Hey guys, so I am gonna be a freshman this fall at my local high school.
At our district we enroll in our classes a year before.
Meaning, I chose my courses in January of my eigth grade. At the time when I did that, I thought it was all good.
But now that I had so much time to think about my decision, I’m second doubting it.
So, here are the courses I signed up for-
Honors ELA
Honors Geometry
Biology
World Geography (a semester)
Web Design (semester)
Concert Choir (full year)
General P.E (full year)
French 1 (full year)
I was a straight A student in all my classes in eighth grade, and my science teacher told me that I’d do better in Hrs. Biology.
But the MAP testing score req. for Hrs. was 235 or so, and I only got 232.
So, I didn’t sign up for Hrs. Biology. But all my friends have enrolled in the honors course and they got B’s and lower A’s in 8th grade science.
Also, I wanna get into Brown Unv. and I feel that taking a regular course might not look so good. Should I talk with my counselor to change the level or should I just let it be for now…?
(Another note- I’m kinda scared to make a bad impression on my counselor, because I’ve already asked him to change two of my courses before…)
I don’t want him to think I’m very indecisive.
I don’t see how you’d make a bad impression on your counselor if you’re asking to take a harder class. That just shows your initiative and your willingness to take on challenges, which is impressive if anything. I switched classes these last four years maybe 20 times in total and my counselor understands it’s high school, they won’t judge you too much.
I’m not entirely sure what the MAP is but you’ve shown you have initiative and if you think you can work hard to study and learn new materials, I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to take honors. Not taking the honors wouldn’t necessarily butcher your potential application to Brown, but probably help a tiny bit (keep in mind it’s a freshman class so it’s not as important if you do well in regular, you can take AP Biology later if you really want to prove your dedication to science). Even though Brown is way down the road, I wouldn’t stress too much about this and would just concentrate on doing your best in whatever class you’re assigned to.
Good luck these next four years I’m sure you’ll do well anyway.
If it were me and I wanted Ivy league I would talk to your guidance counselor and see if you can possibly do honors for all core classes. The other change might be taking a full year history class since some selective colleges like to see 4 full years of core classes (math, English, science, history, and language). If you can’t switch to honors now do your best and hopefully you can switch for the following year.
AP will mean something to colleges, because they understand the curriculum behind AP and know they’re comparing apples to apples.
Say there are ten basic Algebra skills you need to do well in college algebra.
Regular Algebra in Connecticut might teach 8 of them.
“Honors” Algebra in Alabama might teach only 5 of them.
Colleges really have no way of knowing what “Honors” actually means curriculum wise.
Yes, taking the most challenging curriculum you can succeed at is best…but always, always, always opt for AP instead of “honors” if your school offers it.
With AP literally every student in the nation will be studying the same things and taking the same test. AP curriculum is designed to support laddered learning at college…state picked curriculum is hit and miss as far as a good prep goes.
If you school offers AP Biology…that’s what you should take if you want to go to Brown.
I’m sure you’ll do well anyway.