High School Course Advice

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hi,

Since my high school counselor hasn’t really met my expectations, I thought I would come here for some help regarding my classes! My apologies if this is in the wrong subforum, I couldn’t find the right one :confused:

So I’m doing online school currently and am just finishing Grade 10 (July end date). I plan to major in Computer Science and minor in Business (or something along these lines) and hope to go to an elite college such as the ones I listed below. I’m looking for any advice/confirmation on my course planner so I can achieve my dreams. I currently have a 4.0 GPA and have started my own business without any parental help. I hope that within the next two years I can design a mobile application or website for my online school, which is pretty out-of-date. Now that you know some of my backstory, let’s get into the courses and schools!

Major- Computer Science
Minor- Business
** It is my understanding (from a previous post) that calculus is pretty much a must for a CS degree. Since I have 2 years left and I need to take 3 full math courses in order, does anyone have any suggestions?

Grade 9 Classes-

Simple pass or fail homeschool classes (wasn’t a great time of my high school career)

Grade 10 Classes-
World Lit.
World History
Geometry
Biology
Computer Science and Coding
International Business
Entrepreneurship

Grade 11 Classes-
AP Language and Comp.
AP Psychology
Honors Algebra 2
French

Summer-
Honors PreCalc

Grade 12 Classes-
AP Literature and Comp.
American History
AP Calculus
French 2
Physics (possibly AP)
Art (don’t want to go into specifics)

Schools:

Dream-

Harvard
MIT
Stanford

Reach-
U Washington
UCLA
Vanderbilt
CalTech

Most Probable-
UCI
UCSD
UCSB

Safety-
CU Boulder
University of Oregon

My questions are:

  1. Are there any courses you think I need (or should) take for my schools and major?
  2. Are there any other school suggestions you have for me?
  3. How should I proceed with my calculus course(s)? From my knowledge, I have to take calculus which means I have to take precalculus which means I have to take algebra 2. I have to do 30 months worth of courses for a maximum of 22 months, I don't know if I would be able to finish all my math courses 2-3 months early.
  4. Are there any potential ECs you think I would be interested in?
  5. Any other suggestions or comments are welcome! I have very little knowledge of college admissions and neither do my parents. My school counselor has let me down by not telling me crucial information such as the importance of calculus and my college chances. I am not really looking for my "college chances" as I've already made a post in that subforum. I am looking for insight into my classes and any suggestions regarding it.

Thank you all very very much!
Sorry for grammar mistakes:)

2

For some reason, I’ve forgotten to include the most important part of my post-

I am super interested in taking computer science courses. The ones offered by my school are JavaScript-focused which is not exactly the language I would like to take. Do you guys suggest I take a Computer Science college course (or a few) from an online university? Or should I continue to take it through my school? I don’t exactly need the credits and learning a more valuable language while getting college course experience could help me a lot, correct?

Also, are there any suggestions about online college courses? I’m not sure how to research this:)

Thank you!!

3

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/2055289-faq-high-school-college-prep-base-curriculum.html

Beyond the base curriculum described in the above link, you may want to add AP CS principles or a similar college course or go through http://cs10.org on your own.

4

@ucbalumnus

Thank you for the reply. I believe I check as many of those boxes as I can. My questions for this specific thread are focused on scheduling and college courses vs ap.

5

You’ll need to relook at your college list. For one, Harvard expects four years of a foreign language.

6

Caltech also expects a year of chemistry. (Caltech also had a lower admission rate than MIT this year, BTW.) http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/content/academic-preparation-requirements

What are you doing for English classes? Most colleges expect 4 years of English in high school.

JavaScript is a reasonable starting language for CS. Python is probably better as a learning language. The AP CS class uses Java (which is not the same as JavaScript).

7

@“Erin’s Dad”

I should have elaborated- I do not plan on aiming for Harvard, CalTech and MIT, these are just schools I’ve listed potential interest in and might apply just for the slim chance of admission.

Since you said “You’ll need to relook at your college list. For one…” I assume you mean there is more wrong with my list. If you could please elaborate rather than simply listing one issue with it. From looking at admission requirements, I meet all the requirements and recommendations for most school, only missing out on some language recommendations which I don’t imagine will be a big deal considering my circumstances.

@Ynotgo

Thanks for the reply. I had CalTech and in the wrong category, thanks for the information! Do you recommend Physics or Chemistry? There is a small possibility I will be doing an Engineering major so I wanted to take physics first to see if I like this kind of work. Maybe I can fit in Chem :slight_smile:

My English courses are listed above, I have 4 years: grade 9 p/f, World Literature, AP Lang. and Comp., and AP Lit. and Comp.

