How does my Junior year (11th grade) of high school look in terms of difficulty? Also, any comments regarding where I stand in terms of college admissions would be appreciated. As of right now, my dream school would be Georgetown University (majoring in political science.) Also would not mind UC’s such as Irvine or Davis. [Brief notes]: I took 1 AP in 10th grade - AP Human Geography (scored a 5 on AP Exam.) also scored (very low imo) 1200 on the PSAT as a 10th grade Sophmore.
Classes: 1) Latin 2
2) Algebra II/Advanced Algebra
3) AP United States History
4) AP English Language And Composition
5) AP Statistics
6) AP Environmental Science
Extracurriculars: Intern for district supervisor, Vice president of school Chess Club, Event Coordinator for Chess Club, Umpire for local SFLL baseball, Parliamentary Debate (JV), Participated in a 4 student group in the summer of YELL (Youth Engaged In Library Leadership) that created a day event which gave back to my local community, blogged/created chess articles for local Beacon center (Sunset Media Wave), member of Heart In Motion (volunteer group for various events situated in San Francisco) - volunteered at over 20 events totalling 110 hours.
Accomplishments: - 2016 SF Middle School Scholastic Chess Champion (1st place-Scored 4/4)
2017 Bi-Annual Northern California Chess Team Champion (_____ Chess Club)
President’s Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) - Gold (100+ hours)
Any insights would be awesome!!
Thanks, members of CC!!!
As an FYI, you only want to note ECs and awards that have taken place since the beginning of 9th grade. In terms of chess, it becomes a significant accomplishment or even a hook if you’re a titled player (ie CM, NM, FM, GM) or perhaps been ranked consistently in the USCF Top 100 for your age group.
At our high school you have to have completed Algebra 2 to take statistics but are not allowed to take them both at the same time. if needed double check at your school that you have the right math background at this point to do stats or should you wait a year.
For science have you had a biology, chemistry, and physics yet? If not take the missing one even if it isn’t an ap class if it is something the colleges your applying to expect.
Plan to take a 3rd year of Latin
Don’t include anything that was done prior to 9th grade. You only have 10 spots to write things and it isn’t quantity of ecs that matter. See if it easier say to list chess as one activity then itemize within that category for the common app, our school guidance said it was better to explain what we did for volunteer work then focus on number of hours but check with your own guidance on that
Thanks for the reply. You are absolutely correct: at our school, we do require algebra 2 before AP Stats. However, I talked with the department head, asking him if I could take both concurrently since Stats does not have a whole lot of algebra 2 in it. Additionally, I’m taking a summer algebra 2 course (not for credit) so I hope to be prepared for Stats. For science, yes, I have taken Biology in 9th grade and physics in 10th grade. Haven’t taken chemistry yet, but might do that senior year. Question: should I take regular chemistry, honors chemistry, AP Chemistry, or Organic Chem? Reminder: I’m going to have AP Comp+US gov, AP micro and Macro Econ, and potentially AP Comp. Sci A on my schedule as well. So which chemistry class should I take? Thanks for the response!
if it were me or my kids I would suggest dropping ap environmental science for 11th grade and taking chemistry. If you normally take honors I would suggest honors chemistry or at very least talk to a chemistry teacher before taking AP chemistry. We are required to take honors chemistry before AP chemistry. I would not take organic chemistry without another chemistry class first but perhaps your talking about something different than what I think. If you decide to only take 3 sciences you don’t need to take a 4th lab science in 12th grade but otherwise colleges may wonder why you didn’t stick with bio/chemistry/physics for the 3. I don’t know if Georgetown needs/wants 3 or 4 sciences. You could also call Georgetown admissions directly and ask if you only have 3 lab science classes will not taking chemistry lower your chances of admissions.
Here are some science paths taken by several students - not all are going into STEM fields just as examples
9th honors biology
10 AP biology, honors chemistry
11 AP chemistry
12 AP Physics 1
Some may do
9th honors biology
10th honors chemistry
11 honors forensic science
12th AP Physics 1 - some may choose AP BIO or Chemistry instead or just 3 lab science classes
We have the same exact schedule (except I’m in Honors Precalc). I’m also interested in political science and Georgetown! Also, how do you have your AP score already? They don’t come out until July 5th.
Do you think I should stick with Environmental science for 11th g, and then take chemistry(honors???) as a senior? That way, I covered biology(9), physics(10) and chemistry(potent. 12). Also, what do you think of adding a TA (teachers assistance class as a 7th course??) it would give me a free A but since it is not weighted, it could potentially drop my weighted GPA. For example, if I don’t add a TA class, then my best weighted GPA can be a 4.66; however if I add the TA class, my best weighted GPA can only be a 4.54. Your thoughts? Pros/cons? Thanks!
