High School Senior Year Course Selection

Parents Forum
1

<p>Here's the deal: I have absolutely no idea what courses I want to take for my senior year of high school. Well, that's not true. I know what courses I want to take, but I don't know if they are the ones I should be taking. My guidance counselor is telling every honors and AP kid in my grade to take all APs next year, but that is not the right fit for me. I have always been an honors and AP student. My science and math teachers are telling every honors student to take APs next year. The only reason why they are doing this is because they get paid for every student taking the class because of the Exxon Mobil POD program. I am stuck. I have taken more honors classes though because this was the first year, junior year, my class has been given the chance to take AP courses. I am looking into colleges like NYU, BU, BC, Barnard College, Northeastern University, George Washington University, Duquesne, Temple, Drexel and a few other selective colleges and universities. I am planning on majoring in political science and, at certain colleges/universities, journalism. Here's a list of all of the honors classes I have taken over the years. I'm not sure if this is useful, but my gpa is a 3.65/4.0 unweighted. My SAT score is 690 CR 670 M 740 W. My school apparently has a weird "leveling" system where honors=level 1, academic=level 2, standard=level 3. I go to a public school in Connecticut. We perform, test wise, four levels higher than our town's socioeconomic standpoint. We normally send one kid to an Ivy every couple of years. Many kids go to the state flagship-UCONN, and many kids end up in either Boston, New York, Rhode Island, Florida, or California (which I find a bit odd, but whatever).Anyways, here is my schedule without the electives I have taken and excluding physical education:</p>

<p>Freshman: Honors Geometry (C+)[I just didn't understand it no matter how hard I tried. It's over and done with, and I'm alright with it.], Honors English (A+), Honors Government (A), Honors Survey of World History 1(A), Academic Earth Science (A+), Academic Spanish 1(A+)</p>

<p>Sophomore: Honors Algebra 2 (A-), Honors English (A+), Honors Survey of World History 2 & 3(A), Honors Spanish 2 (A-), Academic Biology (A+)</p>

<p>Junior (semester grades): Honors Pre-Calc (B+), AP English Language (A), AP US History (B+), Honors Chemistry (B), Honors Spanish 3 (A), Honors Advanced Information Technology<a href="A+">computer science course that meets before school</a></p>

<p>History and English are my best subjects, not just because of the grades I have earned but because they are the classes I enjoy the most. With that said, I don't necessarily hate math and science-I absolutely loved biology, earth science, and algebra 2-I just struggle immensely when it comes to understanding the material as shown in my geometry grade. Here are the classes I want to take my senior year:</p>

<p>AP Statistics, AP English Literature, Honors Advanced Information Technology, Academic Physics, a half year of psychology, personal finance, communications 3 (my third year of communications), a half year of Honors Marine Biology, AP Environmental Science, and physical education.</p>

<p>My guidance counselor is basically scaring me, telling me that I will not get into a college because of the following:</p>

<p>I need a fourth year of Spanish or else I will not even get into the local state college. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the state college, but it does have an acceptance rate of 85%. My issue with this whole "fourth year of Spanish" thing is that I hate Spanish. The words are not difficult to learn but I do not really understand a lot of the grammar concepts or even how to write a complete sentence using object pronouns and things of that nature. I have had it explained to me many times by my neighbor who is a Spanish teacher and lived in Spain for thirty years, but every time I try to use what I have learned from her in class I end up doing it wrong. My teacher is of no use. I have tried my hardest to learn, I really have, but I am not getting the proper help from her. Most of my class is spent talking about current events and the like. I have had my teacher for two years and even though I know I would not have her for Spanish 4 I feel very turned off to learning the language. If I were forced to take language a for the fourth year I would not mind taking Italian. But then again, it would be Italian 1 and an academic level course. I'm just worried that colleges will think differently because I either chose not to take a fourth year or I chose to take a different language.</p>

<p>My guidance counselor is also telling me that I need to take AP Calculus AB my senior year. I hate math. Yes, I liked algebra two, but I still hate math. I have seen the statistics books and homework and take home tests, and it doesn't look necessarily "easy" but it looks a lot more enjoyable than calculus. I cannot see myself sitting through another year of advanced math, losing my mind-it is inevitable-just to make a college or my guidance counselor happy.
She has also said that I need to take AP Physics. See "AP Calculus".
She is also telling me that I need to take AP European History. I am sick of European history. I have learned about the crusades, history of Islam, stupid little Napoleon, and all of that other stuff for a year and a half already. I understand that this course would just be a "refresher" so to speak, but I just found it all so boring the first time around. Also, the same teacher that taught the honors course is teaching the AP course, so I know it will not get any more exciting.</p>

