And a Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah, today!
Jesus Christ. Helicopter parenting starts even earlier now.
If anyone needs any sagely advice from a high school junior, my figurative door is open 24/7. Get off this site though. Cherish the halcyon days of middle school, because high school will destroy you at some point.
@Wolfgangbread My parents don’t give a **** about my grades and school performance. I do this for myself. And by the way, life has already destroyed me.
You remind me of myself a little. Keep doing what you’re doing.
Hey everybody! Here’s my 9th grade class schedule:
English 1 Honors
Geometry Honors
Biology Honors
AP Human Geography
Dance Techniques 1
Dance Techniques 2- Basically, I’m in the Fine Arts Academy for dance and I take two periods of it.
Spanish 3 Honors- online during first semester
Spanish 4 Honors- online during second semester
We haven’t officially chosen our classes yet, but I’ve looked at the planning guide, my teacher’s recommendations for what level (honors or college prep), and other options as well (including what classes conflict with what), and here’s what I came up with:
If anybody saw my high school class plan thread, you probably already know, but here it is anyway.
Summer School before 9th grade:
Biologhy H: this is mostly because I want to pursue something science-related in the future, so if I take this right now, I will be able to take more science classes later on, and take Chemistry H during freshmen year
9th grade: as of now, there are no APs available to 9th graders, and I have been recommended by my teachers for all honors classes
Chemistry H
Algebra 2 H
Phys Ed 9: all year long and mandatory, takes up an entire class of time, unfortunately
Global Studies 1 H
English 1 H
Spanish 2 H: I’m taking Spanish 2 because that is the one that is directly after completing middle school Spanish
9th Grade Art H
Communication Design 1 H and 2 H (two semesters): basically just digital art
@Wolfgangbread Thank you for offering advice, and I will be sure to contact you with any questions, however I think I am experiencing middle school pretty well right now, and I have plenty of free time, even if it is piled with loads of stress. To be honest, I think I have long surpassed the point in which my days were carefree, stressfree, and… free. I appreciate you caring for us ignorant 8th graders entering high school, but as of now, College Confidential is really helping me with making important decisions regarding high school, and understanding problems that may occur in high school, so I do not think I will stop going on CC just yet.
Nice! Just ended first semester with a 4.0 avg, woot woot. Here’s my tentative freshman year class schedule:
Dual Enrollment Precalculus/Trigonometry (a college class that gives me two credits!)
AP World History
Chemistry Honors
Chinese II Honors
English I Honors
Choir III or V (choir director is letting me try out for the advanced junior/senior choir, fingers crossed!!)
May or may not take English over the summer and use the free class slot to take either AP Music Theory or Journalism - I figure that if I’m going to change up my schedule like that in order to take an extra elective, freshman year is the best time to do it in order to not make too many waves. Y’all seem like you know what you’re doing, so keep on keepin’ on!
@chrysalism Congrats on the 4.0! Personally, I’d suggest taking English over the summer, but it would take a huge chunk away from your summer. When I ask other people for their opinion about summer school, they usually say not to take it because “enjoy your summer” and “enjoy your childhood” and “enjoy your free time while you have it”, but I’m still going to Biology over the summer because taking an extra course, at least in my opinion, is beneficial.
I’m in the class of 2020 and if any of you want any advice on classes/difficulty/high school in general, let me know! I’d be happy to help. 
Btw, I don’t think you’re too young to be on cc. I think it’s a great site for discussing school in general, whether it’s about high school or college or both.
Oh, and also I have to agree, enjoy 8th grade while it lasts. 8th was my best year since elementary school, and I honestly wish I could go back sometimes lol.
Omg there’s already a thread!
Hey guys! Here’s my freshman schedule
Honors algebra 1 (I’ll take geometry next summer to get caught up)
Honors biology
Honors world history
English 9
Robotics 1
Cumputer software 1
Engineering
French 1
Clean energy technology 1
Do y’all think I should take honors English 9, I’m just not sure because I got a 91% (my teacher grades very hard) and I need high A’s for my dream schools!
@HSstudent how hard is honors English 9?
