<p>I am a senior in high school (2010!) and I would like some advice. I feel as if this forum will give me my most honest results.</p>
<p>No one in my family has ever gone to college let alone applied to a college, so my family and I really have no idea how much time and stress will be coming our way this fall. So how many other things should I take on outside of the college admissions process? Also, does it get easier in the spring? I hope this all makes sense.</p>
<p>Below is a list of my commitments for the upcoming year. What I would like to know is, where do I draw the line? Obviously I would like to participate in EVERYTHING but I feel like I have too much on my plate. What should I change about my upcoming year? Keeping in mind that this is my senior year.</p>
<p>FALL.
Classes: Physics, Theatre History, AP US Government, AP Economics.
Clubs: President NHS, President CA Scholarship Fed, President Key Club, Member MESA.
Community College Classes: Dance (3 hrs/week), Intro to Engineering (80 mins/week)
Volunteering: 2 hrs/week at hospital, 1 to 2 hrs/week for Key Club related volunteer activities.
Testing: SAT Subjects, Maybe one more SAT Reasoning/ACT Plus Writing.
Plus, the College Admissions Process.</p>
<p>SPRING.
Classes: AP English Lit, AP Calculus BC, AP Environmental Science
Clubs: President NHS, President CA Scholarship Fed, President Key Club, Member MESA.
Community College Classes: Dance (3 hrs/week).
Volunteering: 2 hrs/week at hospital, 1 to 2 hrs/week for Key Club related volunteer activities.
Testing: 5 AP tests.</p>
<p>That looks like a reasonable-to-heavy load to me, which is probably about right for college admissions (i.e., enough to keep you busy, but not enough to overwhelm you as long as you’re serious about it.).</p>
<p>Geography might come into play. How close are your high school, community college, and volunteer activities? If you have to spend a lot of time commuting, that could make an otherwise tolerable schedule feel oppressive after a while.</p>
<p>It matters what exactly you’re doing with the organizations in which you hold office. Being in charge of one major project in an organization could be a lot of work, far more than holding 3 presidencies that do very little.</p>
<p>Maybe the question should be “How heavy are your commitments this summer?”</p>
<p>If you want to, you can fill out most or all of your college applications this summer, thereby decreasing your college admissions workload for the fall. The Common Application will be available online on July 1, and many individual colleges’ supplements or application forms will also be available at around that time or only a little later.</p>
<p>^ Second what Marian said. Get as much of the college app paperwork out of the way as you can over this summer. Then drop any commitments you really dislike during the school year, make sure that something you’re doing actually recharges your batteries, and have a great senior year!</p>
<p>Third vote for filling out the Common App and writing some college essays over the summer (Common App is available after July 1).</p>
<p>How much is too much depends on the person. With my son, for example, if he doesn’t have at LEAST 1-2 hours of downtime per day, he gets very stressed out. My daughter, on the other hand, likes to stay BUSY. Go go go from 6 am till 10 pm with virtually no free time is fine with her - she gets her best grades that way. So it depends on your personality. What’s too much for one person may be just right for another!</p>
<p>I vote for getting your college applications done AS SOON AS YOU CAN. Both of my kids had theirs done by October 15. Actually…DD had hers done by October 1. She applied EA to two schools and RD to the other three. DS applied RD to all of his schools but he STILL had his aps in early. Both got to enjoy their senior years in high school while their friends were still agonizing over getting essays and applications done in December and even Jan and Feb. They sputtered while doing theirs early but were mighty happy when it was done…and they could actually relax and enjoy doing the things they liked to do in high school for the last year.</p>
<p>I think this sounds like a reasonable schedule. And it’s good to have a physical activity (dance). The tricky part might be all those AP tests in the spring. You’ll need extra time for review. But your club duties will be winding down.</p>
<p>By the way, congratulations on your leadership positions! You have a lot to be proud of.</p>
<p>Wow, I didn’t realize how early the Common App gets up! I’m definitely taking all of your suggestions! </p>
<p>I feel like, if I have a lot on my plate, I get easily overwhelmed and give up. However, if I don’t have enough going on, I slack off and don’t do anything!</p>
<p>IloveLA, thank you but I’m afraid my leadership positions will not be enough to get me into a good school with an average GPA and a only slightly above average SAT score. =/ Which is part of the reason why I’m trying to pack my schedule.</p>
<p>I would say don’t pack your schedule so that you can get in somewhere. Stick to activities you love, and that you want to pursue. </p>
<p>Have you visited colleges, and do you have a list already that you want to apply to? For our family, visiting and deciding where to apply took the most time. Do you have a good guidance counselor?</p>
<p>You are taking great classes. I would make sure you still have time to really focus on them.</p>
<p>Most kids I know don’t study a huge amount for the AP tests, honestly. Taking 5 at the end of the senior year will be stressful, but at that point, you will have clear sailing ahead.</p>
<p>p.s. interesting idea to take dance at the community college- we may look into that in our family!</p>
<p>" thank you but I’m afraid my leadership positions will not be enough to get me into a good school with an average GPA and a only slightly above average SAT score. =/ Which is part of the reason why I’m trying to pack my schedule."</p>
