Freshman Scheduling Help!

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hello folks,

I’ll be going into high school this September, and the time to choose schedules is now.

Our district has something called the “Gifted Program”, basically where “gifted” kids are taken aside into a class called “Challenge” in elementary and middle school, or a class called “Academic Seminar” in high school. These classes occur once every three days in high school, instead of study hall (and that means you get no study halls at all if you choose Academic Seminar), and from what I know, have a lot of work involved. They are worth .33 elective credits and do not count towards GPA, since it goes as Pass/Fail.

My question is: should I do Academic Seminar?

I’ve asked multiple high school students that have chosen/not chosen to continue with the program, and they all said they were happy with their choice and would not change it.

Some background info: I will be doing all honors, and I am a pretty busy person.

Thank you, and have a day that’s good :slight_smile:

2

Some students- athletes for example- often need a study hall to get work done. If you don’t need study hall and the option is this seminar or study hall you should take the seminar.

3

If you are a busy person, then a study hall period can come in handy. I would see if you can find out a little more about the content covered in “Academic Seminar” and if you find that it’s something that would be really beneficial to you, then take it. The biggest question for you is: can you balance your time effectively enough?

4

I’d sit down and discuss this with your parents or a school counselor. Do you think it would be something you’d enjoy? For me personally, I enjoyed having a study hall to get some last minute studying in. If you don’t need that (think very carefully about this) and don’t mind having less time to yourself don’t do it. If you feel like it would be good for you and not get in the way of your core classes, do it.