<p>Well 2 and a half hours a day is pretty dedicated to me. I run about 5 miles a day, although I have been slacking off lately due to a large homework load. I’m in my schools gifted and talented program, which is super easy except for the numerous useless projects that have just been piling up, one after another until they just can’t be ignored 
I was wondering what my chances for college will be based on high school. I am currently applying to one of the top ten schools in the country, with (based on my entrance test and killer essays) a 75% chance of acceptance, where I would most likely be only in the top 10% of scorers, have a 3 hour bus ride, and not be able to compete on the school math team (which is crazily competitive). But, I would have access to the best teachers, state of the art labs, and math classes as far as I require them. Or, I could go to a top 100 school with a better cross country team, strong chance at class valedictorian, and more time to play piano at home. I would be sacrificing math, lab research, and the competitive student body. I think I will choose the magnet school (assuming I get in) but my parents are trying to push me to do the neighborhood school so that I get enough sleep (they dont know I stay up to 12 studying SATs. lol)</p>
<p>I used to go to a public school, but they kept pressuring me to skip a grade. I live in Las Vegas, and we have one of the worst school systems (although our hotel management programs are legendary 
). Now I go to Stanford’s OHS, which is an online distance school, and they allow me to take harder classes. The homework load is pretty heavy, though. Good luck getting into the magnet school!</p>
<p>Okay everyone, let’s talk class schedules!!!
Here is my (tentative) class schedule for ninth grade at my base school (NOT the magnet school I’m applying to):</p>
<p>Algebra 2 (Online, over summer)
Precalculas Honors
AP Statistics
PE 9
English 9 Honors
Biology Honors
World History and Geography 1 Honors (online)
French 2
Computer Science</p>
<p>Tenth Grade:
Chemistry (online, summer)
AP Calc BC
English 10 Honors
AP World History
French 3
AP Chem
Physics Honors (online)
PE 10
AP Computer Science</p>
<p>Eleventh:
Multivariable Calc and Linear Algebra (Post - AP)
AP US Histury
AP English Lang
French 4
AP Physics
Psychology
STEM Engineering
Geosystems (online)</p>
<p>Senior Year:
College Math (ummm whatever happens after Calc 3)
AP English Lit
AP US Gov
AP French
AP Enviromental Science
AP Biology
AP Psychology
AP Macro and Micro (online)</p>
<p>The biggest question is: How crazy am I? I also participate in music and athletics at the national level, requiring (both combined) four to five hours a day. But, I am a Gifted and Talented student at a top district with only straight As. Also, I have a strong work ethic, am very efficient, and can go on less than 6 hours of sleep without coffee. Will I be able to maintain a 3.9 GPA with this load?</p>
<p>Thanks for welcoming us to this community. I’ve recently applied for IB so my pathway has already been set to PRE-IB. I thought you needed an online course so I took computer and business skills online but I recently found out that you don’t need to take it if you are doing IB. I’m constantly debating myself on which language to take, Spanish or French. I wanted to take Japanese or Chinese but sadly they didn’t have the languages I was looking for. My lowest grade in Algebra I was a 99 and I currently have a 99 in Geometry Honors. Looking forward to Algebra 2 Honors next year!</p>
<p>Here is my current pathway. </p>
<p>9th Grade
English I PIB
Algebra 2 Honors
AP European History
Biology I PIB
French or Spanish I PIB
Drama I PIB </p>
<p>I want to take Spanish but I can’t really roll my tongue. Any advice for the works of IB? I heard that they receive little sleep and work on 3-7 hours of homework per day.</p>
<p>My school has a IBCC program which is IB mixed in with Business but I’m pretty sure I don’t want to take that.</p>
<p>@Jabberwocky, your schedule sounds ridiculous to me. Yes, you should take difficult classes, but not seven at a time for four years straight. That schedule alone will probably give you 4-5+ hours of homework a day, and with other commitments, you might go a little bit crazy. A few pointers: You don’t need to take regular psych before AP - the AP class is an introduction to the subject. Same deal with physics - yes, it might help to have some background knowledge before you jump into AP, but there will be a LOT of redundancy if you take the regular class. Also, your school might do this differently, but in my area, French 4 == French AP. I’m sure there are a few other tweaks you can make… remember, you are not a robot.</p>
<p>@Kysanx, I have no personal experience with IB but have heard similar comments from friends who are in the program. As far as your language goes, learning to roll your tongue will probably be easier than mastering a French accent, lol. Just choose which language you’d rather learn. Btw, nice job on your math grades!</p>
<p>I’m graduating this year (currently waiting on college decisions! woo) and here are my pearls of wisdom for you kids: high school should be fun. Please don’t get caught in the CC trap… it sucks. Rather than waste your time studying for the SAT and comparing yourself to superheroes, spend it getting involved in things you like and having fun with them. High school is your time to explore different subjects and activities, so take advantage of it!</p>
<p>@stupiddorkyidiot,
Thanks for the nice comment. I’m sure people will flourish because of your statement about high school! I’m mostly a shy boy so I don’t really talk in school and I’m bad with adults such as making a proper conversation with them and saying “Yeah”. Each time I do that, I feel like an idiot. I’m trying to make a High School resolution where I become less shy and become part of the community. Haha, I guess! Lucky, we don’t get our IB course selection sheet until March 8th.</p>
<p>Kysanx: You should do Spanish because it is spoken everywhere in the US. But, you should also do chinese online. There are some great online resources, or Rosetta Stone, that can help prepare you for the AP test (I think they offer one for chinese. If not, they should:)) Taking two languages really looks good for the IB diploma as they are all about being international. Also, about the whole shy thing, you should try to join some extracurricular activity like math club. I did that this year for MathCounts, and it was a great experience. It let me break from the stereotype of the dumb blonde, and let me be who I really am, which was definitely a relief.
