<p>I started off my junior year with an incredibly difficult schedule:
Honors Physics
Ap English Comp
Pre-calculus
Psych 1 and 2
TA/volleyball
Spanish 4
AP Art History</p>
<p>My difficult schedule has caused a drop in my gpa, nothing dramatic just more Bs then Im used to. Please be honest, how much will this affect my college acceptance? Will colleges note that my classes are much harder?</p>
<p>Thanks : )</p>
<p>The good news is that you’re definitely not alone. Many high schools tend to up the ante when it comes to junior year, making it (arguably) the most difficult year. I was in a similar situation to yours when I received my first semester grades (4 B’s and 2 A’s in four AP classes, one foreign language class beyond AP level, and Honors Physics), but after asking around a bit, I found that this actually won’t hurt so much if your B’s are high enough to bring up to A’s by the end of the year (if your school calculates a final year-end grade for each year-long course). And even if you don’t have year-end grades, colleges will appreciate seeing improvement, since it shows that you’ve adapted quickly to your tough course load.</p>
<p>Best of luck! :D</p>
<p>Apart from the 2 AP classes, it’s hard to compare the difficulty of your classes based on their name. Using as a comparison several local high schools with which I’m familiar, your schedule seems typical for college prep students. The APs you’re taking are not in quantitative subjects (science/math) so these too do not seem untypical for college prep students.</p>
<p>Your school may be very different from those I know. Selective colleges compare, whenever they can, the applicant’s schedule compared to what is available. So if the courses that you’re taking are the most difficult/rigorous ones available to a junior at your school then colleges would take that into account in evaluating you.</p>
<p>You don’t have an incredibly difficult schedule. My IB school has people taking 6 college classes junior year and still have people pulling off straight As.</p>
<p>An incredibly difficult schedule is subjective. You can’t look at his classes and say they are not hard. At my school, there are a few classes that are known to be hard. AP English 12 is a lot easier than AP English 11. AP Gov/Econ is a breeze compared to AP US, which is considered the hardest course next to AP Chem on my campus. It really depends on the school.</p>
<p><wowie> Three standard classes, AP Art History instead of like AP Bio/Phys/Chem. Maybe if you cut the word “incredibly” then it would make more sense. Most people aiming for top colleges fill up their junior schedule with all Honors and APs.</wowie></p>
<p>Everyone has to go through this and your schedule is not hard at all. Here’s my Senior schedule and I didn’t take AP Phys because it didn’t fit.
H Phys
AP Calc
AP Eng
AP Gov
AP Stats</p>
<p>Why would you take AP Physics with H Physics? I took H Physics Junior year and AP this year.</p>
<p>My schedule is AP Physics, AP Calc, AP Gov/Econ, AP Eng, Honors Physio, Photo (art requirement) and Track.</p>
<p>allie, what kinds of colleges are you looking at?</p>
<p>Do your best to bring the grades up this term. Junior year is the hardest for most, and colleges don’t want to see a grade drop, they want to see you meet the new challenges with strong grades if you had them coming into junior year.</p>
<p>This applies mostly to top colleges. Many state schools have formulas where a drop would not matter as much and below the top 30 or so schools, a B is still relatively strong.</p>
<p>Depends on what schools you are looking at, and at least in my school, that schedule isn’t that rigorous.</p>
<p>Allie, sorry this year feels so stressful. Since not all classes are equal, I’ve rearranged your classes to tell you which ones “count” more. I suspect one of your biggest challenges is your timing. You might have many opens. Yes, junior year the one that makes a huge difference, the one that colleges want to see how you challenge yourself.</p>
<p>All you can do is do your best. Focus on what’s important, and move on.</p>
<p>(freshman year: get used to HS, sophomore, still early/getting into stride, junior: now it counts)</p>
<p>Ap English Comp…Honors Physics…Pre-calculus
Spanish 4
AP Art History…Psych 1 and 2<br>
TA/volleyball</p>
<p>thanks guys for all the feedback : ) I didn’t mean to say that my classes are so much harder then everyone elses. I have been a straight A student since my freshmen year. This year my classes are much harder and that is all that I meant. I think its insane to take that many AP classes. I believe in a balance in my life. I am looking at colleges such as UT, UF, University of Maryland, Indiana, UNC, and a few more.</p>
<p>another junior here
schedule:
AP Calc BC
AP Bio
AP Eng/Comp
Latin 3
AP US
AP Art History
AP Psych</p>
<p>7 finals in upcoming week…oh wells i chose this live now i gotta live it >.<</p>
<p>Don’t stress out too much.</p>
<p>Just wait 'till you get to junior year in college. Applying to ibanking jobs/grad school apps/gmat/internships makes me feel like college admissions all over again (except with twice or thrice the amount of work and pressure…)</p>
<p>I try not to stress. I understand everyone else has their own schedules I am talking about mine.</p>