<p>Alright so I'm currently a Highschool Sophomore and am very interested in going to Upenn/other ivys and majoring in economics. I'm looking for advice as to what courses they like/ how rigorous my schedule should be.</p>
<p>Here's a little background:</p>
<p>ummm over 4.0 unweighted ( i cant remember specifically/too lazy to go look it up:) )
Fresh:
Honors World
Honors Earth Space
English 9
Geometry
Spanish 1
2 d Art</p>
<p>yeah not hard i know
lol
Sophomore:
AP Bio
AP U.S. History
Algebra 2
Spanish 2
Honors English
maybe some other electives non important</p>
<p>So here's my tentative Junior schedule
AP Euro
AP Gov
AP Physics ( i think it b.... not the hard C one? my school doesnt offer that lol)
AP Language and Composition
AP Calculus ( am taking trig over summer)
AP Macro Econ
AP Micro Econ
Spanish 3</p>
<p>soooo yeah. that should be fine for me to handle, social studies are easy for me. but does it sound like im on the right track for admissions to an ivy?
and also, AP Macro and AP Micro are only offered through Apex, anyone had any experices/feedback with that program? thanks in advance!!</p>
<p>You have an over 4.0 UNweighted? Are you sure you don’t mean weighted?</p>
<p>And wow… 8 APs in one year. If that’s what it takes to get “most rigorous” checked off, then go for it. As long as you’re sure you can handle it.</p>
<p>With those classes, I’m not sure you’ll have any free time, let alone enough to do some really stand out extracurricular activities. I would say that schedule is too much. </p>
<p>Just as a disclaimer, I’m only a junior in high school, so my advice isn’t that of someone who goes to any Ivy. I do know however, that some of my smartest friends have had difficulty taking two AP classes. I’m taking three, and it’s not terrible, but it can get really annoying.</p>
<p>So if you do take that many AP classes, just make sure you take good care of your time. Someone with hard classes, a good GPA, and nothing that makes them stand out (pretty much defining myself) has a very small chance of getting into any Ivy.</p>
<p>Rigor of secondary school record only counts for a portion in the holistic admissions process of the Ivy League schools. I don’t know if you will be able to maintain your vitality throughout next year with that rigorous schedule.</p>
<p>^ what do you expect? The mindset of the modern student is now always set on grinding and being a slave to the college admissions groups, for lack of a better word.</p>
<p>Haha. Tell that to the majority of the kids today. That’s such a blasphemous statement now. “For the sake of education, not college!” “But college IS education!” they would say.</p>
<p>You all are underestimating gifted students. This courseload is not too much to handle, particularly for a students who is truly qualified for the ivy league. </p>
<p>In my experience, study time per week for each of these classes:
AP Euro - don’t know
AP Gov - zero mins
AP Physics - don’t know
AP Language and Composition - however long it takes to read sparknotes
AP Calculus - 30 mins (of watching Khan Academy)
AP Macro Econ - 20 mins (preferably in the class period before the quiz/test)
AP Micro Econ - 20 mins (preferably in the class period before the quiz/test)</p>
<p>^Some students prefer spending longer studying to master the material. I’m like you (except in English, where I read everything assigned), but not everyone is.</p>
<p>My recommendation? To imagine the hardest schedule you could take on (with the EC load you have next year) if you were working at your optimum efficiency–not 100%, but your personal “best.” Then take one course less than that; eliminate that one class that will be the thorn in your side all year.</p>
<p>@pancaked It really depends on your school and the teacher. For example, I’m taking ap gov right now, and if I don’t study at least a couple hours for the test, I don’t do very well; this is coming from a kid who usually can get A’s without studying. Also, for ap english (at least in my case) that’s the hardest class at my school. Every week we have anywhere from 4-6 journal entries (that have to be at least a page long double-spaced in order to get full credit). We also read books as a class that we’re quizzed on. We also have to read at least one independent reading book on our own every few weeks. On top of all that, we also read/have discussions on a book of poetry. Somewhere in there, we also find time to prepare for the ap test.</p>
<p>So to the OP, the point is that it really depends on how challenging your school is and how hard your teachers are. </p>
<p>whether this is a feasible course load really depends on your school and how rigorous it’s AP classes are. I know where I am, AP’s don’t require that much regular studying but have a TON of out of class work, papers, graded problem sets, lab reports, etc., making that type of schedule physically impossible. If they don’t give much work, as I would suspect AP Gov and AP English might not, then you can pull it off. But I agree with others: don’t do it at the expense of sanity or extracurricular excellence.</p>
<p>I don’t even understand “prepping” for SAT/ACT. Prepping for me consisted of… looking up how to convert degrees to radians. If you’re good at math, what more prepping could you need?</p>
<p>Though in retrospect, it would have been nice to remember that 1 was composite and not prime (which it really shouldn’t be; in this case, every prime number is divisible by a composite, which is totally counter-intuitive). Otherwise, an intelligent student really has nothing to study…</p>
<p>you dont even need to take so many rigorous courses. i think the most important thing is a balance. i took the hardest courses offered at my school and people who have lower stats than me and easier courses got into better ivies than i did. I think the major thing is extracurriculars… at a certain point academics dont count for jack</p>
excelling at school is always something to be proud of. but you should do it for the sake of education. not college</p>