Oh God, Another Schedule Thread...

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Well, I hope everyone hasn't beaten their skulls in with varied blunt weaponry yet, as I to (yes, a new member, but have lurked in the past) have a schedule thread.</p>

<p>I go to one of the best private preparatory schools in the Tampa area, and we seem to operate under an unconvential set of rules. Pretty much it is unheard of to have anyone take double didgit APs total as they are not available until Junior Year (in a limited fasion, although I know one kid who is taking 9 AP exams, but hes the only one since... like 3 years ago or something). That being said, my schedule as a junior (to make up for a lack of APs) was loaded with courses, but not difficult ones. This was not of my choosing, but it was more of a conglomeration of outside circumstances, natural slothliness (there is no way that is a word), and a bad report with my teachers that did not earn me a spot in the advanced classes (even honors classes require top 15-20% of the class, of which I am on the cusp of, but not surely entrenched in).</p>

<h2>Regardless, my schedule for junior year looked as such</h2>

<p>A) Chemistry (no honors, despite an A+ in Physics because my teacher felt it was going to be difficult for me... I finished my 180 question midterm exam in 40 minutes and have a 100)</p>

<p>B) Cultural History (I want to go into some combination of History/Business/PoliSci/Econ so another history credit never hurts. No AP Art History at our school, but this class really crept up on me)</p>

<p>C) S1 - S.W.A.T (not a class, but, as a laptop school, a group of students act as laptop repair peoples during their free periods to get community service hours). S2 - Religion (Philosohy, really, it is a forced course every year at our school). I also have a chemistry lab period this block</p>

<p>D) Precalculus - (Doing well, would've and could've done honors or AP accelerated, but got the short end of the stick as a sophmore. Only 1 honors class of 15 people last year in a total class of 130, and there were two teachers teaching the other 6 classes of students in Algebra. They split evenly approximatley 60 students. 5 students from my teachers' classes went on to honors while 30 went on from the other teachers.)</p>

<p>E) S1 - Robotics 1, S2 - Robotics 2</p>

<p>F) English 11 (only 1 class of honors, no APs until senior year. My low PSAT scores sophmore year didn't qualify me, although I had the recommendation from my teacher and the needed score on a test essay.)</p>

<p>G) Study Hall</p>

<p>H) Honors U.S. History (I had an A- going into the Honors Gov/Econ exam last year, but I completley bombed it despite studying for it fairly intensly, maybe not CC worthy, but noticeably alot. That brought it down to a B+, DQing me for APUSH. I have a solid A in this class right now...)</p>

<hr>

<p>So as you can see a string of bad luck and laziness in sophmore year put me in a difficult spot for Junior Year. I'm really hoping to correct this senior year, as I know that despite the number of classes I'm not being challenged this year as a junior. My prospective schedule for next year goes as such.</p>

<p>A) Honors English 12/AP Literature (1 class of each lang and lit. Lit is arguably the most difficult course at my school, although it is taught by my sophmore English teacher who is the one teacher I really enjoyed having. I have the needed PSAT score, and I have the teacher rec to take AP lit, but I'm wondering if it would be better to just take Honors to lighten the workload and to be with a teacher who was a former college professor and who everyone seems to tell me I'll adore).</p>

<p>B) S1 AP Comparative Gov. S2 - AP American Gov</p>

<p>C) S1 AP MacroEcon. S2 - AP MicroEcon</p>

<p>D) AP Statistics/AP Computer Science A/Honors Calc </p>

<p>E) AP Statistics/AP Computer Science A/Honors Calc (because I'm only in regular I would need a 100 the rest of the way and a little groveling to qualify for Calc AB or Calc BC. I can do AB, but BC might be very tough for me. It really is unfair considering the Honors Calc kids take the same midterm exam and move as quickly as the Calc AB kids)</p>

<p>F) Semester 1 - Understanding Modern Man.
Semester 2 - Literaute and Philosophy (its senior year, I need to take at least 1 or two classes that I'm going to legitamatly enjoy).</p>

<p>G) S1 Descent Into Darkness (course on 1918-1945 in Germany)
S2. Twentieth Century Asia</p>

<p>H) S1 Morals and Ethics (required religion course),
S2 - S.W.A.T. (outlined earlier).</p>

<hr>

<p>I have a heavy workload (20-25 hours/week) of ECs and am really worried about next years schedule, but I'm torn because I really feel like I can enjoy all the classes I am taking. I also wouldn't be hurt by a GPA boost. My school doesn't weight, but unweighted, after the summer course, I'm going to be hovering around a 3.80, and I would really like to get that up to possibly around a 3.85 or a 3.90.</p>

<p>My first question is about English, do you recommend, with a first semester EC load of about 25 hours/week in various activites, that I attempt to take a course that has gone down in psuedo-infamy (at least when compared to AP lang) in the form of AP lit, or should I stay with a more managable, but less impressive Honors English 12?</p>