My mistake, I was told that the AP CS class was in Java Script. Do you recommend I do this AP CS class or do more intriguing (to me) and helpful college cs classes?

8

Your grade 11 schedule should look something like:
(study for PSAT between now and October. In October Jr year, take PSAT and try to score as high as possible for scholarship; take regular SAT in the Spring, SAT SUbject US History and Chemistry in May or June)
AP Lang
APUSH or US history honors
Honors Algebra 2
Honors Chemistry

If you can take dual enrollment classes take (college) French 1 and 2 through dual enrollment, so that snior year you can start in high school French 3 or 4. Reaching level 3 or 4 is very important to most selective colleges.

Elective: AP CS Principles

Summer:
precalculus

Grade 12
AP social science of your choice
AP Calculus
Honors English or AP English Lit
Honors Physics or AP Physics 1
French 4 (or3, depending on how your CC courses were counted)
Electives: Dual enrollment CS classes

What state do you live in? What’s your budget for college?

9

If you are considering engineering, you need 3-4 years of science at many schools, so add chemistry to your junior year course load.

10

I feel I should clarify, these are my planned units -

English: 4
Mathematics: 5
Science: 3 (2 labs, can add chem)
Social Studies: 4 (2 of which are history)
Language: 2 (It’s a terrible course for online)
Art: 1
CS: 1-3 (depending on if I take college cs or not)
Electives: ~5 (more or less depending on college courses)

@MYOS1634

Thanks for the information! I am blessed in having my tuition paid for, money is not a concern for me and my family. I am from Canada also.

In regards to the schedule you provided, I quite frankly hate history and it’s the one course I actually have some struggles in- I don’t think it would be a great idea for me to take AP USH. Also, taking languages online is something that I find very tedious and frustrating. Is it a dealbreaker for most colleges that I have these courses taken? Is two years really not sufficient?

I’m very uneducated with this system (hence why I am on this forum), could you please elaborate on the PSAT and Subject Tests and their importance? I understand that SAT/ACTs are a very important part of the admissions process, but I’ve never really heard of the other two. Is the PSAT strictly for scholarships? Without trying to sound entitled, scholarships don’t really benefit me (as much as they would other students anyway).

You (and a number of other people) proposed that I take precalc during the summer between grade 11 and grade 12. Is this actually possible to do? I understand you don’t know me very well, but taking a 10 month honors course in 2 months seems rather impossible to me. Could you elaborate on this, please?

How does this sound:

GRADE 11:

AP Language and Comp.
US History
French
Honors Alg 2
AP Physics
AP CompSci Principles

PSAT
Subject test (depending on my best subjects) in Spring
SAT in Spring

SUMMER:

Honors PreCalc
Online College Course on Computer Science

GRADE 12:
AP Literature and Comp.
AP Psychology
AP Calc
Chemistry (Maybe honors but I suck at chem)
Art Class
Online College Course on CS (depending on how the last one went)

ECs-

Owning own business without parental help and over 10,000 in annual revenue
Coding a website or application for my online school, free of charge.
More, less exciting ECs

11
  1. If you plan to be majoring in computer science, you should be taking an AP Computer Science course during some point in your high school career.
  2. Look into UMass Amherst. Their Isenberg School of Business is one of the best in the nation and they have a really good computer science program too.
  3. It seems like a good plan. Keep in mind that there are two AP Calc courses: AP Calc AB and AP Calc BC. AP Calc AB covers the material for Calc I while AP Calc BC covers the material for Calc I and II. Taking AP Calc BC will look much better on your schedule, but if you aren't comfortable taking it, stick to AP Calc AB.
  4. Honestly, it depends on the type of person you are. If there are some ECs which stick out to you and you are interested in, join the EC for a day and see what you think. Worst case, you don't like it and you don't show up again. I am unable to tell you which ECs I'd recommend for you, so it's up to you to find some you'd like.
  5. If I have to give you any advice, don't slack off with your AP classes. AP courses normally have an hour of homework each night, so it's going to be important to do your homework or you'll fall far behind. At the same time, don't take so many APs that it stresses you out. I heard there was a person who took 5 APs and several ECs and couldn't take it anymore at a certain point. She ended up copying an essay from online and got stripped of all her AP course credits. That said, weigh in how much you can handle with your course schedule.
12

The vast majority of colleges require you to have two years of the same foreign language while you’re in high school. The strongest colleges want 3/4 years. You look like you will be short foreign language. This is an issue you need to fix.

