otranto and Oedipus Rex.
The continual switching of material made me learn a lot of material as if I had done a regular highschool course.

Sticking through boring courses provided me with the knowledge of how to get throuh dreadful courses by finding what’s good in them. It provided me with a study skill I’d say, which helps me more for required courses than it does getting into a college.

Getting good grounding on basic chemistry concepts prepared me for learning the collegiate course quickly (90% finished now)

N/A
6.5)
N/A

4-year high school stats:
Grade 11: CURRENT

Sem 1:
English: AP English Language and Composition
Math: AP Statistics*
Science: Continuing CC Chemistry,* going to finish now and take the exam for credit in May (since I have to)
History: AP U.S. History
Electives: Singing, Welsh*

FUTURE SEM 2:
Eng: AP English Language and Composition
Math: AP Stats; Pre-Calculus, Geometry (again)
Science: Biology (CC)
History: AP U.S. History
Social Sciences: AP Microeconomics, AP U.S. Government
Electives: Singing(?), Welsh*

1.5)
I usually work on/off all day everyday because I love these courses and am happy to do them. I feel much better about my courses than I did last year.a

AP Eng Lang; 95% Sem 1 (Teacher rounded down)
AP U.S. History: 96% Sem 1 (Teacher rounded up)
AP Stats: N/A
Bio CC: N/A - Not started yet
Welsh: S’mai? Y bore ma, am bedwar o’r gloch, rhoedd hi’n hyfryd ac doeddhi ddim niwlog am ddeudeg o’r gloch! I think that’s proof enough so far.
Singing: N/A. Grades rest in my vocal abilities.
Others: Not started yet.

Creative anachronism (currently: Renaissance fencing) Tues/Thur / weekly (usually) 1 ~ 2+ hours each day maybe.

3.5)
Volunteering to take care of horses - Irregular, just started
Volunteer speaker for NAMI - 2 times (6 hours) as needed

I GOT A JOB. (~2 ~ 8 hours/week)

I worry I haven’t done all that I want so far. I keep pushing myself as much as I can. I keep feeling like I need to do everything and be Miss Impossible.
I didn’t take the PSAT in October because I thought I was going to take a GAP year.
I’m re-taking geometry because I found that I didn’t do my best at geometry before, I love math, I have time management, and I want to challenge myself and improve my abilities at it.
I realize that I’m never going to go to a conservatory because I started singing way too late. I cried. Then, I realized, I don’t even want to go to a conservatory, I just want to know how to sing at a professional level, not do it professionally.

4.5) I keep telling myself that I, me, myself are all I need to be. People want ME, not someone I’m not.
I’m really lucky I followed my heart and picked courses I love; I can work so hard at them and be extraordinarily happy. I don’t care that an AP Welsh course doesn’t exist.
I’m going to take the new SAT this May or June and take the PSAT in October of senior year if I can, then take the SAT again in the Spring.
I’m happy with myself now that I stopped stressing trying to become an expert singer. I’m really good at my academics and chose to follow my passions rather than fit myself into a box that’s too small for me.

I think it’s good I didn’t take the PSAT. I certainly wasn’t going to be prepared by October.
I realized I want to study business, computer science, Celtic history, mythology and folklore, and psychology!
Boy that seems like a lot. But… I know I’m going to be a student and non-profit leader for life. I don’t need to do all my studying in 4 years— I have 80!

N/A
6.5)
N/A

Grade 12: DE = Dual enrollment

Sem 1:
English: DE Medieval Literature (ENL 4210)

Math: AP Calculus BC
Science: AP Physics
History: DE Medieval History
Electives: DE Chaucer (4311), researching and comparing folktales and mythologies involving the Daoine Sidhe and their other Celtic country equivalents (Aos Sí, etc.)*
Languages: Welsh II*

Sem 2:
English: DE Renaissance literature (ENL 4220)
Math: AP Calculus BC
Sciences: AP Physics
History: DE Renaissance History
Electives: DE Shakespeare (ENL 4331), Researching and comparing folktales and mythologies involving the Daoine Sidhe and their other Celtic country equivalents (Aos Sí, etc.)*
Languages: Welsh II*

I think I might quit singing. I love it, it’s true, but I’m abosutely bananas about Medieval times (but you couldn’t ever pay me to live in those times), esp. the religion… how it was integrated into the fabric of Medieval Civilizations. Plus, I need the money to cover the college textbooks! Yikes.

So, there are you (: That’s basically what I’ve done. Remember, don’t turn this into a “oh you’re doing alright” kind of stuff. Just PM those people if you want to. This is to help new highschoolers.

I wish I would’ve known these things as a freshman:

I’m going to find friends, just maybe not right away.
I don’t have to be Miss Impossible, but if I can do all challenging courses, why not?
I should follow my interests
I should just be myself: Socially, academically, etc. because that’s how I’m going to find friends, and I have now.

Good luck (: