<p>Hey guys, I'm a rising junior and am currently contemplating 3 schedules. They all include the first 5 classes listed with the three different variations below that.</p>
<p>US History H
English III AP
Physics H
Psychology AP/Sociology
Football/Powerlifting</p>
<p>Variation 1:
Street Law
Pre-cal H</p>
<p>Variation 2:
Statistics AP
Pre-cal H (taken Pass/Fail)</p>
<p>Variation 3(I think may be too stressful):
Statistics AP
Pre-cal H</p>
<p>The way my school does Pass/Fail is that you receive neither a numerical grade nor GPA points for it and on your transcript it is marked either P(above a seventy) or F(below a seventy). I'm not sure how Vanderbilt views taking high school courses pass/fail, but I don't want to end up getting overwhelmed and butchering my GPA. Also, street law looks like a blow off. ANY ADVICE APPRECIATED.</p>
<p>I would not take pre-cal pass fail. You need to take pre-cal junior year and Calculus senior year. I would do option 1 or 3, preferrably 3, but if it is too stressful and your grades would suffer, then do option 1.</p>
<p>Although it may sound harsh, if you are unable to manage version 3, you should consider whether Vanderbilt is a good match for you academically. Vanderbilt's incredible increase in the number of applicants means they have a plethora of applicants who can juggle taking a schedule that is considered to be the most challenging offered at their high school.</p>
<p>I doubt you need to take 2 math classes. I would go for the 1st option. Taking a Street Law class shows a breadth of interests, which is a good thing. You have a math, a science, a language arts, and a history. You have APs & honors. You're fine as far as classes go.</p>
<p>More important are the "other" things: scores, ECs, essays, location, and those pesky <em>whatevers</em> (the things that get one person in over an equally qualified candidate).</p>
<p>It is not the difficulty of the material that I am concerned with, but math classes, especially at my school, are infamous for high volumes of homework, which coupled with year round practices and other organizations' functions could swamp me. The reason for my taking of pass fail, is so that I could prioritize my assignments with a little lee-way in the math arena, which when explained (I think) sounds like a more efficient and mature choice, but I'm afraid on paper would appear as a lack of intellectual rigor. I was advised by others on this board that taking street law might send up a red flag to colleges as it sort of sounds like a BS course, which it in fact, is, so while laying in bed I thought of taking both Pre-cal and Stat. I had been told that the two maths idea was unnecessary when I mentioned it in passing last year, but I need 3 AP's this year and US History is not an option because the teacher is the Dr. Mengele of AP History. Similarly, taking just AP stat is not an option because of the reasons mentioned by momof2ky. I truly believe that my past course record, combined with my future scores (which based on my past ones, look favorable), combined with my legitimate and passion-driven EC's are enough to at least gain me entrance to Vanderbilt but I need something over the top without putting me under the water to increase my chances of getting merit aid. This was extremely long-winded and really served minimal purpose but I feel like the circumstances are fully explained now. Thank you previous posters and if anyone has a new take on it after learning the full breadth of the situation please help. Thanks.</p>
<p>If you need financial aid based on need, Vanderbilt is very generous in meeting that need. Merit aid is out there, but more difficult to come by. A search of past threads will give you an idea of what is required.</p>
<p>I don't think that I will qualify for need based aid as I live in a high income bracket household. I've searched around I just wish that scholarships were a more exact science.</p>
<p>for what its worth here's my finalized schedule:</p>
<p>Athletics
Street Law
Physics H
Pre-cal H
Americsn Studies(USHAP + EngIIIAP in 2 hour block)
Sociology/Psychology AP</p>