What ECs do you guys recommend. From my friends told me you get around 2 hours max homework. (Only can take one advance math class in Freshmen) I was wondering what ECs I should take in high school. I love Bushiness , some programming , and I may take Speech and Debate. I want to have a decent schedule and not be over or under schedule Whats your advice on this?
Also is it worth taking Geometry over the summer and taking Alg 2 and Trig as a freshmen vs taking Geo Honors as a freshmen? A lot of people are panicking on this because if they take Geo as a freshmen they take Calc as a senior and cannot take Statstics as a senior. Would taking Geo as a freshmen lower my chances of getting into a selective college?
If you love business and programming, start an app making company. Be involved in debate and try to get to nationals. Taking Geo Freshman year won’t affect your chances at all.
I second the app making company idea. It would combine both programming with business and it would show your interest in both!
As for the math question - one, do you really need to take stats (I’m assuming AP?)? Two, by senior year, most of your requirements should’ve been cleared so you will have room for other classes - is it possible for you to take Calc and Stat during the same year (only if you want to)?
Thanks for all your responses! I don’t need to take Stats at all but some kids in my school are telling me it is better for college?? My counselor saids it doesn’t make a difference really so I’m not to sure and they said it would be better if I had a strong foundation in Geo as it leads up to later. Is there any classes in app making too or are they just using Eclispe to make it?
I didn’t take stats, actually. AP stats was avoided by many at my school - it was known as the GPA killer at my school b/c both teachers were REALLY bad apparently (I think this is different at basically any other school, lol). Not taking Stats didn’t stop anyone from getting into a top tier college, and it definitely won’t stop you, either.
I suggest that instead, you pursue challenging courses that interest you - you may want to take AP Computer Programming sometime during HS for obvious reasons
Sorry but I don’t know too much about app making, so I can’t help you too much when it comes to that, sorry! However, Eclipse will definitely help you out - I can say that for sure. Good luck!
Thanks so much guys! I’m over joyed I got so much advice. I was pretty clueless going into 9th grade and you guys clarified it a lot for me. I have a few more questions though. What do you guys recommend doing over the summer some math prep, enrichment classes, or just have fun and do some coding/reading here and there. Also is Geometry a key core in future math during high school?
This depends on you. I’d recommend to just “have fun and do some coding here and there” considering that you will be working once school starts.
The math prep thing depends - how are you doing in math? Is it your strong/weak/okay subject? Doing a bit of studying for math would help but don’t feel like you need to learn the entire curriculum over the summer.
Sorry, I’m not sure what you mean by this. Are you asking if it is important in helping with future math classes? I’d say yes, to some degree, b/c you’ll be dealing with a lot of shape stuff (sorry that I can’t word that better) in future math classes.
Does your school go: Algebra 1 → Geometry → Algebra 2 → Pre-calc → Calc? b/c if so, you’ll be dealing with some Geometry stuff, even in Algebra 2, Precalc, and Calc.
Once again, totally depends on you - did you look at your school’s website for clubs? Do you enjoy playing sports or do you play any instruments? Also, you can always create a club!
You said you want to take Speech and Debate, so joining the Debate team would probably be ideal - and most schools should have one.
Thanks for the reply! Yea our school starts off with Algebra but is not usually taken because most people haven taken as an 8th grader.
It can start off quite a few ways as a freshmen:
If you were behind in math in middle school or had trouble you could retake Algebra or move into it.
Alg 1
Alg 2/Trig ( have to take geo over the summer) > Pre Calc Honors > AP Calc AB/BC > AP Statistics
Alg 2 > Math Analysis > Pre Calc (Or if you take Trig over the summer you can move into Pre Calc without Math Analysis) > If your a junior/senior Calculus AB/BC > If you took Calc as a junior you can take AP Statistics.
That was the option of thinking but the better choice is taking Geo Honors as a freshmen to learn better or just to take Geo over the summer which allows to take AP Statistics as a senior? Also shouldn’t you be able to take AP Statistics at a local community college which might be better?
Also how many hours a week does a typical high schooler have in ECs.
