<p>I am not sure if this is the right part of the forums to post this in but here it goes.</p>
<p>I am going to be doing scheduling for next year (Junior Year) in a few weeks. I have a few possible schedules in mind.</p>
<p>AP Calc AB (for sure taking)<br>
Honors Physics (for sure)
Latin 2 (For sure)<br>
Honors English 11 (vs. AP Lit)<br>
AP Chem (vs. possibly AP Econ or regular World History)<br>
Band </p>
<p>Additionally, how highly do college admissions officers at top 20 or so colleges value 4 years of Band, and consequently Symphony Orchestra?
Would it be better for me to drop Band and add an extra AP class, say AP Econ or AP Stats? I go to a moderately sized public high school (about 230 kids in my class) and it doesn't offer very many other AP classes besides the ones I have listed. The only others are Bio, Calc BC, and Physics.</p>
<p>Suggestions please? :)</p>
<p>Time and again I’ve seen on this forum your classes must be reviewed within the confines of your school offering – i.e. will your counselor mark the box that you took one of the more difficult schedules available?</p>
<p>I think your schedule looks good, but you should discuss this with your counselor in terms of what they will mark on the box when you complete your college applications.</p>
<p>JMO - I’m a liberal arts person and I personally like to see a balance of arts and academics. Most private high schools have arts requirements for HS graduation. </p>
<p>You are asking about the top 20 schools, but everyone’s idea of top 20 is different. Are you looking at Universities only, or including LACs, publics only?<br>
Some top schools will very much value band and your dedication over all 4 years. But again you need to look at it in context of what you want. If you plan on being a Business major and applying to Wharton then AP Econ may be the better choice - and not just because it will “look” better but because it will beging to prepare you.</p>
<p>A good portion of colleges may recalcualte your GPA to throw out your band grade. By aware of this when determining which schools to apply.</p>
<p>Be sure to take some APs in senior year too.</p>
<p>Don’t hesitate to post on the Parents thread. Many there have gone through the cycle with kid #1 and now are on to kid #2. They are very happy to share experience.</p>
<p>yes, my school requires an Arts credit which I have already fullfilled by taking Band as a freshman. In saying top 20, I meant universities, public ones included.
I live in Michigan, so getting into U of M is probably a safe bet for an in-stater but I am not sure if I feel comfortable going to that large of a school…
I think I would like to study Humanities in college, but I am not sure.
thanks for the reply :)</p>
<p>I’d say stay in Orchestra/Band. Showing schools that you participate in musical organizations are always a plus compared to an AP class imho. It really more or less is an organization/club. You also have other AP/Honors classes the same year so yeah.</p>
<p>thanks, Jim. I will take that into consideration. Seeing as the whole Band/Symphony Orchestra/Youth Orchestra/Pit Orchestra/Private Lessons really constitutes a large portion of my extra curriculars, I would probably need to find something really big to replace it</p>
<p>Consider doing volunteer work by playing music with other students at different places like living communities for the elderly or local senior citizen centers. You could also tutor kids for free which would look great. Ask your music teacher that you want to do some volunteer work by tutoring students in music. I’m pretty sure even contacting the elementary school music teachers would also lead to something good.</p>
<p>that sounds like a good idea! do you think that tutoring through National Honor Society would be too little to put on college apps?
oh yea, if I have the opportunity to do so, do you think I should take World History as a 0 Hour class next which would open my senior year schedule one spot for another class? would taking an extra class like that harmfully affect my gpa?</p>
<p>I believe almost everyone in NHS has to tutor other students at the school so it really is nothing. You can put it down but I doubt it’d do much since it’s nothing surprising to them. It depends on how well you would handle all those classes, I would recommend not putting the World History class in unless you have less than two history classes by graduation. Just do well in the classes you have signed up for, do Orchestra and every other musical organization, and with the open time as I said before think about volunteering a hundred or more hours.</p>
<p>in my school, we have 3 required Social Studies classes by graduation. At the end of this year, I will have 2, and I am required to take World History. But it isn’t offered in AP form at my school =(
I am in Key Club so I will start doing a lot with that and also volunteering outside of it as well.</p>
<p>Ah I see then I’m sure colleges will see that no form of AP World History is offered at your school since the school sends an info. packet along with your transcript. Well try to also get some leadership positions in different clubs, musical groups(ex. President of the Band,etc.). Having leadership experience helps a lot also.</p>
<p>Along the lines of Jim’s ideas, you may want to check out your local library for free or near free summer programs for kids - You could do some music stuff with them, even if it is only one or two days to get kids interested in music.</p>
<p>Universities are much more numbers driven when reviewing apps. IMO It is more important for you to keep a higher GPA.</p>
<p>Since you want a humanties major in college and since you need to max the GPA, I am changing my mind and suggesting you exchange the AP Chem for World History. Esp since you need one History class.</p>
<p>Since you are concerned it isn’t AP World History I suggest you consider taking the SAT II in World History in spring of your junior year. This will show you went beyond. If you don’t score high you don’t need to submit the scores to colleges (unless you apply to Ivies and the like).</p>