I am posting on behalf of my ten-years-younger sister. My advice to her so far as she selects HS classes has been that she demonstrate her passion, challenge herself, but not to the degree that she doesn’t have time to pursue her interests outside of school (a la Cal Newport’s “Relaxed Superstar”).
Compared to her friends, the following courseload is about average (though her friends are in the top 5 percent of her class and she is just outside of the top 10 percent – though rapidly climbing). I personally fear for some of her friends’ sanity (one is taking AP Calc, AP Chem, AP Phys 2 among two other APs and 2 more honors classes). Would the courseload below still tick the guidance counselor’s “Most Rigorous Schedule” box?
Dual Enrollment Stats (AP value added to GPA) (Fall)
Dual Enrollment Anatomy and Physiology (AP value added to GPA) (Spring)
AP Chem
AP US History
AP English Comp
Pre-Calc Honors
Early Childhood Education 4 Honors (she will be working in a preschool and earning her childcare certificate, while building a portfolio and preparing a case study of one of her students)
Early Childhood Education Directed Study (here is the class which she worries about as it is not honors, but it is highly encouraged that students take it in conjunction with Early Childhood 4).
In place of Early Childhood Directed Study, she was considering AP Environmental or Euro, or Anatomy Honors (but then she’d struggle to find another class at the college). She has plans for 5 APs next year…
Whether a course load is rigorous or not completely depends on the context of the school. In a poorly funded, inncer-city public school, taking 2 APs senior year could be considered incredibly rigorous. To me, it sounds pretty rigorous, but I’m not her guidance counselor.
At a public high school in a wealthy area, 5 APs is actually fairly common, and 6 is certainly not unheard of, especially for superstars. Could she get good grades if she took that many?
Having her core classes (math, social science, english, science) either honors or AP is great. But what about a foreign language? And why two math and science classes (stats, precalc, anatomy, chem)? And I think the early childhood classes are great.
All good things to think about, everyone. Thanks! Regarding language, her school jumps from Spanish 3 (which she took as a freshman) to AP Spanish Language. Because we live in Miami, the AP class is filled mainly with native Spanish speakers (we are Hispanic, actually, but she is not fluent). All the top students at her school (aside from the native speakers) tend to stop at 3 Spanishes.
I’ll have a talk with her and will perhaps be back with follow up questions. Any other insight is appreciated!
If she is interested in early child hood development then she should take it. She has many other rigorous courses. if She can always ask the GC. I personally think it is good, if you can, to take some interesting electives that it is difficult to take later.
