High School?! WHAT?! - Advice for Incoming Highschool Freshmen

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

High school, frankly, sounds like a bad word I shouldn’t say.

But, apparently, I have to go there, and I’m sure that there are thousands upon thousands of kids here that might just be browsing for advice to calm their jitters. Because, really, this is the first step to college, right? Signing up for rigorous classes, figuring out what clubs to take, asking ourselves if we /actually/ need a sport… We need some guidance. Hopefully, you experienced students, IV League-bound or not, can offer us just that.

Please give us some guidance? We don’t know what we’re doing, which is more than bad considering these choices will stick to us for the rest of our lives (or until we graduate college, which is a good chunk of time from now).

Anywho, I have my own questions:

  1. Is a sport a good idea? (Let's assume I'm incapable at most fitness and probably will not excel at said sport)
  2. I'm taking AP World, Honors English 9, Honors Algebra II / Honors PreCalc (tbd), Honors Biology, Honors Chemistry, Art, Before-School Yoga, and Spanish II. Will I die next year?
  3. How the heck do we deal with homework? How much will it be?
  4. How much downtime will we be spared, if any?
  5. How the heck do you get good grades (meaning As)? (I've gotten a 4.0 so far in 7th and 8th (well, the latter is still ongoing and would technically be out of 4.5, but I digress) but I'm assuming that those classes above won't be as easy as these two years have been)

Thank you in advance!

2
  1. You do NOT need to participate in a sport to help your college admissions chances. If there is one you enjoy, by all means. I insisted my kids do SOMETHING for fitness reasons -- but it didn't have to be in school. One was captain of the HS volleyball team. The other settled on club fencing, which suited her personality and our schedule very well. But you don't need a sport at all, except for your enjoyment and own health reasons.

What you should do is try out ECs (both in and out of school) that you think you will enjoy, and ideally get pretty in-depth with one or two of them in your HS years. It is okay to try something and drop it after 9th grade if you don’t like it. And don’t overcommit to ECs. One of my kids did (3 sport athlete her frosh year, plus Girl Scouts and speech team) – she couldn’t handle it, and had to drop her spring sport due to issues with her grades. She dropped a second sport after 10th grade (even though she’d been elected captain for the next year) because she wanted to add a couple other school clubs.

Don’t forget you can sometimes do some interesting things in the summer. One of my kids went to Finnish language camp every summer. The other did canoeing trips for a couple years, then an engineering camp and a camp where she took some college classes. Some kids work to earn money for college summers, or volunteer. Just be busy – college like to see engaged, busy people.

  1. I'm taking AP World, Honors English 9, Honors Algebra II / Honors PreCalc (tbd), Honors Biology, Honors Chemistry, Art, Before-School Yoga, and Spanish II. Will I die next year?

There is no reason to accelerate your math path as long as you get through some level of calculus your senior year. Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. Math fundamentals are important. So Algebra II seems like a better choice. Why are you taking Bio and Chem in the same year? That does seem like a heavy load. Bio would be typical at our kid’s school for a 9th grader.

  1. How the heck do we deal with homework? How much will it be?

You will have a lot of homework with that schedule. You have to be really disciplined. Use a planner (paper or online) to track everything. If you can schedule a study hall, do it. I insisted my kids have one during their sports season (for kid who didn’t have a school sport, she did it during robotics season, which is crazy busy). It didn’t hurt their college admissions at all.

  1. How much downtime will we be spared, if any?

Not a lot. But don’t overload your schedule.

  1. How the heck do you get good grades (meaning As)? (I've gotten a 4.0 so far in 7th and 8th (well, the latter is still ongoing and would technically be out of 4.5, but I digress) but I'm assuming that those classes above won't be as easy as these two years have been)

One tactic to use is to get ahead in your classes. Do the reading and take a shot at the homework BEFORE the teacher lectures on the subject. Hopefully your teacher will give you a syllabus so you can plan this out. Also, when prepping for tests, try to predict what questions will be asked or what type of problems you’ll be asked to solve. If you didn’t get it right after the test or quiz (didn’t figure out what they would ask), go back and try to figure out why the teacher picked what they did so you can do a better job of projecting that going forward.