The stronger colleges will want:

  • 4 years English, emphasis composition
  • 4 years lab science, including bio, chem, and physics
  • 4 years math, ideally through calc
  • 2/3 years of history/social science, including 1 US history and 1 world history
  • 1 year arts
  • 3/4 years of the same foreign language

You talk about the UCs. They have very specific requirements, call the “A-G Classes”. Please look those up and make sure you’re taking them.

13

Thank you both for such amazing information, @RoaringMice @simberry2

Roaring,

I will definitely be short of a foreign language when I graduate. As much as I want to get into an elite college, doing three full-year online languages is not something that is on the table (right now anyway). Earlier in my Grade 10, I took Spanish but ended up dropping it because it took so many redos, glitches, and other tedious submissions just to finish my classes.

Apart from that, I think my planned schedule checks all your boxes. I plan to take 4 years of English with two AP composition courses; 4 years of science with 3 labs (bio, chem, and physics); 5 units of math through 4 years while completing AP calculus; 2 Histories including world and US; 2 Social studies, one being AP Psych; 1 year of arts; 2 languages.

I believe this covers their A-G Class requirements. Could someone please double check for me to ensure I didn’t screw up? Thank you very much.

Simberry,

  1. Okay. I think I will take AP Computer Science next year and then go from there.
  2. I definitely will! That seems like a great school, especially if I decide I want to take business as my major.
  3. Thank you for clarifying! I'll see what my grades and scheduling is like next year and decide from there.
  4. Great advice! Honestly, I'm not much of an EC kind of guy. I spend most of my time traveling or at my cottage up north so I don't have a lot of time to spend on that kind of stuff. I'm trying to focus on colleges with less importance on ECs but I'll definitely check out any.
  5. I'll definitely be sure to limit myself. This is one of my biggest concerns, especially considering my background and situation. I'll probably be taking normal Chemistry and US History, as these courses are challenging enough for me. I don't do too many ECs (if I do have ECs, I do them for fun or work), so I think that will help me out. I'll be sure not to copy an essay from the internet:) Haha

Thank you both very much! I feel so much more confident with the help of this forum. Before I made any posts on this forum, I didn’t plan on taking calc, US history, or chemistry. It’s unfortunate that my high school counselor let me down like this (mainly cause letter of recommendation), but I’m glad I received a lot of the help I need.

14

Will you need financial aid/scholarships?

See if you can take foreign language at a local community college. If you complete level 1+2 at a cc; it counts as three years of HS foreign language. Add one more semester, and you meet the requirements for all universities.

Do you HAVE TO attend an online high school? What about a public or charter school near you?

15

@MYOS1634

I will not need financial aid nor scholarships.

To be quite honest with you, I must prefer online learning as my family, friends and I are very active in traveling. We also live far away from most schools, so it would be very inconvenient for me to go to a regular school.

What I’m getting from this post is that foreign language is extremely important. Is this truly a potential deal-breaker for these colleges? That seems super weird to me. Do you think it would be as important if I discussed the struggles I’ve had with the online language classes?

Thank you.

16

Foreign language is one of the five core subjects (with English, math, science, and social science). As you’ve seen before, many universities also expect art and electives of your choice, for a total of 24+ academic classes over 4 years.

If you and your family travel a lot, then online school makes sense, but the guidance counselor your virtual hs provider offers isn’t very good if they never told you about foreign language, history, or calc. So it might be worth it to investigate another provider.

Go to Khan academy to practice for the sat and to study math online :slight_smile:

A few books you may be able to get are:
Admissions possible; the college solution; Fiske guide; Princeton Review’s best colleges.

17

Some foreign languages may also be useful for travelers, depending on where you travel to.

18

@MYOS1634

I’ve been researching to find a new counselor but I have had struggles finding someone. Most of the search results are courses to become high school counselors.

Thank you for all the advice!

Here’s my current academic planner. If you (or anyone else!) could please leave a comment with any input, that would be great!

GRADE 11:

AP Language and Comp.
US History
French
Honors Alg 2
AP Physics
AP CompSci

SUMMER:

Honors PreCalc
Online College Course on Computer Science (or third party)

GRADE 12:

AP Literature and Comp.
AP Psychology
AP Calculus
Chemistry (Maybe honors but I suck at chem)
Art Class
Online College Course on CS (depending on how the last one went, maybe AP CS Principles instead)

19

@ucbalumnus

I don’t really plan on travelling after I graduate

20

Sorry for the bump but I am in the process of finalizing my 2018-2019 Grade 10 courses and would like some more feedback on the courses I’ve listed two posts above.

Thank you