Hi everyone, I’m a rising junior and I’ve selected my courses for the upcoming school year recently. However, I feel so conflicted and literally can’t make up my mind. There’s so much pressure, I feel like, being junior year and all. If anyone can give me some tips for how to survive these AP classes and just check over and make sure this all sounds good, I’d appreciate it. Oh and I’m also top of my class and hoping to get into schools like BC, Georgetown, Northeastern, Fordham, Pitt, and American, so a rigorous course load is something I need. I’m hoping to go into something like political science, law, psychology, or communications. Sorry that I’m still so confused when it comes to the future!
JUNIOR YEAR SCHEDULE (as of now)
-AP Biology
-PE Cyber / Sociology and Anthropology (need to take half year PE unfortunately)
-AP English Language
-Algebra II Honors (on pace with Common Core @ my school although many others in the country are ahead)
-AP World History
-Physics I (school only offers CP or AP and I don’t know if I can handle AP)
-AP European History
Does this schedule hit all the points necessary on a good transcript? And also can anyone with some prior experience in any of these classes give me some pointers or stories about how they went? And lastly, is this too much, will I be doing homework and crying for 8 hours a day? THANKS!
Have you taken APUSH yet? Also, you sciences isn’t going to be easy. It probably is better if you don’t take AP physics if you aren’t that into math/science.
Yep, I’m currently taking it this year. Ok, yeah I wasn’t planning on taking AP Physics, I was just worried that plain old Physics would make me look weak. But I guess if I’m taking AP Bio it makes up for it.
No worries if you’re still trying to figure out what to do in the future. Take it easy, you don’t need to rush.Your junior year schedule does look very rigorous considering that you aren’t going for a STEM major.
Like the post above, I wouldn’t recommend AP Physics if you math and science aren’t your strongest subjects. The AP classes you are choosing to take require a lot more reading and critical thinking, than say AP Calc or even AP Psychology. That being said, I think you can do well if you truly are interested in those subjects. Taking 2 science classes along with 2 history classes will be time consuming, and you probably will stay up late to finish homework and/or study depending on your teachers. I took AP World History & AP Biology and studying for both those classes were conflicting with my already tight schedule.
I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but if you can’t handle a lot of AP classes, it’s better to drop 1 or 2 and stick to CP/Honors and get excellent grades that way instead. This is by far the biggest advice I will give to any junior. If you feel that your schedule isn’t rigorous enough, you can always take summer classes for acceleration to make up for that - whether it’s at your school or at your local community college.
Colleges review your application holistically. Your extracurriculars, any award, work experience, and/or leadership positions will largely come into play for the admissions process.
Another advice I would give to an incoming junior is to study for the SAT/ACT now and focus on getting a good score. Use your summer to do this. Looking back, I wish I practiced for standardized tests before my junior year. It just took up way too much time along with my schoolwork, and if I was prepared enough to take the SAT the first semester of my junior year, I would have probably spent time on other areas, like focusing on perfecting my extracurriculars and GPA even more.
Good luck to you and remember to take classes for yourself, not to impress colleges or anyone else. Your strengths will naturally come out when you follow your interests. Feel free to message me for more details on AP Bio and World History if you need it.
How many years of a foreign language do you have? You can check the schools you are interested in to see how many years they recommend. How many AP’s are you currently taking? Some students can handle 4-5 AP’s a year, others struggle with 1-2. Schools can vary and depends on teacher, but AP Bio will most likely be a lot of work and so could AP World. If you are currently at the top of your class, you should be ok…but keep in mind there are hundreds of good schools. Be sure you include affordable schools, including matches and safeties…not just reaches. Good luck!
Wow thank you for all your advice it’s extremely helpful! And yeah I actually just got a few prep books for the SAT and ACT, and instead of taking Sociology I’m actually going to be in a College Admissions Test Prep class! I think I’m more of a reader/thinker than a problem solver/applier as well. Thanks again!
I’ve taken 3 years of Spanish starting in 8th grade with this sophomore year being my last. And right now I’m taking 3 AP’s: Art History, US History, and Psych, and I’m doing well in them and I think the hw load is manageable so I hope that adding one more will be ok!! And yeah of course, I just said my dream schools so people could get an idea of what kind of a student I am:)
It sounds like you have a good handle on your work load and what you can manage. I would check with your dream schools and confirm how many years of a language they want to see. I think most will not accept 8th grade Spanish unless it is listed on your high school transcript as a high school course. Therefore if your transcript only shows 2, you could fall below the recommended amount and not be as competitive as other applicants. I believe Northeastern is one that recommends 3. If it will be on your transcript than you will only fall below any that recommend 4. Good luck!
Yes, you’d need one more year to reach level 4 for the schools you’re aiming for.
Recommendations:
-AP Biology
-PE Cyber / Test prep
-AP English Language
-Algebra II Honors
-AP World History/ AP European History => CHOOSE ONE
-Physics regular (it’s okay since your schedule is very rigorous already)
Do you have a plan for Senior year?
I would recommend you take the AP History you didn’t take junior year + AP US/Comp Gov or AP Econ (or a combination), Precalculus Honors, Honors English or AP Lit depending on how much you love to read, a science, and a class of your choice.
Wow thank you, I didn’t realize that colleges only count my 3 years of Spanish as 2 . . . I thought they’d just see that I stopped at Spanish 3 Honors and assume I started at 1 lol. Definitely taking that new and improved schedule into heavy consideration. Nice input for the senior schedule, I’ve been thinking about it and it’d probably go something like that.
They I’ll consider you reached level 3 which is enough for basic admissions but you’re aiming for top colleges so stopping sophomore year when you could have taken it junior year isn’t tops* and reaching level 4 shows more rigor .
- kinda like, if you reach pre-calculus sophomore year, you're supposed to take calculus junior year even if strictly speaking you've completed your requirements.