Listen to your teachers and read the syllabus. Teachers will often tip their hand for what is important if you just listen to them. That really pays off when you do assignments and take tests.

Finally, don’t worry too much about college now. You really need to start thinking about it around the end of sophomore year. Get the best grades you can, and find ECs you enjoy and do them with enthusiasm. Make friends and have fun with them.

3

Go read these two posts by the MIT admissions office- they apply to every student, at every level:

http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways
http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/there_is_no_formula

In terms of your specific questions:

  1. sport is only a good idea if it is a good idea for you- but some sort of physical activity (like your Yoga) is a really good idea

  2. bio & chem in the same year is unusual. Has your GC signed off on that? Colleges won’t cut you slack on the GPA just b/c you took the two at the same time. It looks like a high-risk strategy- but I don’t know you / your background / how strong you are academically.

  3. hard to say how much homework / how much compared to what you are used to, b/c it varies so much by school.

  4. & 5) you can assume that the school is not going to be paying attention to your downtime! One of the big jobs of HS is learning how to manage time. Work ahead, get help early if you aren’t understanding something, do the reading,

One last thing: you only get one HS in life. Make the most of it. Try a lot of new things. Let HS be HS and try not to fixate on college. As long as you can get into a solid college - one that will keep your options open post-college- choose things that are true to you. I know kids at Princeton, CMU, Vassar, Emory, etc. who never did ‘summer research’- they were camp counselors at the camps they went to when they were younger. I know STEM kids at Yale, JHU, UT-Austin, etc who lived in the theatre during HS. At the start of every year of HS go re-read the MIT posts :slight_smile:

4
  1. Is a sport a good idea? (Let's assume I'm incapable at most fitness and probably will not excel at said sport) Absolutely! I gave in to my friend's nagging and joined cross country sophomore year and immediately (well, not immediately, it was after many painful miles, but still...) regretted not doing so sooner. Being part of a sport is a great way to make friends and bond with old ones, manage your stress or run away from it, get outside, and generally marvel at the abilities of your body. Sure, you might not be a star athlete, but in my experience any and all improvement feels exhilarating. You'd be surprised at how much you can get better in four years, and the leadership position if you get captain isn't too bad either.
  2. I'm taking AP World, Honors English 9, Honors Algebra II / Honors PreCalc (tbd), Honors Biology, Honors Chemistry, Art, Before-School Yoga, and Spanish II. Will I die next year? You know yourself best. Not having an idea of your academic level or your school's rigor, I can't predict what your workload will be like. However, I'd say you shouldn't be afraid to push yourself to take challenging classes, as they will be the most interesting and exciting; it's totally normal to be anxious about your classes before they start. That said, be sure to speak up and ask to transfer if you feel like the course you ended up in is too easy or hard. Advocate for yourself!

Also, I’d suggest sitting down with your academic counselor (if you have one) when you get the chance and planning out the courses you will take in the next four years. You don’t have to stick to it perfectly, but you should get a sense of the graduation requirements and potential scheduling conflicts so you don’t realize junior year you have a bunch of mutually exclusive classes you either want to or have to take senior year.

  1. How the heck do we deal with homework? How much will it be? Same as above. Probably more than in middle school, but if you use time during the academic day and before or after school as much as possible, it should be manageable. Figure out when you can be most productive, and please don't stay up too late.
  2. How much downtime will we be spared, if any? Depends.
  3. How the heck do you get good grades (meaning As)? (I've gotten a 4.0 so far in 7th and 8th (well, the latter is still ongoing and would technically be out of 4.5, but I digress) but I'm assuming that those classes above won't be as easy as these two years have been) Again, don't be afraid to seek help if you need additional resources. You might find it in the form of a peer tutor or extra help with your teacher... whatever works best for you. Also, I highly recommend making informal study groups with your friends and classmates to review for tests or work on collaborative homework.
5

Thank you all so much!! This really helps! :smiley:

To answer a couple questions— yes, I’ve decided to take Chem and Bio the same year. My parents and I put thought into this, but ultimately because I like both subjects and my parents (both MD doctors that trained in one of the best US hospitals, so no joke here) are willing to help me, I’ve decided to do it. A couple friends of mine are also doing it, and I have no qualms about FaceTiming them at ungodly hours (though, as a child of two doctors strict on bedtime, the “ungodly hour” will probably be more 8:30 XD) to ask any questions. I’m also not afraid to ask questions to the teacher, either. Most textbooks and packets are online for both classes (among some of the others!) as well, and I fully intend to read ahead for a bit during the summer while also watching Khan Academy videos so I’m at the very least familiar with the material.

