<p>I'm currently a junior with a 3.99 gpa unweighted looking to go to the university of washington-seattle campus. I'm looking ahead to my senior schedule because so far I'm short of a CTE, art, and health credit to graduate. I've taken all AP's and honors classes throughout high school and next year I wanted to take AP physics (or AP bio, not sure yet), AP english, AP calculus AB, AP government, leadership and spanish 3... the only problem is if I decide to take these classes, I would need to take all 3 online classes to make up for the 3 credits I need. I don't mind taking 1 online but I'd rather take art and health at school since I have a lot of EC's and it could get a little pricey. My counselor recommended taking out spanish 3 and taking art and health at school but I don't want this to interfere with my chances of getting admitted into UW. I would take out leadership but she said it adds balance to my schedule and I need to take it for a full year if I want to run for vice president again so I'm not sure if it'd be more beneficial to just discontinue spanish and settle with 2 years... would it make that much of a difference to college admissions officers? I feel like my schedule is rigorous enough and I know UW only requires 2 years but recommends 3. I just don't want that to be my reason of not getting in haha. </p>
<p>Take Spanish III. You might want to apply to more schools later. Most good schools want 3 yrs of the same foreign language. Even if you don’t need 3 years, just having it on your transcript make you a stronger candidate.</p>
<p>As an in-state candidate, it’s possible that it’s not that important, particularly since you have met the requirements and appear to be strong everywhere else. If you are really settled on this school, and don’t want options to go elsewhere, you might be okay, but you might want to talk to an admissions person at UW just to make sure.</p>
<p>When a selective university “recommends” something, it means “do it unless there’s a very, very good reason you can’t”. However, can"t you take Spanish 3 online and art at school?</p>
<p>Do you have native or heritage proficiency in another non-English language that you can “prove” to colleges with AP or SAT subject tests? If so, the third level of Spanish may be less necessary for some colleges. However, other colleges may still want to see that.</p>
<p>Have you already taken all three of biology, chemistry, and physics? If so, removing the AP physics or biology may be ok, particularly if you will not be a science or engineering major. Even if you are, you may find that AP physics or biology credit is not that well accepted at many colleges.</p>
<p>@Lanahere @MrMom62 yeah I’ve been looking at other colleges that only accept 3 years of spanish but I’m pretty set on UW (instate). might just take it anyways since i might my mind, who knows. @MYOS1634 I think I’d rather take spanish 3 in school even though I have been considering taking it online… not sure since I’ve never taken a class online through BYU.
@ucbalumnus I speak korean and used to go to a korean school for a few years to learn how to but i’m definitely not fluent 
i can only read and write. i’ve taken honors bio and ap chem but I wanted to major in chemistry and take pre med courses. however, i don’t think i’ll be getting credits from the ap exams (well particularly for chemistry) since I’d need at least a 4 and like you said, they aren’t well accepted.</p>
<p>I’m just so lost right now with what I’m going to drop for next year haha thanks for the responses, i’ll take all options into consideration </p>
<p>Note that actual proficiency in a language other than English can be helpful to a physician practicing in an area with significant numbers of immigrants or visitors from countries where that language is used.</p>
<p>@goblazers, you’re planning to major in chemistry with premed track. I think you should take as many AP science classes as possible. Some people think 4 years of high school science is good enough for a premed student. I am here to tell you that it is not. </p>
<p>My D took: Honors Bio, Honors Chem, AP Bio, AP Chem, and this year, her senior year: Advanced Physics, and Honors Human Anatomy & Physiology…That’s a total of 6 science classes. We found out that most students who plan to do premed, on the average, have 6-8 science classes under their belt by the time they graduate.</p>
<p>Like someone else was saying: You need all 3: AP Chem, AP Physics and AP Biology if your school offers it. I would drop the leadership class and take both AP Physics and AP Bio. You can learn leadership skills through volunteering or by doing internships.</p>
<p>Also, I spoke with a Physics Department Chair of a high ranking University and was told that even with High School AP Physics, some students still find first year Physics quite challenging. Sign up for both AP Bio and AP Physics, you can come back and thank me later. :)</p>
<p>Another suggestion @goblazers, this summer, go tour a University and ask to visit their Chemistry Department. Ask to speak to a Chemistry Professor or Chemistry Department Chair… Get your information directly from the source, that way you can plan your senior schedule accordingly. If you can visit UW, that would even be better.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus very good point, forgot how beneficial knowing a foreign language would be in that case, thank you.</p>
<p>@LanaHere wow thats a ton of science haha, I wish I could do it. I’m not 100% sure if my school still does offer AP biology. I know for a fact they did my freshman year but too many people were doing terribly and I heard they got rid of it but my ap chem teacher told me it’s still offered so I’ve been looking into it lately. I really wanted to take AP biology so I get more insight into biology since I never really did with honors biology and then I realized that I would need AP physics too since physics is required for premed… I guess I might as well take both like you said. I’m afraid of trying to balance 5 AP’s though since I have a lot of afterschool activities to do such as cheerleading with takes up a lot of my time year round. how is your daughter doing with taking 3 science classes? I really wish my school offered more of a variety of sciences like physiology. I was hoping 4 years of high school science would be enough 
</p>
<p>Washington or Wisconsin?</p>
<p>I am surprised your counselor suggests not taking the Spanish III. To me, the obvious drop is AP Govt if you already have your history/social science requirement done. At least the leadership class doesn’t have homework, right?</p>
<p>Washington. And I need to do either civics or ap gov with civics being half a year and ap gov being a whole year. Yeah true, and now I’m getting the idea that Spanish 3 is really important so I might drop leadership then @BrownParent</p>
<p>@goblazers, my D was a cheerleader from 2nd grade all the way up to 9th grade. She loves cheerleading. You might wonder why she didn’t cheer in 10th, 11th and now, 12th grade. </p>
<p>Freshman year D made her high school cheer team and was chosen to be a “flyer”.
