Is this a rigorous enough schedule for Johns Hopkins?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

My cumulative GPA is 3.94 because I just got my first “B” on my transcript for freshman and sophomore years. I go to a selective magnet National Blue Ribbon high school and I am in the top 10% of my class.

Schedule for 9, 10, 11, 12:

9th- GT American Government (self-study for AP test and received “4”), GT English 9, Honors Biology, Honors Anatomy and Physiology, Honors Geometry, Spanish 2, Gym (req), Chorus

10th- GT World History (dropped out of AP World History in first quarter), GT English 10, Honors Chemistry, Honors Spanish 3, Honors Algebra 2, Academy of Health Professions 1 and 2, Technology (req)

11th- AP English Language, GT Pre-Calculus, Honors US History (I refuse to take AP because of my career goal), Honors Spanish 4, Honors Physics, Academy of Health Professions 3 and 4 (Honors), Chorus (again! :slight_smile: ), AP Music Theory (self-studying)

12th- AP English Literature, AP Biology (possible two periods), AP Calculus AB, AP Spanish Language, Economics/Health (reqs), Chorus (yes- almost all 4 years), Elective (such as Guitar) or AP Psychology

2

I rate it 9/10. What do you want to major in?

3

It depends. Is this one of the most rigorous schedules you can take at your school? If so, then that’s okay. At my school, though, there’s a girl who took one AP sophomore year, five junior year, and is taking seven this upcoming senior year, and she hopes to attend Johns Hopkins. This is about as rigorous as a schedule can be at our school, so she is fine. If that is as rigorous as your schedule can be, then you’re fine. There are also several other factors considered in admissions such as test scores and extracurricular activities. I don’t know this about you so I can’t really say, but you seem to really lack APs junior year. Hopefully senior year can make up for it! Best of luck!

4

Can you take AP physics instead of Honors Physics?
Yo say “because of your career goals” you won’t take APUS, I fail to see how career goals would affect choosing that AP class?

5

@TheSlacker16 I want to major in biology or chemistry because I want to be a doctor.

@PhilipL Yes and no. I am one of the few students who are continuing with Spanish all four years. It sucks that my magnet course takes up two extra periods.

@MYOS1634 Unfortunately not because I don’t meet the prerequisites. I should have taken GT Physics concurrently with Pre Calc. I just don’t understand how World History and US History relates to everyday life (it obviously has a huge impact) and so the class to me is blasé.

6

What’s useful is not what’s practical. Useful is what shapes your mind, helps you see connections where before you saw none, helps you understand yourself or others, helps you be a full part of your nation and of the world. Practical is what you do with it and it rests on you. A class’ value doesn’t depend on something from everyday life jumping at you. History is useful even if it’s not practical. Neither are Biology nor math. Yet all train your brain, shape your thoughts, allow you to think, think more, think more deeply.
Continuing with Spanish all 4 years is good.
To become a doctor, studying biology is not the right move. It decreases your odds of making it to med school - you’re better off majoring in Math (pure, applied, stats…), Engineering, CS; or in English, Foreign Language, philosophy. Or both! :slight_smile: Biology majors are a dime a dozen applying to med school and their success rate is lower than for the above groups. At least look into BioBehavioral Health, Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, etc. as it’ll relate more to what you want to do.
Finally, in order to increase your odds of making it to med school, you need to choose a college where you’re in the top 25% of students AND that has excellent Pre Health Advising.
Overall, your schedule is good but cast a wide net and don’t focus on only one school. Finally, remember to run the NPCs on several colleges and bring the results to your parents (make sure they’re sitting down first).