<p>I'm about to go into my freshman year of high school (I know this is a college website, I'm just really focusing on my future haha), and I noticed I have no honor classes for my freshman year. In my eighth grade year I always managed a's, and a b/b+ for math. I got accepted into honor society and always got good grades. I don't know why, but they didn't put me into any honors classes for my freshman year. My teachers said if I manage excellent grades, I will be put into honors classes for sophomore year, and my expectations are to get AP classes for junior year.
I want to get into Ivy League colleges, and although everyone says freshman year doesn't really count, will my chances for ivy leagues be affected in any way if I don't have honors classes but manage excellent grades? This is really worrying me.
PS- I want to be a lawyer when I'm older, so I would LIKE colleges like Cornell, Columbia, and my top, number one choice of a college is Harvard.</p>
<p>Take a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat after me: “Everything is going to be okay!”</p>
<p>For most students, high school is a different animal than middle school. For example, at my son and daughter’s middle school, the teachers checked homework everyday and wanted students to organize their notebooks in a certain way. When my kids entered high school, their teachers didn’t care how they wanted to organize a notebook or how they took notes. And the teachers never checked homework – they just expected students to do it. It was a huge organizational challenge for my kids and thankfully the school realized that most students need time to make that educational adjustment, so freshman were not allowed to take honors courses or AP’s. My kids took honors and AP’s from sophomore through senior year and they did just fine! So will you!</p>
<p>Please read this blog: <a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost;
<p>I’ve always been under the impression that of all the years of high school, freshman year is the least important - at least from a college admissions standpoint. If you work hard and get into honors classes for your sophomore year, that hard work and improvement will show on your transcript. I got into Harvard this year without taking the absolute hardest track in every single subject - I willingly bowed out of my school’s top-level calculus class! Don’t stress out about this sort of thing as a freshman; focus on doing well in the present, not on attaining a far-off Ivy League goal.</p>
<p>I would suggest you arrange a meeting with your guidance counselor as soon as (or slightly before) school starts. Maybe include your parents if that would help you (especially if they are tigers). You need more info here, and 9th grade is a very poor time to be shut out of any existing honors classes.</p>
<p>1) Are there honors classes available to frosh? If so, why were you not placed in them? </p>
<p>2) You most definitely want to be in the most advanced academic track you can possibly manage, in your high school, from the very beginning. Otherwise advanced classes down the road become nearly impossible to get in to, and colleges place great emphasis on “taking the most challenging courses available to you”, especially in your area of interest. Do not accept “do well this year and try them next year”, because given what thread you have posted on here, the game may well be over next year if you do not take honors classes this year.</p>
<p>3) Maybe your B in math led you to be tracked out of honors. If so, get a math tutor and spend some time this summer reviewing and getting ready for your next HONORS math class.</p>
<p>4) Ask if you can be moved to ANY available honors classes. Insist. You will find the other students are more serious about academics, and the teachers are also usually better in the honors tracks. And the honors classes at a 9th grade level will not be much harder than the regular classes, and will be a lot more interesting</p>
<p>5) Plan out your entire 4 year high school academic path now (including summer activities), as you see your goals now, and check carefully with your high school’s course catalogue to see the prerequisites of any AP or IB classes your school offers, and how to meet them.</p>
<p>6) Do you have any other high school options?</p>
<p>^^ Agree with. Also, in most high schools, honors and AP classes are weighted higher than regular classes, so your weighted gpa will be affected by not taking honors classes if they are available to other freshman.</p>
<p>It is absolutely best to start with harder courses. It is easier to drop out of honors courses than to transfer into them</p>
<p>If you want Ivy League, your chances are maximized with the toughest course selection possible. On top of that, getting A’s and/or the highest GPA also helps out your chances a little bit.</p>