No problem! And thanks for writing out the math options
Keep in mind that they’ll be cramming a 8/9 month long curriculum into 2.5/3 months - a lot of this depends on your math ability. You’ll be meeting for several hours a day (anywhere from 3-5 times a week, probably, depending on your school) but you will still have free time when you get home/on the weekends. This may impact things like vacation, so if you’re interested, then your school county should have information about summer school, soon.
Yes, this should be an option. Another option you can look into (if you really want to take AP stats) is taking it online during the school year. I don’t have any experience with this, but some people take AP courses online.
Some credits (ex. health, P.E.) will eventually be cleared, allowing for you to take other classes. By the time that you’re a senior, you should have a decent number of free classes. Is it possible for you to take AP Stat and AP Calc at the same time?
This really depends… I was in marching band where we could meet anywhere between 6 - 36 hours a week. I had 6 hours for practice (every week), 6 hours for football games (every other week), and 14 hours on competition days (5 times a season), and 10 hours for parades (only twice a season). Certain weeks were very crammed.
If you’re doing sports, you’ll probably be meeting everyday for 5 days a week for maybe 2-3 hours during the season, in addition to any competitions or games.
The thing about clubs is that meetings could be extremely irregular. Some clubs at my schools (ex. chess club, anime & manga club, book club) only meet once every three weeks for 2 hours or so. Speech and Debate will probably be more rigid and have regular meetings - if your school is very serious about competitions and whatnot.
Ap stats is a “light” AP, taken by seniors who can’t/won’t take calculus or as a complement to calculus. It’s not the class that follows calculus. Calculus BC covers AB + more advanced concepts. If you finished Calc BC as a junior, you are very advanced and should take Calc2 or Calc 3 at your local college during senior year, not stats.
The sequence that makes the most sense is this one:
Geo Honors > Alg 2/Trig > Pre Calc Honors > AB/BC Calculus (Senior) if you took Algebra1 Honors and got an A (or at least a B).
Ok,thanks for all your responses guys! I won’t take Geo over the summer if Stats don’t really matter in College apps. I rather have a stronger foundation in math. Also I can’t double up any subjects in HS but I could take it in CC.
@MYOS1634 I disagree with your assessment of STAT. If you already took CalcBC and you are going into Bio/PreMed STAT is a great class to take. As a biologist I use statistics all of the time, I never use calculus. Calc2 and Calc3 are likely going to be overkill if you are going into Bio/PreMed. If you are going into Physics/Engineering then load up on the calc, you will be glad you did when you sail through calc in college.
Ok,thanks for all your responses guys! I won’t take Geo over the summer if Stats don’t really matter in College apps. I rather have a stronger foundation in math. Also I can’t double up any subjects in HS but I could take it in CC.
^stats is a great class to take, I agree but NOT as a HS math class after calc BC. AP Stats is a “light” class that isn’t recognized by most colleges for credit. It’s better to take statistics in college ( a “real” statistics class, either calculus-based or not; in addition, colleges may have sections such as statistics for social sciences, statistics for sciences… which will be more useful).
As for calc2, it’s not required because it’s going to be used by premed students in their practice later, but because it’s needed for physics, which they do need, and because it serves as a “marker” (or “differentiator”) for med school admission. In addition, it’s required for the MCAT and the premed curriculum (2 semesters each of English, calculus, biology, physics, chemistry, orgo + 1 semester each of sociology, psychology, a diversity-focused class, and preferably biochemistry. Statistics is often recommended by the university, and having an intermediate/intermediate+ knowledge of a foreign language spoken by an immigrant community, such as Creole French, Spanish, Urdu, Chinese, Somali… is useful.)
Would not taking stats as a senior affect college app chances? And when would be a good time to take it if you can’t take it as a senior. The summer before Calc BC? Thanks for responding btw!
Actually, the best time to take stats is in college, because it’ll be more thorough and it’s a class employers like to see (and they will not be interested in your HS record). In addition, if you do well, you will probably find a sequence of classes, meaning that you’ll have a differentiating feature of interest for graduate/professional schools and employers.
Colleges aren’t interested in whether you’ve taken stats. It’s a math elective. However they want you to go up to precalculus and, if you can, calculus (but calculus is not required, especially if you’re not going to go into stem fields or are applying to colleges ranked 50+).
