Junior Year Courses

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>Hi guys! </p>

<p>Okay so I'm in need of some serious advice here- nothing unrealistic or overly harsh. The course selection process is coming up at my high school and I'm in a total rut about what to choose. My dream school is UPenn, but I know that's a high dream. Currently, I have an A/A- average in all of my classes, which are all honors classes. I go to a very competitive, high-ranking, and challenging school in the northeast, often compared to some of the top private schools in the nation. That's not to brag, it's just to give some background.</p>

<p>Next year I will be juggling a yearbook editor position, a highly demanding role on sophomore student government, as well as being an active member in my school's drama department. With this in mind, I'm considering leveling down to the standard level of math (Pre-Calc) instead of taking my normal honors class. However, will this significantly lessen my chance at an ivy league admission? Currently I'm getting a low A- in my math class, and I've heard that the lower level next year is a breeze. In your opinion, would it be better to take the higher or lower level?</p>

<p>Also, I have the option of taking AP Bio or APUSH next year. Both are said to be the hardest classes imaginable at my school, and everyone hates the teachers that teach them. Most kids are averaging about a B in the class, but are having to sacrifice work in their other subjects in order to achieve just that. I want to challenge myself and take higher level classes, but at the same time I want to balance my schedule and maintain a high GPA. Thoughts on this? Better to be challenged, or better to have a high GPA? Honors classes and AP classes are weighted the same at my school, so I wouldn't be sacrificing much on that end either.</p>

<p>Thanks for your help!
Alexis</p>

2

<p>When you apply to colleges, your Guidance Counselor will fill out a form, and one of the things on the form asks the GC to characterize the courses you have taken, compared to other college-bound students at your school, as “most demanding,” “very demanding,” “demanding,” “average,” or “less demanding.” Conventional wisdom has it that, for the most selective colleges (Ivy League and equivalents), unless you have some kind of hook, anything other than “most demanding” is a negative, and anything below “very demanding” is close to disqualifying.</p>

<p>You can (and should) ask the GCs at your school what their standards are for checking those boxes, and then use that information to pick your courses. My guess is that taking your math down to standard level would pretty much take you out of contention for hyper-selective colleges, unless you are a heck of an athlete, a movie star, or something like that. But that’s just a guess; your GCs can give your much better information.</p>

<p>As for the question, is it better to get a lower grade in a harder course or a higher grade in an easier course? The standard answer is that if you aren’t getting high grades in hard courses, you really aren’t a candidate for this kind of college. They have plenty of applicants with good grades across the board (or almost across the board - a B or two won’t kill you) in really tough courses, and they still reject most of those kids. If you need to drop down a level to do well, that’s fine, but you may want to re-think whether Penn is where you really want to go to college.</p>

<p>There’s nothing wrong with that, by the way. Many, many successful people – most successful people – don’t go to Penn, or Harvard, or anywhere like that. Getting into “an Ivy” is really a pretty dumb life goal. Making yourself a smart, educated, engaged, active, and happy person is a great life goal. If you achieve that, I guarantee that the college thing will work out well for you. And if taking somewhat easier courses gets you there, that’s absolutely what you should do.</p>

3

<p>I think you should drop down the math level, and use the extra time to nail one or both of those AP classes. My personal opinion is if your school has them, it will take around 10 AP classes to get into high-end schools like Penn. I actually think they won’t care whether you took regular or honors pre-calc, as long as you are successful in Calc the next year.</p>