Normal Route or Narrow/Focused Route

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hi all :slight_smile:

I’m a current sophomore at an IB school (top 5 in the area I believe) and recently, I applied and got accepted in the Health Professions program at Thomas Edison High School of Technology.
This basically means that I will be going to TEHST for half of the day and my normal school with the following coursework:

Junior Year : AP Lang, AP World, Honors Precalc and if I can have the PM slot for TEHST, i can do another class which will most likely be Hon/AP Physics-----
----TEHST Junior Year-----
Foundations of Medicine and Health Science
Structures and Functions of the Human Body
Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) course

Senior Year: most likely AP Bio, AP Lit, AP Calc, and maybe AP Physics if I couldn’t do it junior year
----TEHST Senior Year-----
Medical Science with Clinical Applications course
Guided Research course
Internships at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and Bethesda Health and Rehabilitation Center
Students who complete the program and pass the national certification exam will be Certified Clinical Medical Assistants (CCMA) and/or Certified Nursing Assistants (CNA). Students also receive Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training and may be eligible to take the Geriatric Nursing Assistant examination upon completion of the program.

I had accepted the offer, however, I am still conflicted as I really would love to learn about something I’m almost set on wanting to be in the future, either a PA for (or to be) a cosmetic surgeon. Yet, I know I would be missing out on some classes that colleges may look for.

My EC’s pretty good, I have over 300 hours of volunteering, including at hospitals and shelters. I am also applying again this summer. I have a job at a tutoring center and a dancer. However, I will try to add on more such as Bio Olympiad, SNHS, etc by this year or next year.

So I’m wondering if choosing TEHST would be a good enough route for colleges or will they look down on it as I’ve chosen a “vocational” high school?
In addition, what are some recs of other EC’s or awards etc I can try out? And what are some thoughts on the AP classes I should take?

I’m also planning to take the SAT II Bio and Chem :))

Thank you xx and sorry its so long haha

2

It sounds like you wouldn’t be doing an IB program. Have you taken any foreign language since that seems to be missing. If not can you take some over the summer? Can you ask what colleges graduates of the program have gotten into? Perhaps the miss of AP and vocational sounding classes will help you stand out to schools.

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Yes, IB is a program in my school but I chose not to follow it because I didn’t really align with the courses and workload. I’m finishing Spanish 3 this year and may take 4 sometimes in the summer. I’ve been trying to but I don’t know many that well. And yea, I hope so