Flyer: The kid on the top of the human pyramid, and usually is the one that the other cheerleaders throw around when they feel the urge to throw one of their own high up in the air, and flipped their hair or send a text before catching the “flyer”- my D. :)</p>
<p>My D cheered for about 2 months into the school year. Then one day we met this woman. She has a PhD in Economics from NYU (funny how a small conversation with a stranger can change your life). She told my D to quit cheerleading and focus on school.</p>
<p>My D said: “But I love cheerleading, and my GPA is a 4.0. I can do both.”
lol, I will never forget the reply my D got.
The woman nodded in agreement and said, "Cheering is important. After you have become successful, you can hire someone to cheer for you.</p>
<p>Good Luck to you goblazers. :)</p>
<p>hahaha oh my gosh, that’s exactly how i feel right now since i think i can balance school and cheerleading but later on i probably won’t be able to… haha awesome reply and thank you 
I really need to reevaluate some things. @LanaHere</p>
<p>@goblazers Some people might tell you to enjoy your high school senior year because it’s your last chance to really have fun and make your high school experience a memorable one. Not too long ago, a rising high school senior told me that since it’s his last year in high school, he’s not going to get himself all stressed out over rigorous courses.</p>
<p>Big mistake! Senior year is the year of redemption. If you didn’t do what you were supposed to do the last 3 yrs, whether it’s maintaining a decent GPA or taking challenging classes, you need to get going. Senior year is the last chance you have to show your commitment to education and passion for learning. And believe me, it’s going to show- on your transcript. Colleges look for course rigorous. On Princeton, Harvard and Wash U’s website, they say that they would rather you get a “B” in a rigorous class then an “A” in a regular class.</p>
<p>I don’t care how many “AP’s” they put in front of a Government class, ie. AP AP AP AP Government, it’s still a history/social science class. You want to do premed, then you need to take challenging science classes. Science based careers call for knowledge in science, lots of it. See what I did there? lol</p>
<p>Your senior year is your last chance to learn all you can before you find yourself sitting in a classroom full of strangers, and you have a question but are afraid to ask. In addition, college teaching is different from high school. In high school, your teachers write/make up homework and assign them for you to do. In college, if you want that “A” , you need to make your own homework. Teachers give out syllabus and you’ll get assignments to read and maybe a few problems to work on, but for the most part, you have to look for additional problems and questions to practice if you want an “A”.
No one will be there to correct your homework problems either. No one will be there to spoon feed you like the way high school teachers do. Sure they have tutoring but you have to sign up for it, and then wait for your turn.</p>
<p>In high school, you have 10 months to learn a course. In college, you have just 3 or 4 months (quarter or semester). So why not learn it while you’re in high school? Give yourself a head start, at a slower pace at that.</p>
<p>Best bet, make sure you have the highest level AP science classes on your senior schedule, and definitely take Spanish III.</p>
<p>Alright, good luck, I am going back to sleep. :)</p>
<p>Is this “Leadership” class really necessary? What if you are planning on being a follower?</p>
<p>thank you so much @LanaHere I’m going to see if i can take 2 sciences then while taking spanish III. I really am trying to make my senior year stand out and not just take the easy route. And you are definitely right, I need to prepare more for college anyways and take advantage of high school classes and teachers while I can… again thanks a lot, you actually have very helpful advice haha good luck to your daughter! </p>
<p>@Mandalorian said: “Is this “Leadership” class really necessary? What if you are planning on being a follower?”</p>
<p>I was thinking the same. Everyday, millions and millions of wonderful people are followers and they’re happy people. </p>
<p>@Goblazers, you’re welcome and thanks for wishing my D luck. We’re winding down, college & scholarship decisions will be sent out in the next couple of weeks. </p>
<p>My recommendation is taking the 4 core classes in AP, spanish 3, and the leadership course. Colleges like to see leadership. If you have no leadership, that may be a biggie. </p>
<p>@BDM1994 yeah my point exactly, i really need more leadership positions</p>