Stupiddorkyidiot (that’s funny, your name totally describes me :P): Thanks for the advice on classes. I wish I could skip physics, psychology, and french 4, but my bueracratic (sorry, don’t spell) school district won’t let me. Also, I am thinking of skipping the geosystems and AP Enviromental Science track because it doesn’t really align with my interests (neuroscience). Now, I know high school is supposed to be a little more relaxed than my vision of it, but to achieve my dreams of being a PhD/MD in neuroscience and neurosurgery - which I’ve already completely mapped out - I’m going to need to be the best of the best, and that process starts in high school.</p>
<p>JabberWocky7: Haha, I’m in the math team currently and I’m going to participate in the MathCounts. I’m like the worst because there’s so many tricky questions that is applied into real-life situations. Hmm… I might think of doing that! I could do Florida Virtual School for Chinese but I might need someone to look over that!</p>
<p>That’s cool:) When I did MathCounts, I was pretty bad too (mainly because I live in an area known for its driven qualities, and in a school that is the top feeder into one of the three top high schools, which I have applied to and am awaiting desicion). So, I started doing about one practice test a day, three on weekends, raising my school competition score to 29. But there were like twenty 30s ahead of me, so I didn’t make the team :(. Besides, the extracurricular recomendation, I can’t really help you on being more on the outgoing side. I am so busy in my life (basically wakeup, go to school, play piano for 3-4 hours, run 5 miles, do homework, study for SATs/ PreCalculas, sleep, repeat) that I don’t really have time to develop good relationships where I can feel truly myself. Plus, I move every 2 -3 years. Just try to talk to three people in each of your classes each day about homework or lunch or the weather or something, even if it sounds stupid. They’ll slowly get used to the daily conversation and then KABLAMMOO! you are friends. </p>
<p>I personally have a Chinese friend whose mother wants her to become fluent in Mandarin taking classes from the Florida Virtual School for Chinese, and according to her it is the only place her mom trusts to give her daughter chinese lessons (besides Rosetta Stone), so it must be good. Still, I’d check with your school counselor what program they recomend.</p>
<p>Everyone on this thread seems so driven! My seventh grade SAT scores were in the 80 percentile. Moreover, I’m not STEM oriented and will only be taking Geometry as a Freshman (these Pre-Calculus freshman students make me look bad!) I’m more into Humanities and the Arts; maybe I’ll have the arts as my major.</p>
<p>@JaberWocky7: You are so lucky. You get to take Precalculus but I’m not going to sweat myself in Algebra 2 in the summer. I really don’t like Geometry because its basically about triangles but I guess that side of my brain is weaker than my other side. I’m thinking of trying to play the piano since my sister recently got one. </p>
<p>@GoldenRatio: That’s great that Art is your forte. I can’t even draw even if my life is threatened with a dead or life situation! Whenever I draw a girl, it would look like a pineapple.</p>
<p>I agree that I cannot fathom how you can be so good at the arts. I can play the piano, but only through the brute force of hours of practice. Do you plan to go to one of those high schools with a focus on the arts? Unfortunetly where I live we have no such choice, so a lot of artsy (ie: music, dance, reading, poetry) people have to go to boring old schools or shell out 30,000+ for a private arts academy. Also, which of the arts do you specialize in. It’s sortta a broad and overgeneralized term, much like science.</p>
<p>I’m really going to have to make some decisions soon. We’re receiving our high school choice slips soon and I have already decided which high school I want to go to but not which program. The high school I’m going to has 3 programs - Hospitality & Tourism, Health Science, and STEM. Health Science is out of the question - I have no interest whatsoever in pursuing a career in the medical field. My dream job would be to work as a software engineer but neither high school offers that option so my next best bet would be STEM. The problem is that the STEM program at my future high school focuses on more industrial types of engineering such as chemical and mechanical engineering. The Hospitality & Tourism track looks more attractive to me since if I do decide to pick it, I will do the culinary arts pathway which sounds like a lot of fun and something I would look forward to everyday whereas if I picked the STEM program I might not enjoy it at all. I still need to find out EXACTLY what classes I would take if I picked one or the other but for now I am leaning towards the Hospitality & Tourism track. Any suggestions on what I should pick for the rest of my high school career would be greatly appreciated. :)</p>
