I am currently a sophomore and because of state and school graduation requirements, I want to have the strongest transcript possible for a school like Penn (my dream school), without having to sacrifice classes that I have a strong interest in. I also come from a very high acheiving district, and taking too many APs could be harmful to my GPA, as I am have involvement in quite a few extracurriculars that I am realky passionate about. Here are the classes I took freshman and sophomore years (* denotes that the class is required to get all my graduationg requirements):
World History Honors*
Advanced Algebra II Honors*
Languge Arts I Honors*
Biology*
Spanish I*
Art Foundations
Precalculus Honors*
American Studies I Honors*
Language Arts II Honors*
Chemistry Honors*
Spanish II*
Drawing and Painting I
In my next two years of high school, I still need one more lab science course (physics), one financial literacy course which I might be able to take over the summer, a life skills elective, two more years of math, two more years of language arts, and one more year of american history. I want to continue to take art for all four years of high school because I need three years and a prerequisite for AP Studio Art, which I think could really show my talents and dedication to whatever schools I apply to. My main question is, should I continue to take Spanish for one or two more years at honors level, or take something like AP Stat or AP Psych instead? Also, how much would it hurt my transcript to move from and honors science to a regular level physics class?
I’d also like to point out that I am interested in the Digital Media Design Program at Penn, or any other school that has a program similar to it.
1° Regular level Physics is fine, as long as you have Physics
2° DO take Spanish III and IV. They’re considered core classes AND markers of high academic rigor, whereas AP Psych and AP Stats are both “AP lites”.
3° In addition to Art, try to take AP CS Principles (not CS A).
4° Can you take the Life Skills class over the summer before junior year, and Financial Literacy over the summer before senior year?
@MYOS1634 I have applied to my guidance counselor to take my finacial credit over the summer, and if that doesnt work, there is an option where I can take a half yet financial class during study hall (my school requires study hall for all students). I will try my best to take a computer science class over the summer before senior year (they count for life skills) because there is a prerequisite for AP CS Principles at my school because of the high amount of students that want to take AP classes and the lack of teachers/space, but I’m also not sure if the summer courses will count for credit or only for placement.
Also, one last question: what can I do to make myself stand out to the DMD program? So far my extracurriculars include varsity field hockey and track, church volunteering, and I founded my school’s Black Student Union, but these all seem very generic. Any ideas of ways I can specialize or stand out from other applicants while staying true to my interests?
Since you founded the black student union, choose high-impact activities for it’s members, make a positive change that can quantified or reported on.
@MYOS1634 thank you so much. I will try to bring as much success to the club as I can as a student run club. you have been so helpful.