Hi!
I’m a junior currently taking AP Calculus AB, AP Physics 2/C, Dual Credit Chem, AP Lang, AP Comp Sci A, APUSH, and Spanish 2. Sophomore year I took precalc honors, AP Physics 1, Biology honors, Spanish 1, English honors, Principles of Engineering, Computer Science and Digital Design. I also took the Algebra 2 honors, Geometry honors, Algebra 1 etc. math finals last year because I started school late after skipping a school year from a different country. Freshman year I got a bunch of unweighted credits estimated from my middle school transcript from a different country. I was also placed in English basic skills development and English as a new language because I didn’t speak English so I had to make my way up to AP Lang in a year and a half. Also I didn’t have the privilege to learn Spanish in my small Southeast Asian country so I had to take Spanish 1 sophomore year.
I have all A pluses and a few A’s but my weird schedule is kinda messing my GPA. This year I have a 5.01/5.33w and 4.0/4.0uw GPA but last year I had a 4.6w GPA because I had to take some classes that I took in a different language/couldn’t take at first due to limited space. Freshman year I had a 4.33 which I had no control over because I couldn’t take classes I wanted to due to limited space/starting mid year.
Is the following a good senior year schedule or should I push myself harder to “redeem” my Freshman year?
AP Calc BC, AP Econ, AP Gov, Comp Sci 3rd year (College Credit), AP Lit, Spanish 3 and AP Chem (might or might not take not sure yet)
My intended major is Computer Science
I am open to feedback. Sorry for my bad English I’m still learning.
Thanks for reading!
You have nothing you need to redeem. You have many upper level classes. Definitely take that 3rd year of Spanish. I’m sure you will find a good college match.
If you’re getting all A’s, you’re fine. The weighted GPA’s don’t mean much without a weighting scale. 5.01 is above what’s possible at some schools and below the top 10% at our school.
Your current schedule is pretty much the same as my D will have except Calc BC and French 4. (Not sure what “Physics 2/C” is - she’ll have C), and Senior year is very similar. It’s about as rigorous as any at her school and IMHO is plenty for any college application.
What are you thinking you would take to make it “harder”? You need a 3rd year language and everything else is AP/DE.
@RichInPitt I was thinking maybe I should take another full weighted engineering class. I feel like junior year isn’t good enough because I couldn’t take Spanish 4/AP.
FWIW if you just learned English I’m impressed. Your writing is better than most on here, I certainly couldn’t tell you aren’t a native speaker. With the class load you are taking count me as doubly impressed.
I think it’s a good idea to take Spanish 3, but I also think that you might get cut some slack on the foreign language requirement since your English class was a foreign language class for you.
@dadof4kids Thanks! I didn’t know I could use some of my English classes as foreign language courses.
I don’t know that it exactly counts as foreign language. But anyone reading your application will realize that you took all of those difficult classes and got A+'s WHILE learning English. You never know how any individual reader will feel, but overall I would think that they would cut you some slack on not taking the 4th year of foreign language. The point of that requirement is really to make kids get fluent in a second language, which you already are.
Oh ok thanks for confirming. Should I also list that I can fluently speak three languages and am learning my fourth and fifth one or would that be irrelevant to college apps?
You don’t need to say anything about the extra languages. What you do need to verify with every single place you apply to is whether or not they will require a TOEFL score. Since you will have only been studying in English for about 4 years by the time you graduate, many places will want that.
@happymomof1 would the ACT/SAT work? Or should I pair them with my TOEFL score just to be safe
You need to verify separately with each place on your application list. Some won’t ask for a TOEFL if you have certain ACT/SAT scores. Some will ask for it anyway.
If you do find out that you need the TOEFL (or another English proficiency test), be sure to do a bit of specific review for that exam. The format, topics covered, and vocabulary used will be different from what you need to know for the ACT/SAT.