Take Honors chemistry Junior year unless you expect a lowish grade. APES is an elective science class, not a core class. You’ll still get the benefits of listing it on your list of senior classes.
TA is not an academic class but a filler. It’ll add nothing to your schedule nor college admissions. (The grade will often be removed from GPA recalculations colleges do). Do it because you will like it and because you have nothing better to do with your time, but don’t do it for any sort of college related benefits.
Do keep with chess and list it. It’s not true it’s only valuablebif you’re CM etc - it does indicate what you do with your time and what you’re good at same as a variety sport. You wouldn’t be recruited for “D1 chess” but do you really think only D1 recruitable players put a sport on their EC list?
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m taking a summer algebra 2 course (not for credit,) for which I think will be sufficient for me to concurrently take algebra 2 and AP Stats. The summer course covers every topic in the first semester of algebra 2. The topics it does NOT include are probability, higher degree functions, complex numbers, trigonometric and circular functions. Do you think I can self study these? Or do I really NEED those for Stats?. (I know probability is in Stats. So that’s a must.) as for APES, im still struggling to see why I shouldn’t take APES in Junior and Chem in Senior? Is it really that big of a deal? Chem/honors has a reputation of handing out a lot of work, so with APUSH and AP English, I’m a bit intimidated. Also, I Have already taken an elective so I got that out of the way; there are also no electives I’m interested in. (Taking Stats b/c it relates to my interests of politics.) My (imo my final) schedule will look like this:
1.APUSH
2. AP English Lang
3.APES
4. AP Stats
5. Algebra 2
6. Latin 2
7. TA (Teachers assistance) (probably my former APHuman Geo teacher)
Whoops, didn’t see that about the summer class. I guess I’m particularly sleep-deprived today. You should (probably) be fine with AP Statistics, in that case, although you will likely be at a disadvantage compared to students who already have experience with probability.
In terms of your science course for junior year, regarding college admissions, it won’t make a difference which one you take first as long as you have them both done by the time you graduate, but I’ve never seen anyone go from APES to honors chemistry; it’s basically always the other way around, and from what I’ve heard, chemistry is usually a prerequisite for APES (although I get that every school has different prerequisites).
(Also, I saw in reply #4 that you briefly mentioned thinking about taking AP Chemistry senior year as your first chemistry course. Please don’t take AP Chemistry without earning an A in a regular or honors chemistry class. Speaking as someone who took it two years after honors chemistry, the class is very unforgiving towards people who don’t have a grasp of high-school level chemistry. It’s also designated a Level 2 class by the College Board, meaning it is never intended to be the first course in its sequence.)
Not to get too ahead of myself here, but I was wondering (since we did talk about senior year,) what you think of my senior year schedule (i have a few thoughts about what classes I want to take.) (listed below)
FALL SCHEDULE
Latin 3
Precalculus (should I take honors or just regular??)
AP US GOV and Politics
AP MICroeconomics
Chemistry (Should I take honors or just regular??)
Chinese 1 (Just for fun)
Should I take AP Computer Science A or AP Computer Science principles or NONE?
NOTES: -Spring schedule is below - AP Government is two semesters required (US gov in the fall and Comparative in the Spring) - AP Econ is also two semesters required (Micro in the Fall and Macro in the Spring)
SPRING SCHEDULE:
Latin 3
Precalculus (regular or honors)
AP COMPARATIVE GOV and Politics
AP MACroeconomics
Chemistry
Chinese 1 (Just for fun)
Either AP Comp Sci A or AP Comp Sci Principles or NONE
This is all that I am thinking I want to take as a senior. By no means is this my final schedule whatsoever. Your guys’ thoughts would be gladly appreciated!
FINAL NOTE: I will also have to take AP Exams for BOTH AP Micro Econ and AP Macro Econ. I will also have to take to take AP exams for both AP US GOV and AP COMP GOV.
FINAL NOTE: I will also have to take AP Exams for BOTH AP Micro Econ and AP Macro Econ. I will also have to take to take AP exams for both AP US GOV and AP COMP GOV.
FINAL NOTE: I will also have to take AP Exams for BOTH AP Micro Econ and AP Macro Econ. I will also have to take to take AP exams for both AP US GOV and AP COMP GOV.
The senior schedule looks good except that I don’t see English. I do know that some colleges I toured with my daugher specifically mentioned they want to see ELA and math taken senior year even if you have extra credits. I skimmed so perhaps I missed senior year ELA.