<p>I am basically being told that AP Environmental Science will make me look like a slacker to colleges, and that AP Biology or Chemistry is the way to go. Numero Uno: I hate chemistry. Repeat: I hate chemistry. I do not understand it for the life of me. It is honestly a blessing and a half that I have the grade I do in the class, and I do not know how I even am accomplishing it. There is only one science teacher who teaches chemistry at my school. She went to Harvard and never lets anyone forget it. She is honestly one of those people who is just too smart to teach other people what they know because it already expected of the peers to understand it the first go-around, if that makes any sense at all. AP Biology does not interest me at all. I loved biology, but I do not think I would enjoy the AP class after reading through my friend's books and worksheets. It just doesn't look like fun.</p>

<p>My reason for taking AP Environmental Science is because I enjoy learning about the environment. It is also something I understand, so I know that I will be able to handle the material. My class will be the first class in my school to take the course. We received the textbooks on Tuesday and after reading through one the material looked very understandable and interesting.</p>

<p>I understand that my guidance counselor wants the best for me and wants me to get into the college or university I want to go to, but at the same time I do not want to overdo everything. I have no interest in most of the classes she recommends. I am not saying that I want to have an easy senior year, but at the same time I want to enjoy it.</p>

<p>No one in my family has any idea what I should do because I am the first person to have aspirations higher than CCSU or one of the community colleges, so my courses have been more rigorous than those of my family member's.
My friends are stuck also. Some of them are not using any advice or help and some are a nervous wreck, just like me.</p>

<p>If you're still reading this, thank you. If you have any advice please comment. Thank you for the responses in advance.</p>

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<p>Quit reading after a bit. Talk with your HS guidance counselor. We can’t help here with specifics, s/he can. btw- caught a bit about hating Chemistry- I hated Physics and had to take some for my Chemistry undergrad major. Son slacked in his AP Chem- got a 5 on the AP exam and C final semester. None since.</p>

<p>You will do best in the courses you like and the college major you like. Choose the courses you like- enjoy your senior year. There is no magic formula for getting into any college. It would be a shame to suffer and still not get into your first choice college.</p>

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<p>Regarding Spanish, check the admission and graduation requirements of the schools you are considering. Specifically, check whether level four of a foreign language is necessary for admission or can be used to fulfill graduation requirements at any of the schools. Note, however, that Spanish knowledge can be useful in some contexts in political science, journalism, and other subjects in the social studies area.</p>

<p>Regarding calculus, check to see if any of the schools, or any of the majors, you are considering require calculus to graduate or as a prerequisite to other required courses (statistics is often required for social studies and business majors, and sometimes a calculus-based course is required). If so, calculus AB in high school will be a gentler introduction to the subject than freshman calculus in college.</p>

<p>School-specific admission and graduation requirements should be findable on each school’s web site.</p>

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<p>I started to read your post to try and help, but like another poster above I gave up reading. It is too dense with detail.</p>

<p>Perhaps if you summarized by listing what you would like to take, what the GC wants you to take and just a couple of sentences on your intended major, that would help you get more response.</p>

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<p>I think your choices of classes is fine.</p>

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<p>I don’t know which “local state college” you are talking about, but I looked at the common data sets for two of them. Southern Connecticut State College requires 2 years of foreign language, but “recommends” 4. On the other hand over half the accepted students in 2010 were in the bottom half of their graduating class. Central Connecticut State requires no foreign language at all (but does recommend 2 years).</p>

<p>I also don’t see the need for a student intending to major in a humanities field to take Calculus in high school. I doubt any of the colleges you are looking at would view it as a deal-breaker. </p>

<p>I concur with kathiep. Your course schedule looks fine.</p>

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<p>Relax a bit. I was recently admitted to GW, with a senior course schedule of AP Lit, AP gov, AP econ, AP stats, phys ed, and french. No calculus, and no science. You have a lot of science classes in there, so you should still be ok even though they’re not all AP. Though, seeing as you want to be a poli sci major, they might wonder why you’re not taking government at all, or econ. You really don’t need four years of a language… only three of our top 10 students in my graduating class continued after the third year of foreign language.</p>