<p>Which 2 of the three (AP Stats, AP Comp Sci. A, Honors Calc) would you all recommend. I feel Comp Sci will be easiest for me as I already have a strong background in technology, robotics, and programming (two robotics courses and S.W.A.T) with the Intro to Java course over the summer. I also feel getting another AP in there (no matter how lowly) is going to be a plus, but at the same time not having even one calculus course could look poor on an application.</p>

<p>Another option I have (that I did not list) is AP Modern European. If I took it, it would probably replace one of the three courses I'm deciding on above, but the school is very against me taking 4 classes in the history department (3 of 4 offered APs, APUSH not included) all in one year. I feel I would enjoy each and every course, and would argue that comparative gov and both econs are not really history courses at all, but they seem to not want to hear it. I'm going to continue to fight for that as well, as I would enjoy it, despite the rigor, but the outlook seems bleak.</p>

<hr>

<p>The question is, what would you pick for my schedule to be, knowing what you now know about my situation. If it helps at all, colleges I'm looking at are</p>

<p>Rice - Top Choice
Richmond
William and Mary
Furman
Elon
Austin College
Baylor
Tulane
Miami
Rollins College
USF</p>

<hr>

<p>I understand this was a long post, but I would really appreciate some help.</p>

2

<p>Please help this person!
bump</p>

3

<p>bump!!!
ww</p>

4

<p>Going from taking zero APs to take 4 or 5 a year is going to be really, really tough. Make sure you only take APs that you really want to take.</p>

<p>I would say either take the difficult English course or take a harder math/science course. If you really like the English teacher and are willing to work hard in that class, take Computer Science instead of Calculus (is there any way you could take calculus at a local college or online over the summer, so that you have some calc?)</p>

5

<p>I’m a senior and taking 4 AP classes- Gov, Economics, English, Enviormental. In jr year, I took 2-English and US history</p>

<p>I love AP’s!! they’re more interesting, and the teaches are great, except for Envormental, all we do is book work. They really don’t overload you schedule if you know how to manage them, It took me awhile but now I can balance them. Since Gov, and economics are semester courses, I balanced the AP’s with Health an computer/business(semester courses) vet assisting, and PE. does anyone else do that?</p>

6

<p>MetalMeatwad, why did you find it necessary to make a new username for this purpose?</p>

7

<p>No one is going to help you OP
You have to *<strong><em>ing figure this *</em></strong> out on your own
How are you going to survive by yourself at college jesus christ</p>

8

<p>lol I find it funny since your going to go to Rice.</p>

9

<p>Poseur, also what? I know this person in real life so I wanted him to get advice since no one was answering.</p>

10

<p>he didn’t make a new account, thanks for the bump man.</p>

<p>Also, I was wondering because I have no idea about the general rigor of these courses and I wanted outside opinions. Ironmetal, thats like not asking a teacher a question because I should be able to figure out the situation on my own, as the student. If you don’t want to help, thats fine, I understand, these threads are annoying, but I’m befuddled as to why you would single out my post to rag on even though I stated my apologies for making another one of these even before I got into the meat of my post.</p>

<p>Like many on this site I’ve been a long time lurker who finally had reason to create an account and ask for advice. The truth is that the advice is less important that validation and encouragement that the path I’ve set for myself is not only manageable, but encouraged. If no one thinks I can do it then I’m not going to, but I need to gather those opinions before I make those decisions.</p>

<p>About the APs, I didn’t know if I mentioned, but I’m a year younger than my classmates, and I was incredibly immature in 8th-10th grade (12 in 8th, 13 in 9th, 14 in 10th, 15 in 11th and turned 16 at the end of 2008). I was taking high school courses in 8th grade, but going into scheduling the last years I didn’t understand the implications of what I was doing. Its a shame, and I wish I had found this site sooner, as I know I could be much more competative as I currently am, but a string of bad luck, restrictive courses, and immaturity has made me need to make up for lost time.</p>

<p>I believe I can handle the workload, as I’ve never had a poor work ethic, but I’ve always marched to a utilitarian tune, doing the minimum needed to get the A. This was and never will be a great strategy, as its proven to come back and bite me in the ass, but it does, at the same time, give me some personal comfort that, by understanding this, I can handle more, because I so rarely need to do work to maintain the above average grades I already have in mid-level classes at a top skill with classmates who 6-18 months older than I am.</p>

<p>Again, I may sound sure, but I do have doubts that I am merely dillusional and would really appreciate any constructive criticism on the road I’m going down.</p>

<p>Thanks again for those who have given their opinions, and thanks for bumping me MetalMeatwad.</p>

11

<p>Skipping a Grade will look well on your app. with a good GPA.</p>