<p>I would suggest you do the STEM pathway OR do the Hospitality and Tourism track and just do AP Computer Science and AP Calculas sometime in your high school years(preferably even higher than that:)). That at least will show colleges that you like software engineering even if you didn’t take the STEM pathway. Also, you may want to enroll in online courses from places like CTY (I think they have a couple software style online courses). Now, I wouldn’t suggest entering in every online course you see, as some are VERY basic, and I assuming that you are pretty advanced. Mainly though, if you intend to pursue software engineering as a career, I would just spend a lot of your free time programming and such so that you develop your skills on your own. Hope that helped:)
~written with the help of my computer programmer extraordinare friend</p>
<p>Thanks so much! I’m checking out the CTY website and it looks awesome! I recently sent an email to the dean at the high school I’m going to asking about what AP courses are available next year and what grade level are we allowed to take them. Fingers crossed for AP Computer Science and AP Calculus BC during junior year (maybe AP Computer Science in Sophomore). I will also be attending a local 6 week summer program called PREP (Pre-freshman Engineering Program) which will be hosted by the top engineering university in my city. We will be covering the basics of computer science, engineering, and some advanced math topics. Hopefully this will help in the college admissions process. I’m also looking into some science and math related clubs to join during freshman year. I’m planning to join only the ones I’m genuinely interested in - no need to cram up on ECs just to make an impression if they don’t really mean anything to me. If you or your friend have any other advice for me, I will gladly take it. :)</p>
<p>I love CTYOnline. I’ve been doing CTY itself for over 3 years, I think. Now that I’m going into high school, I can finally use it for summer classes/receiving credits. </p>
<p>What sucks about my high school though is that we have “credit limits”, so we can only get 70 credits per academic year. It’s kind of limiting because I want to be really rigorous with my schedule (including summer classes) but I have to boot off some classes here and there because of the limit.</p>
<p>Anyway, my tentative 9th grade schedule (assuming there are seats in all electives) is:</p>
<p>Algebra 2/Trigonometry (Highest math level you can get to in 9th grade in our district…)
Lit/Writing (Required Language Arts Class)
Computer Science Java (Taking AP in either 10th or 11th because of those credit limits…)
Art (Fine arts requirement for 1 year; might as well do it in 9th grade)
French 2
Physical Education
Biology (Required 9th grade science; after 9th grade I can choose any science)</p>
<p>Taking Honors Precalc NEXT summer (2014) so I can take AP Calc BC in 10th grade.</p>
<p>What do you guys think?</p>
<p>And @Jabberwocky: You guys are so lucky that you can take APs in 9th grade. We can’t.</p>
<p>You have an EPIC schedule! I still haven’t heard back from the dean at the high school I will be attending on whether or not I can take AP classes in freshman year but I did send the email during the weekend and it has only been a little more than 12 hours since I sent the email. If all goes well my freshman year schedule will go as follows (please note that Pre-AP is the equivalent of Honors):</p>
<ol>
<li>Spanish IV AP Language (aka AP Spanish Language)</li>
<li>Pre-AP Geometry (I’m one grade level ahead in math courses)</li>
<li>Pre-AP English I</li>
<li>AP Human Geography (If the high school I’m going to approves)</li>
<li>Pre-AP Biology</li>
<li>Principles of Hospitality and Tourism (If I join the Hospitality & Tourism career house. I might pick STEM, still not sure)</li>
<li>Academic Decathlon I (If my high school offers it next year)/Computer Science I (It’s different from AP Computer Science and only if my high school offers it next year)/French I</li>
</ol>
<p>I’m a 17er! And this is my first post.</p>
<p>Just curious, are any of you planning on self studying some AP courses? If I don’t end up doing CTY AP courses, I will probably self study AP Environmental Science (because I LOVE science), AP Human Geography (if the school board does not approve of me taking it in 9th grade), and AP Psychology (because from what I have seen it is super interesting). I know these are considered “joke” AP courses but I don’t want to overwork myself during my first year of high school. I want to enjoy my high school experience as much as possible without burning myself out.</p>
<p>I’m not planning on self-studying because I don’t want to do APs in ninth grade. I don’t think my school offers that. And what do you mean by joke APS?</p>