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<p>You are planning to take a full academic schedule, including 3 APs. They may not be the hardest possible APs, but they’re still APs. I think you’re fine.</p>

<p>But your GC doesn’t, and your GC will write one of your recommendations. It isn’t going to be a great recommendation. So think about whether you have two teachers who can write you really great recommendations to offset the mediocre one from the GC.</p>

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<p>I think you’re okay taking AP Stats instead of AP Calc. You say you are a non-science person, but you are planning on taking AP Environmental and Academic Physics and Marine biology. If you haven’t had physics I think it’s great to be exposed. And given your feelings about math, you are probably at the right level there. I think you should reconsider taking Spanish - many colleges highly encourage taking four years, and you are getting A’s. Is the finance a Connecticut requirement? And the psychology? I wonder a little why you aren’t taking a history or government course in this slot - especially as a prospective poly sci major. It’s not a terrible schedule, but it might not be challenging enough to get you into your reach schools. I’d lean toward taking AP Gov instead of AP Environmental. Three or four APs seems about right though.</p>

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<p>Hi again everyone. Thank you very much, and I completely understand some of you posting about not reading completely through… sorry about that. My school only offers AP US History and AP Euro for social studies APs. They also offer the following: AP Java, AP Chem, AP Physics, AP Bio, AP Environmental Sci., AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC (independent study), AP Engl. Language, and AP Lit.
Marian: I’m not trying to sound vain or anything of that nature, but my guidance counselor thinks that I am an exemplar student. She told me this on Tuesday. I have no doubt that she is going to write me a good recommendation letter.
As far as taking other classes such as economics or government, I already took the required government course at my school which also happens to be the only government course my school offers. We do not have an economics course based on past student interests. That leaves us with only a pyschology and sociology class which both meet at the same times and during the spring semester only. I could only choose one.</p>

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<p>To me, you sound like a sensible, grounded person who wants to take classes you are genuinely interested in. I congratulate you.</p>

<p>I don’t know what the guidance counselor’s agenda is here, but be true to yourself and your interests and your dislikes as well. You will be fine.</p>

<p>You do not have to take 4 years of language at many schools (check the ones you are interested in), and you do not have to take calculus. Kids get into top, top schools without it. Colleges want students with all different talents and interests.</p>

<p>Relax, honest.</p>

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<p>It sounds as though you know the GC well enough to know that she won’t downgrade your recommendation because you didn’t follow her advice on course choices.</p>

<p>That was my only concern. With that out of the way, I think you should do what you want. Your plans make sense, and your course choices are rigorous enough.</p>

<p>If you find yourself, later on, in a situation where you have to take a little more Spanish at college to meet the foreign language requirement for college graduation, come back to this forum and ask us about our kids’ experience with taking more foreign language after skipping a year. You will probably get some good advice and interesting stories about this not-very-unusual situation.</p>

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<p>don’t take AP’s if you will struggle an dget a C or low B. There are differing opinions out there, but my son went the easier route for the higher GPA and merit aids have been more than expected. Many schools consider unweighted GPA to be most important. The more selective schools would want to see a more rigorous schedule, but that doesn’t mean you must take all APs.</p>

<p>It basically comes down if you can get A’s and some B’s in all Ap’s…if not, my advice would be to take less for a higher unweighted GPA</p>

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<p>geeps20, it depends on whether his high school factors in senior year GPA. If you apply EA/ED, colleges won’t see your senior year semester grades; they will only see your schedule. At my school, senior year doesn’t count for anything (not included in GPA, doesn’t affect class rank), so taking a harder schedule would be more beneficial to an applicant. Also, although unweighted GPA is important, the top schools look for a high unweighted GPA AND AP classes. Admissions prefer students who challenge themselves, and sometimes look down on kids who get straight A’s in easy classes-- I’ve seen many of my classmates get rejected from colleges from this, as other classmates with a lower class rank applying to the same school with similar test scores were admitted.</p>

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<p>We aren’t talking about a student only taking easy classes here. I still think he should take Spanish, but now that we know what his school offers, I think his schedule is reasonable. :)</p>