On the other hand, I might be taking Honors Algebra II over the summer, hence the tbd. I’m already doing calculus in Kumon and skipped 7th and 8th grade math as a hyperactive 6th grader (by myself, only a textbook for guidance, during school time) so in theory, it shouldn’t be extremely difficult. Just… moderately difficult :slight_smile: I think I’ll do it; not completely sold, though.

On the extracurricular front, I have a couple (a lot) of fun plans for summer and a long list of ECs I want to try, though I know I’ll drop 3/4 of them after I see which ones I really want to take. I know for sure I’m doing Speech (I recently got 2nd in my MS tournament which COMPLETELY boosted my ego lol), Art Club (recently got 3 pieces in the city hall art show, again boosting my ego haha), and Key Club (it just sounds fun ahah)

And—believe me when I say this— college will probably leave my mind in a week, after everything is scheduled. I just wanted to make sure I didn’t mess up before I even stepped in the high school building! It’ll probably only be my focus again next year on this same day. XD High school just sounds so professional and legit (I can hear you all laughing at me) and I want to make the best out of it, in the courses and outside of them too. :slight_smile:

6

I don’t know if your HS has a date you can drop classes by and have them not show up on your transcript, but I’d find out and be aware of it. You (and your parents) are setting yourself up for a lot of unnecessary stress with the schedule you signed up for. It isn’t a race – no college will be wowed by it, but they will notice if you get a rough start in HS.

7

Tools to ensure you do your best academically:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/2026961-what-to-do-when-you-arent-doing-well-in-a-hs-class-p1.html

8

@spinningwhee

  1. Do a sport if you enjoy it. Don’t do a sport if you’re gonna hate it. If you’re looking for a better high school experience (aka making new friends and memories), do it. I didn’t do any sports in high school, but now I kind of regret it because I can’t really think of any really good memories.
  2. My goodness, that is a very heavy course load. You might bend under all the stress you’ll get but I don’t think you’ll break given that you have the audacity to even come up with such a schedule. If your grades are really good, colleges will be really impressed with you.
  3. Given the courses that you have listed, you will have plenty of homework to take care of. Manage your time carefully, balance your ecs with school, and work hard.
  4. This all depends on how well you manage your time. If done really well, you will have some downtime to just relax. If not, you’ll be scrambling all over the place. One thing that I learned from my HS experience is that continuously working is not good for the soul. Take a break, even if it’s five minutes. It really helps to clear out your mind sometimes.
  5. You’re right, the classes you’re taking won’t be easy. Given that your GPAs for 7th and 8th grade are nearly perfect, I’m not too concerned. Here’s my advice: be two steps ahead of your classwork. If you know there’s a test coming up, start studying now, instead of cramming it all the night before.

General Advice:

  1. Sleep: Try to maintain a consistent sleep schedule. Don’t constantly pull all-nighters to study for tests.
  2. Eat: Don’t skip breakfast because you’re late for the bus. At least grab a granola bar on your way out. You need energy, lots of it and the best way to get that energy is to eat and not rely on 5hour energy or energy drinks.
  3. Ask Questions: If you have a question, just ask it. Forget what others might think of you. People in my HS, including me, were afraid to ask questions because of the fear that they would be labeled as “dumb”.

Good Luck.

9

I’d say do a sport. They’re good for your health, they’re fun, and you’ll make friends. On top of that it’s good for college admissions. Definitely do a sport. If you’re not athletic, doing a sport will help you.

10

I wish that I hadn’t shared my test scores or college list with my friends. I did well on my tests, and people started gossiping about me. If I could do it all over again, I would give vague, noncommittal answers to questions about standardized testing and college applications. Unintentionally getting caught up in that competition was not fun for me.

11

@ski_racer I agree with you. But the competition at my hs was literally written on the wall, so there was no way of escaping from it. Whenever someone asked me about where I was applying to, I would joke about not applying to college and leave it at that.

