<p>Hi. Im a new incoming freshman and I have a dilemna. I was recently accepted into the prestigious private school I've been wanting to go to since 3rd grade. It is said their curriculum is unmatched and half the graduating class ends up at Ivy League institutions. This year, I attend a public school. As a backup, I had to make a schedule for my local public high school. The school is great academically, but it is very dangerous and has ridiculously large class sizes. The counselor assigned me these classes:</p>
<p>Honors Geometry
Honors English
AP BIOLOGY
AP GEOGRAPHY
Spanish 2 (completed Spanish 1A in 7th grade, counselor felt 2 would be fine)
PE
+ 1 elective</p>
<p>Will I be able to withstand 2 honors AND 2 APs as a 9th grader? The problem is, the amazing private school I will be attending will offer these classes:
Honors Geometry
(not sure if offer honors) English
(possibly honors) Biology with Biochemistry
(not sure if offers honors)World and Civilizations 1
Spanish 1
Competitive Sports
Acting/ Drama Workshop
Mixed Media or Potter's Wheel</p>
<p>The private school's classes are way more realistic, but I want the challenge the public school offers. Plus, the passing AP rate for the private school is like 99 percent but the public school's rates are definetly smaller (unknown for sure).
What school would you pick? I would really appreciate feedback. Thanks!</p>
<p>The public school schedule isnt actually all that hard... Honors english is usually a joke unless you get a crazy teacher, AP Geography is a joke, and Spanish 2 is pretty easy. AP Bio is a lot of work at most schools but it depends on the teacher and honors geometry was hard for me. But im not the type of kid who gets wrapped up in school rankings and all that crap so i would say pick the school that you like better based upon the environment, faculty, and student body.</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply. Im really competitive, though, which is sometimes a problem for me. I just want to know I'm making the right choice. I HATE science so AP starting high school will definetly not help my enthusiasm.</p>
<p>I personally love AP Bio. It helped convert me from a chemical engineering major to microbiology. But yea, if you are uber competitive im probably not the best guy for advice considering im turning down 2 top 50 schools for a school with much less of a reputation.</p>
<p>AP Bio is the only difficult class on the schedule, so you will be fine unless you get one of the honors classes where the teacher assigns an insane pile of homework.</p>
<p>So far it seems as though the classes depend on the teacher. Then, yeah, I'm confident my private school choice was a good one. I guess HONORS and APs are just masks</p>
<p>Yeah your schedule seems pretty simple except for AP Bio...nothing to get too worked up over. And bio isn't so much difficult as it is time-consuming. I'd take the public school route (seems like a better choice financially, too).</p>
<p>its incredibly large and is regarded as a very dangerous school NO ONE wants to go to because 70 percent are loser drop outs, 25 percent just dont care, and 5 percent are perfectionists.</p>
<p>Well, all I have to say is that my 9th grade English teacher was crazy. I mean, she was cool and all but we got WAY TOO MUCH homework. I swear we would be reading a book in class, one at home, doing questions at home for both, having an "independent" research project going on, and have vocab and grammar tests constantly. I remember in one weekend I spent a total of 24 hours on one project (50 pages that were made out scrapbook style, with a TON of info on each typed up all in different ways), not including the 6 hours per week I spent on it the 4 previous weeks. And if I didn't have my district track meet that year, I wouldn't have finished my non-fiction independent project since I didn't run at all at that meet but I got to miss the whole day of school to go to it. Sorry for the long rant, but I had to get that out about my English class. Other than that the other classes were complete jokes, and I'm sure supermodeldior's won't be that hard if she works hard enough at them which it looks like she will. Go public.</p>
<p>I would go public if I were you...it seems like you would be challenged more there, and you can succeed anywhere as long as you work hard...just because you go to a great high school doesnt mean you will get into ivy leagues, and vice versa</p>
<p>I went to harvard-westlake; graduated last year. I have to say though, the curriculum has changed a lot since I was a ninth grade and mostly in fact to make it easier/less stressful. In ninth garde the science class was "physical sciences", this crap class that counted for nothing when it came to college admissions but was still basically physics for 14 years olds ew. But let me give you a breakdown:</p>
<p>Honors Geometry
I took this class, ended up with a miraculous A. It was okay. Take it with Carlson, not Olson, if you can. </p>
<p>(not sure if offer honors) English
English at HW is hard. But it'll teach you a lot. </p>
<p>(possibly honors) Biology with Biochemistry
No idae; they didn't offer this when I was in 9th grade. </p>
<p>(not sure if offers honors)World and Civilizations 1
LOVED this class. Chenier was the best. teacher. ever. And not too hard either. </p>
<p>Spanish 1
Took French not Spanish, but I've heard it's very doable. </p>
<p>Competitive Sports
PE? PE was not exactly demanding..</p>
<p>Acting/ Drama Workshop
OMG Drama Workshop with Benton was SOOO MUCH FUN. I took it in 8th grade and I wasn't an acting kid at all, I just needed a performing arts requirement, and I loved it. Hilarious. </p>
<p>Mixed Media or Potter's Wheel
Haha. I heard Cartwright is a nazi. </p>
<p>This is an okay schedule. HW is hard, but not impossible. It challenges you.</p>