Is My Schedule Rigorous Enough?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

I am a high school junior in Texas and a prospective CS or math major! I was wondering if my schedule is rigorous enough to get me into T20 colleges.

A little background information: I transferred from a South Carolina-based online school to a public school in Virginia and again to a public school in Texas all in my freshman year. The online school only offered Physical Science as their 9th-grade science course, and my counselor in Virginia put me in an environmental science course when I moved there.

Also, a lot of people at my school skip geometry or algebra 2 and take AP Calculus BC during their junior year, but I am taking Honors Precalculus right now. Will that count against me? If it will, should I self-study for and take the AP Statistics exam to make myself more competitive?

Freshman:
English 9
Geometry
Environmental Systems
World Geography
Spanish 1
Health
PE
Aerobic Fitness

Sophomore:
Honors English 10
Honors Algebra 2
Honors Biology
Honors Chemistry
AP World History
AP Seminar
Honors Computer Science
Honors Spanish 2

Junior Year (Current Schedule):
AP English Language & Composition
Honors Precalculus
AP US History
AP Physics 1
AP Biology
AP Computer Science A
AP Research
Honors Spanish 3

And these are the courses I plan on taking next year (Senior Year):
AP English Literature & Composition
AP Calculus BC
AP Macroeconomics
AP US Government
AP Physics C
AP Chemistry
AP Spanish Language & Composition
Art or AP Statistics

2

It’s not what we think but what your counselor thinks. Check with them on whether they would consider this most rigorous.

2 Likes
3

Yes it is.

But top 20, especially in CS, are reaches for EVERYONE so while depending on your grades and test scores, you have a chance, it wouldn’t be surprising if you didn’t get in.

and btw - there are TONS of great math and CS colleges outside the top 20.

1 Like
4

Actually, I think you’re overdoing it. As Stanford used to say, it’s not a game of who had the most APs, wins.

Junior year: cut AP Bio. Totally extraneous compared to the rest of your schedule.
Taking precalculus honors is fine.
If you want to take an advanced math class, look into Discrete Math.

Senior year:

You shouldn’t have more than 5 APs.
Ap English Lit is overkill, unless you’re passionate about classical literature.
Ap macro/gov would probably each be 1 semester courses (check).
Ap stats is superfluous since you’re taking two strongly quantitative courses (calc bc and physics C) - it only requires algebra 2. It’s a very interesting class for sure, but something’s gotta give.
Taking two AP science courses at the same time, especially the two most difficult ones, is a very, very bad idea. I would keep Physics C because it helps demonstrate your math ability through another subject where you apply calculus.
Art would nicely balance your schedule, show you have a creative side.

More than tons of classes, you will need to demonstrate extra curricular strength through hackathons, personal projects, etc.

Are you top 6%? What about UTSA cybersecurity for a safety, and UT Dallas?

2 Likes
5

I agree this is too much. But check with your counselor. My kids HS they can only take 4 full-length APs per year.

Also I agree Math/CS is a super reach at T20 no matter what you do. Make sure you have some nice matches and safeties you feel good about because is it entirely possible you will end up at one of them. And that’s ok. Very few career paths in CS care about your academic credentials, other than you have some. It is a ‘show me what you can do’ career path. (Unless you plan to get a Ph.D. and go into academia.)