Freshman with Ivy League plans

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>I'm going to be entering the freshman class of high school this fall, and I'm a very driven student that is hoping to be admitted into higher-level education universities. I have no one in particular, but one's like Harvard, Penn, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, and MIT come into mind. Forecasting for my freshman year classes is coming up soon, and I'm trying to plan the most rigorous course load available to me, that is doable and allowed for my grade. Here is what I think my schedule will look like:</p>

<p>Literature and Composition 10 (REQUIRED)
AP US History (if I'm able to test into it)
STEM Chemistry (considered advanced)
Pre-Calculus (I'm in Algebra II as an 8th grader, this is where I'll qualify)
Health 1 (REQUIRED)
A PE class (REQUIRED)</p>

<p>Electives:
Spanish II
Various marketing and business classes that cannot be advanced.</p>

<p>Please let me know what you think of this course plan, and keep in mind that's a freshman schedule, so my options are limited. Any help is appreciated, thanks!</p>

2

<p>Most of this website is devoted to selective college admissions. Is there anything you want to know specifically? </p>

3

<p>Yes, I made a mistake by posting that… I changed it to what I’m wondering about, halcyonheather . </p>

4

<p>Is there any way this schedule could be more challenging given what your school offers and would allow you to take? If not, it’s fine. If so, how?</p>

5

<p>Given what my school offers, no I don’t think my course capacity could expand much beyond this. I need to contact a counselor to see exactly which classes are considered Honors, but other than that, I think I’ll be asserting myself in the maximum way with those classes, given what my school offers. Any other ideas?</p>

6

<p>It might help to think about what classes you need/want to be able to take in future years, and make sure that this schedule helps meet the prerequisites for them. </p>

<p>Outside of that, do you have any plans for extracurriculars?</p>

7

<p>Okay, that does make sense. Secondly, yes I have some plans for extracurriculars. I’m planning on joining my Speech and Debate Club at high school, doing Model United Nations, participating in DECA (a student business and entrepreneurship program,) possible join by high school golf team, and maybe a couple other things. Now I know these types of colleges crave leadership, so I’m not sure how I can obtain leadership in the things I do. I have pondered starting my own club, do you have any ideas on how I can get better with leadership, or any tips on what extracurriculars I should consider?</p>

8

<p>APUSH has roughly 2 hours of hw a day.</p>

9

<p>Yes I’ve heard that, although considering I want to take it, I figure I’ll do it as a freshman to just get it out of the way. However, I’m passionate about the subject and want to take it, not just slave through it.</p>

10

<p>I got an A in AP US and only did about 30 minutes per night. </p>

11

<p>^ AP score?, anyway it may vary, but at a rigorous hs it would be 2 hours.</p>

12

<p>4/5. Definitely feel that I could have gotten a 5, but I bombed one of the essays. AP World was much less homework, about 15 minutes per night of reading on normal days but you also had a DBQ and FR every month. I got a 4/5 in World, too.</p>

<p>It definitely varies by teacher. The homework for US was going through a set of pages, reading, and writing a summary of each sub topic. It was extremely tedious but you learned the material.</p>

13

<p>The workload in APUSH depends a lot on your school &/ teacher. At my school, I have to spend about 2~6 (depends on how much I procrastinated & how much work I was assigned in general) hours a week on the class, and I fare decently on the tests. Obviously I’m in the class atm, so I haven’t taken the test yet.</p>

<p>As for your course load, yeah, I definitely think its rigorous enough. Most freshmen don’t even get to take APs; I got lucky and was able to take AP HUG (joke AP class/test).</p>

14

<p>Were we not all Freshman with Ivy League dreams at one point? Things change, man. High School happens. LOL.
(unless you’re @StudiousMaximus, in which case your Ivy League dreams remain alive and well, and Ivies are actually dreaming of you.) </p>

<p>But in all seriousness, Freshman year should be a time spent becoming acclimated to high school and adjusting to rigorous courses - leave college planning for your upperclassmen days. Right now, just try to hustle for them A’s, son, and get involved in things that pique your interest. </p>

15

<p>“Don’t have a dream school, have a dream life.”</p>

<p>Unless that dream life is a front office job at JP Morgan lol.</p>

16

<p>^ u still get paid millions. Apparently they spent 1 billion on lawyers fees last year.</p>

17

<p>I took an Honors US History course, and I got a 5 on the AP exam so…</p>

18

<p>

</p>

<p>That’s how it works. They’ll pay $1 billion to save $2 billion every day of the week. </p>

19

<p>I don’t think I ever spent more then 2 hours a night a APUSH and more than an 45 minutes was very rare. I read every page of that book too, except the first and last chapter… what could a person be possibly doing for 5 hours?! Btw I got a five.</p>

<p>Advice: Get the best grades you can now & don’t waste any class time… that’s how you don’t have a full night of homework!</p>

20

<p>I truly envy people who had light workloads for APUSH. I spent hours every night writing out tedious outlines, essays, FRQs, DBQs, etc – and I work very quickly and I type rather fast – I was suffering with 3 hours a night while my friends had 6+ because of their own faulty work ethic (Facebook was still big back then.) </p>

<p>AP World consisted of maybe 20 minutes a night. It was such a refreshing change. </p>