<p>Is this a usual schedule for an MIT applicant because this is what I am thinking of taking senior year:</p>
<li>gym (have to)</li>
<li>English Honors (taking AP Language this year)</li>
<li>AP Physics</li>
<li>Advanced CAD</li>
<li>Lunch</li>
<li>AP Calc BC</li>
<li>AP Psych*</li>
<li>AP Computer Sciences</li>
</ol>
<p>*I MAY self study psych and take AP Econ or electronics instead.</p>
<p>Any ideas? Will this course load kill me? Should I self study psych and take econ OR electronics? Maybe I should just take psych? As for AP Physics, this will be the first year my school is teaching it, and it is going to be taught as B and not C. Also AP computer sciences, I believe, is A and not AB (if I am understanding that AB is more material than just A). Maybe I should sub AP computer sciences for electronics and self study AB?</p>
<p>Here in Silicon Valley, where the public high schools offer a wide range of AP classes, your schedule would be considered typical for a student applying to the University of California and other top universities. In other areas of the country, where local high schools offer far fewer advanced courses, your schedule might look unusual. It's all about the context.</p>
<p>My daughter's junior and senior schedules were as follows (she's at MIT now):
Junior year:
AP physics
BC calculus
AP US history
French 3
American Lit honors
Art 4
Physical education/sports (varsity tennis)</p>
<p>Senior year:
Multivariable calculus (at Stanford)
AP computer science
AP Government
French 4
AP English Literature
AP Studio Art
Chemistry honors</p>
<p>I know that some students took more AP courses than she did, but she only took the courses in which she was interested, and they served as a good preparation for MIT.</p>
<p>Like your daughter, I am taking less AP classes this year (only 2 - AP Chem and AP Language). (Your daughter looks better though because she took 3!) The schedule I posted is NOT usual for students at my high school, but we HAVE the AP classes! After senior year I will have taken 6-7 AP classes. What I really want to know is how people do it? Like AP language and AP chem alone fill up my school days with homework! I'm thinking it is because they are so labor intensive?</p>
<p>English IV AP/IB (will take Lit/Lang AP test and IB English A HL Test)
Statistics AP (This course is a joke. Will not take AP test as MIT doesn't offer credit, but will be taking Math HL test)
Orchestra Advanced
Physics Themes/B IB/AP (Am self-studying Physics C as this is only a B/Themes class, will take Physics C test as well as the Physics HL Test)
Spanish V IB/AP (Already took Span Lang AP, will take Spanish B SL test
European History IB (Will take Euro HL test)
TOK/Gym IB
Fine Art Photo II</p>
<p>Junior Sched was:
English III AP (took the Lang/Comp test)
Calc BC (took the test)
Spanish IV IB/AP (Took the Spanish Lang test)
Computer Science IB (Took the SL test)
US History II AP (Took the USH AP test)
Orchestra
Physics IB
Gym/TOK IB</p>
<p>In total I will have taken 6 AP tests and 6 IB tests by the end of my Senior Year</p>
<p>Thus far I received a 5 on the AP US Hist, Spanish Lang, Calc BC, and Lang/Comp test and a 6 on IB Comp Sci SL</p>
<p>@Vhiremath4,
Whether the schedule is a burden or not depends on the student. My daughter never seemed to spend more than 2 hours a day on homework, and much of that she knocked off during a "tutorial" period in school. As a result, she had lots of time for all the extracurricular activities she wanted to pursue. And you know what? I can't really explain how easy it all seemed at the time.</p>
<p>Her younger brother is now a junior. On the PSAT and SAT, he scores as highly as she did, and I believe he's equally talented. But it takes him far longer to do the homework in the same AP classes his sister breezed through (or slept through, according to some of her friends). She spent far less time and graduated as a valedictorian. He works very hard at the same high school for a lower GPA. And I can't explain it; I don't understand it at all, except that quite possibly she's the sort of student who can glance at a page of text and absorb it.</p>
<p>At MIT and other top universities you'll meet the full range of students: those who seem to instantly grasp and master the material, and those who have to diligently work through it. I think each person has to learn what he or she can handle in terms of course load.</p>