12

Order a few books by Cal Newport (i.e., How to Be a High School Superstar and How to Become a Straight-A Student). He has the best tips I’ve seen for how to get in the mind set to excel in high school. And much of his advice is counter-intuitive. Very interesting reads!

13
  1. Yeah! But only if you want to. I was on XC/track freshman and sophomore year and loved it even though I was pretty awful. On the other hand, I'd been doing softball for about ten years and even though I made JV as a freshman (for a school that was #1 in the state and had 3 All-Americans the year before), but I hated it so much. It was too competitive and not any fun anymore, so I just quit. And frankly, I don't regret it. It gave me more time to do stuff I loved and colleges don't care if you're not a recruited athlete if you're a published writer or won a big science competition.
  2. Probably not. Don't take PreCalc before you take Algebra II, and take either Bio and Chem. You seem to come from a more competitive (or accessible(?)) school than me, so my freshman year schedule was a lot simpler than yours. My school doesn't offer World, or any AP's to underclassmen, but I take APUSH, which is a lot of work but the material is easy as long as you study.
  3. Enough to handle.
  4. A lot. I typically have a four-five hours before I go to bed and when I feel rushed, it's usually because I have this dumb habit of starting my homework at 8PM (but I still have straight A's, so I think that says a lot about how overhyped HS can be). I also do a lot of EC's. That being said, use your free time doing something you love that is also useful. I spend a lot of time napping, but I usually write or paint for at least an hour a day.
  5. Study and work hard. If you get a B, don't sweat it. I barely scraped by with a B- in Accelerated Geometry my freshman year and I'm still in the top 5%. That being said, idk what type of school you go to. My high school is typically middle class, with moderate resources, and somewhat competitive, but not a lot.

General Advice:

  1. I think you should consider when you’re applying to colleges that you should never apply to a school because of the ranking. I live in MA, so schools like UMass Amherst are actually spectacular and a lot more feasible for low income students. They have a lot of opportunity and while you can still be interested in more prestigous schools (I am), also consider less extravagant options because they can have a ton of great opportunities.

  2. Spend your summers doing something you love. I always go to writing camp and I love it. Nothing makes me happier and I feel like I’m in my element. Obviously, you don’t have to do what I do, but find something you like and stick with it. Get a job, do community service, take a college class, etc.

  3. Apply to scholarships and awards early. Reach as far as you can, because you never know what will happen.

  4. People are far nicer in high school than it’s depicted. If someone is mean, don’t talk to them. There are usually a couple drama queens, but just don’t involve yourself, or keep your distance, and you’ll be fine.

14

THANK YOU EVERYONE!!

I’ve decided to keep both Honors Chem and Honors Bio because I’ve been talking to the upperclassmen who have taken both and said that Honors Bio was “so easy you barely need to pay attention in class” and Honors Chem was “literally a joke”. And next to no homework for either! My only reason for taking both in freshmen year is bc I would otherwise have to take Honors Chem with AP Bio, and AP Bio is really hard is my school and I want to free up some time in sophomore year. Apparently the only hard classes are WHAP and Honors English but that’s mostly bc of busy work, I hear.

I’m not going to take a sport next year bc I realized that if I did it would suck up time and the only reason I would be doing it was for my college apps and I REALLY don’t want to be that person who does stuff merely bc of college (I’m friends with a couple of those kinds of ppl and I constantly want to slap them in the face for it!). I’d rather put that time into starting a competitive writing team for the high school (there’s one for the middle school and we’re all going to states this Friday (!!) so why not extend it, esp since there’s a sister org for it?!) or my art (a hobby of mine lol).

Also, yes, my specific grade is extremely competitive. We have a kid in my grade (8th) that’s already doing AP Calc and is taking AP Stats over the summer (and he’s supposed to be a 7th grader since he skipped a grade (^~^’). One of my friends scored a 1550 on her SAT (again, 8th grader). And that’s not even all of it! That being said, I don’t pay that much attention to the competition (if I did I’d be soo far behind my peers that I wouldn’t even consider myself a competitor!)

15

@spinningwhee Your schedule is very rigorous but I think you’ll be able to handle it! You should join the 2022 thread :slight_smile:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/2075370-high-school-class-of-2022.html#latest