OK, my schedule arrived today. In the spring, we are recommended for honors/AP courses, and the people who get put into these classes are the same people that are in honors and AP everything, they don’t like the exceptional history student to be in AP hsitory, they’d rather put the all around smart but nothing special kid in an all AP schedule.
So I fall into the suck at math and science but rock at english and humanities type. I was supposed to take honors English and AP art history this year, but due to a scheduling conflict with French IV I can’t take the AP art history.
So I only have one honors class junior year. I had one AP last year, music theory.
My question is this: do I basically have zero chance at good schools because I’m not in the advanced track? Because I’m smarter than most kids in my grade, but I’m not the all around perfect student role model that they like to put into advanced classes. I KNOW, however, that if I were at the local public school I would be in all honors and AP everything.
I’m in this dilemma again that I had in the spring. Should I stay at the competitive private school and only take one honors class (does this basically mean no chance at stanford and ivy’s?) or should I go to the public school (which is a very good one by the way) and take an all honors and AP courseload?
Stats: 3.7-3.8 GPA, currently at competitive private school, 2150 SAT, really strong EC’s
<p>Try talking to the teachers -- if you can't get into AP humanities courses of your choice, see if you can self-study them -- teachers love to see students who take the initiative, and AP tests aren't that hard if you're prepared.</p>
<p>That's a good idea. I could say that because of the 1. lack of class at school or 2. scheduling conflict, I decided to self prepare for the AP exams in psychology and economics.</p>
<p>OK: my mom does NOT like the idea of me having to "supplement" the curriculum with self studying; she has this whole "why are we paying $20k a year for you to have to supplement your curriculum"..</p>
<p>How about "why are we paying $20k a year for you if you can't even take courses that fit your abilities"?</p>
<p>The whole thing is stupid. Go yell at your guidance counselor or dean, hell go to your headmaster/principal. File complains in local newspapers, threaten to spread bad publicity.</p>
<p>The truth is, your academic profile comes first with college admissions, and they WILL look at the rigor of your curriculum. Sure, you can justify, but try your best to get into the courses that meet your needs. Self studying AP's shows initiative, but is not a substitute for high school courses!</p>
<p>So does only having 5 or so honors/AP throughout my high school career seriously hurt my chances? (1 soph, 1 junior, 3 senior). I should also mention that I skipped a year in science, but I'm still not in honors.</p>
<p>The problem is that they're not going to let me into honors French because my grades fluctuated between B+ and A, and I'm not going to get into AP history because I had a B all year. And while I could probably be in honors science, they won't let me because you have to be in honors math to do that, and you have to be on the "track" to do honors math. Which I'm not. So all that's left is AP art history, which I can't take because I have a scheduling conflict with French IV.</p>
<p>Some private schools will cover the cost of a course taken at another institution for they are not able to offer or willing to offer. Have you inquired about this? I mean can you take a course at the local college/university??</p>
<p>There's no way the school would pay for that, and while that's a good idea it seems like it would take up a lot of time and maybe take away from my EC's and already problematic academic profile.</p>