Side note: no honors available at my school, only 4 AP classes, a few dual enrollments
8th:
Spanish I (98)
Freshman:
Algebra 1 (98)
Earth Science (96)
Global 9 (99)
English 9 (98)
Spanish II (99)
Chorus (98)
PE (95)
Education Internship (this thing where you go to an elementary school classroom to grade papers and make copies and stuff) (P on a P/F scale)
Sophomore:
Geometry
Living environment
Global 10; self-study APWH
English 10
Spanish III and IV(DE) (1 semester each)
Select vocal
PE
DE intro to sociology
DE public speaking
Intro to Computer Science
Health
Junior:
Algebra II/Trig; DE stats
Chemistry or possibly DE chem
APUSH
English 11
DE Spanish IV/V
Select Vocal
PE
DE intro to environmental studies
DE career and financial mgmt
most likely DE computer science
Summer:
DE pre-calculus
Senior:
DE Calculus 1 and 2 (school only has AP AB but I wanna take a harder class so this is my option)
AP bio, DE Physics
U.S. government, econ (1/2 semester each)
AP English Lit
DE Spanish V
Select Vocal
PE
DE psychology
I know it’s not that great; like I’m not taking calculus sophomore year like 75% of CCers, but this is my school’s most rigorous course load
If you wanna know why my math and science seem “remedial”, I’ll explain. But It’s too long of a story for right now.
I think it looks good, but triple check that this will satisfy your graduation requirements. It’s awesome that you’re taking the most challenging courses your school has to offer!
Here’s a comparison for reference:
Before High School:
Algebra 1, Geometry, Biology
Freshman:
Speech, Photography, Spanish, PE, Chem, Algebra 2, Research, Orchestra
Sophomore:
Orchestra, Spanish, AP World, AP Environmental, Ceramics, Drawing, Health, Pre-Calc
Junior:
AP Calc AB, AP Psych, Spanish, AP Comp Sci Principles, APUSH, Orchestra, AP Physics 1
Senior:
AP Micro, AP US Gov, AP Comp Gov, Orchestra, AP Spanish Lang, AP Chem, AP Stats, AP Lit
Summer:
English, English, US History, English
Yes, I’m filling all the grad reqs. Does nobody else have to take earth science?? Is that some wacky NY state thing??? ok, at first I thought your profile pic was a shark or whale…and then I realized it was a dog…
I always ask people doing these schedule checks about grad reqs because I know people who got so focused on APs and challenge that they forgot about, like, PE. And health. So then they had to totally change their schedule senior year so they would graduate, and then didn’t have all the courses they had planned on for college, and it’s a big mess. So do your grad reqs! Yes, I had to take Earth Science, but it’s an 8th grade requirement and does not show up on my transcript. And yes that is my pretty puppy
I saw that you posted on my high school plan, so I figured I’d return the favor for you. Of course, I’m not some guru or anything since I’m only a sophomore, but I’ll give it my best shot.
The jump from Algebra II to Calculus BC seems a bit extreme to me, especially since you haven’t taken any honors or advanced math courses thus far (not that it’s your fault). If I were in your position, I would just focus on skipping 1 year ahead and taking Calculus AB at your school. At this point, I really don’t think that taking Calculus BC over AB is going to help you much at all. You don’t have very many other tough courses, so one higher level in math won’t stand out tremendously.
Since you don’t have the opportunity to really “prove” yourself in terms of class rigor and GPA, my strongest recommendation would be to spend less time on class work and gear your attention towards getting terrific test scores. Meanwhile, I would also try to find some sort of “Hook” you can present to colleges, by entering competitions of a certain kind or spending your summer by developing a passion.
This way, you will be able to present yourself as disadvantaged, coming from a school without many options for advanced classes, but also equally as determined. If you really do prove yourself through competitions and try to win at least one major award, accompanied by some rock solid essays, I think you could go far!
@nick3162 Thanks for the advice! That sounds like a good plan. I wouldn’t be going straight from Algebra II to Calculus. I’d be taking pre-calc at a community college or something the summer before.
Note for everyone: DE stands for dual enrollment (probably everyone already knows this but I’m just trying to be as clear as possible )
Also is it bad that I’m halfway through summer and I haven’t accomplished anything major in my high school career yet or even made steps to do that kind of stuff?
Can you double up on Alg 2/Geometry Sophomore year? that is the usual way to catch up to Calculus.
Then you can take pre-calc junior year and Calc AB or BC senior year.
I would be very wary of taking DE Chem as your first CHemistry…most students taking Chem in college will have taken Chem in HS.
Rather than algebra2+ stats, see if your GC will let you take algevra2+ geometry, then precalculus junior year and calculus senior year.
All in all this would check the most rigorous box about anywhere so you’re good.
My GC said there isn’t an online class. I think she thinks that it will be too mentally stressful for me because I already have moderate anxiety, and she wants to protect my mental state.
How can I prove to her that I can handle it?