I’m a senior about to graduate, and I have some advice that I really wish someone told me before I entered high school. If you are thinking about attending a top tier college, that is.
- All classes you take besides the foreign language should lead to AP courses, try to take at least 10 AP courses before high school ends, don’t fill your electives with too many “fun” classes like culinary arts or jewelry, take all the science.
- It is important to join student organizations, but don’t join a whole ton, just dedicate yourself to a few, win some state-wide award that sounds beefy before senior year, because your high school realistically ends in junior year.
- Get 100 hours of voluntary service.
- Find a job or internship before senior year even if it’s just for one summer.
- Grades matter a lot, don’t slack off freshmen year and think you’ll catch up later, I made that mistake and spent the last 2 years fixing that, realistically, you want to be in the top 5% at least.
- Study for SAT in your sophomore year, because PSAT is in junior year and winning national merit is a huge boost towards resume.
- Be a president/captain of some clubs, even if it’s a super tiny club, found a club and claim president if you have to, the college won’t go and check how many people you actually lead.
I suspect someone will call me out and tell me it’s too objective, college take a holistic approach and such, but realistically when you fill out that common application and submit your resume, what I listed is what you can put on the application, and that is what matters.
@standford200381 I think you should take honors because colleges would prefer to see you challenge yourself and get a B than get an A on college prep level. Although colleges would of course prefer an A in challenging classes but still.
I am a bit nervous about going all out on honors classes, and even having two honors art electives (I’m pretty serious about art, so it’s both a “fun” and an “important” class). I know a lot of upperclassmen however that have done all honors and they were fine.
@Cookiegod Thank you so much for the advice! I think that I have most of those planned out already, but is national merit really important? I’ve been getting mixed answers.
I am so excited and nervous for high school. My high school has this thing called “Lunch and Learn”. Basically the entire school has a one hour lunch period in which they can do anything they want anywhere. My 8th grade teachers are “preparing us for high school” by jacking up the homework load, so time has started to become really tight. Agh. Good news is that I’ve applied for two volunteering positions for the summer and I hope to get into at least one.
Hello! I am also part of the class of 2021, glad to see there’s already a thread for this. I am a bit nervous for high school, since my schedule contains 2 APs and the school I am going to is notorious for a very high workload…
I am also going to try and get into their Science Olympiad team, even though I probably won’t :(, the team there has won Nationals pretty much every other year. I know a freshman who has made it onto their “B” team, and it seems like she has been studying for the Anatomy and Physiology event since before she exited the womb.
@raventhemage Yeah I know, I decided to take honors English last night. I think it has to do with my teacher just having a preference and grading really hard (even my other teacher in the class said she grades really hard.) Considering I’m one of the only ones in her class that have an A I think I can handle honors.
@noegip OMG I do Science Olympiad competitively as well! The high school I am going into is HARRITON High School. I’m assuming you are something like Troy, Mira Loma, Seven Lakes, or the like. It’s good to meet a fellow Science Olympian among College Confidential As of now, I am in the middle school that won the DuPont award in 2016 (with a little digging you can find which school). My goal for high school is to get into the team before or during sophomore year, and to become team captain. They are pretty difficult goals, but aim high and hit low is my philosophy.
So what events are you doing? This year I’m doing Invasive Species, Meteorology, Dynamic Planet, Anatomy and Physiology, and Ecology.
@raventhemage Harriton? That’s awesome! I’m going to Troy, maybe we’ll see each other at Nationals in a year or two? 
You’re doing FIVE events?! I’m only doing three, Microbe Mission, Experimental Design, and Fast Facts. I already feel like I spend so much time studying, how do you keep up?
@noegip Yeah, I’m doing five events, and I just happen to have no conflicts for both regionals and states, so the coaches are putting me on for all five. Studying is pretty intense, I spend around 15-60 minutes each night on each event depending on my mood and workflow. I just have this natural knack for earthy study events (all of my events cover biological/earth sciences lol), but I absolutely suck at building XD.
It would be great to see you at Nationals! Harriton takes their entire team (regardless if they’re on the competition team) to Nationals so if you go next year we can find a place to meetup!