<p>Most colleges admit students based overwhelmingly on stats: grades and scores. The few colleges that pay a lot of attention to ECs are places like HPYS, which get such an overabundance of high stat applicants that the colleges can afford to pick and choose from among them to create an active student body. Such colleges pay a lot of attention to what one accomplishes in a leadership position and in one’s ECs in general. Simply having a title won’t impress them.</p>
<p>Public universities especially make admissions decisions based on one’s stats and state of residence.</p>
<p>It looks like some of your APs will only be first semester- I would really make sure you have some time in the spring to review that material, particularly since some time will have passed. My D just finished taking 6 AP exams but remarkably, she didn’t feel stressed. She was more relaxed about these as she knew where she was headed to college and which ones were “important”. </p>
<p>Getting the common app stuff out of the way this summer will be a huge benefit to you- it will give you time to get some essays done, get some feedback if you think you need it, free up your fall time for activities and academics. Don’t forget to have some fun too!</p>
<p>If you feel like you need to drop something, I would vote for dropping the Community College Intro to Engineering class. As an electrical engineer myself, I don’t know how useful a broad CC-level engineering course would be. Physics and calculus will be very important, so I would suggest to have more time available to devote to them.</p>
<p>I think I disagree with you sacchi. If you are considering engineering as a career this would be an excellent class for you to take. The adcoms are very interested in seeing a students passion for their area of interest. Good luck and whatever you choose to do- do it because you want to and because you enjoy it. A list of activities is meaningless at enrollment time if there is no obvious passion for what you are doing.</p>
<p>There is nothing on that list that I DON’T want to take. Everything on that list is there for a reason. I feel like, if I was going to drop anything at all, it’d be my NHS/CSF leadership positions, as that is what I’m least passionate about.</p>
<p>Northstarmom, I’m well aware of this. I feel as if my grades do not properly reflect the type of student I am: if I were to just look at my grades, I would think the student is smart but slacks off. But really, I’m smart and stress out so much that by the end of the year, it all comes crashing down. For example, Precalc (H) first term: A. Second term: B+. The first term I felt like, “okay, I have a lot of responsibilities, but it’s okay, I can handle it.” But by the end of the second term, I just couldn’t juggle it all and I let that one ball drop (my two other second semester classes were A’s by the way, a chemistry class and a community college public speaking class. I’m on a block schedule). This breakdown is what I’m trying to prevent.</p>
<p>Getting a B+ is still a fine grade. It’s not like you got a D or an F. Even with several Bs on your transcript, you’ll still qualify for many fine colleges.</p>
<p>OP, are you considering engineering as a career? If so, I’m surprised by the absence of AP Physics in your class list, as engineering schools would definitely be more impressed by AP Physics than by AP Environment Science. </p>
<p>How far away is the community college? How difficult is the timing, and the logistics to get there? Can the CC Intro to Engineering class be taken at a different time - this summer or next or the spring semester? Senior year fall grades are really important, and that seems to be the semester that you will be the most loaded.</p>
<p>I guess that I don’t really agree that taking a CC Intro to Engineering course would show passion for engineering. Interest yes, passion no. An award winning engineering related science fair project would show passion. IMHO, the key benefit of an Intro to Engineering class would be to learn a bit about the various types of engineering, to help select one of them to consider majoring in, e.g. electrical vs. civil vs. mechanical vs. chemical vs. industrial vs. biomedical, etc. </p>
<p>What caliber of school are you aiming for? </p>
<p>Good luck with whatever you choose. I’m impressed with your motivation.</p>
<p>“OP, are you considering engineering as a career? If so, I’m surprised by the absence of AP Physics in your class list, as engineering schools would definitely be more impressed by AP Physics than by AP Environment Science.”</p>
<p>If you are considering engineering, do take AP physics. S was considering engineering, and while looking at colleges before senior year, got strong advice from colleges that he’d need AP physics if he planned to major in engineering. He switched schools in order to take that course, then – in college – decided to major in theater!</p>
<p>waitingforcal,
You schedule looks kind of relaxed. D. had much more in her senior year, both academically and EC’s. You will be fine, you can take more if you have something else in mind. Best wishes!</p>
<p>Sacchi and Northstarmom, my school does not offer AP Physics. However, I will be taking regular Physics (there’s no honors either, or I would have taken that). By the end of my senior year, I will have taken all of the APs offered at my school except AP Bio, AP World, and AP Spanish. And thank you, I try to stay motivated. The CC is only a 5 to 8 minute drive from my house, depending on traffic. The Engineering class is not offered during the summer but it is offered in the spring. I’m not sure what time though and won’t know until well into the fall semester, so what are the chances of it being offered during an after school time? One of the reasons I want to do it in the fall is that I’m taking three of my five AP classes in the spring.</p>
<p>As for the schools I’m aiming for, I would be so appreciative to get into a school that is of somewhat prestige but I know that with my low GPA, I have hardly any chance getting into my dream school (Berkeley). I really want to have a lot of opportunities in college and after, so right now I feel like I’m not too sure what kind of schools to look at with a 3.4 UW, 3.7 W, and a 1760 SAT (600 CR, 590 W, 570 M). I took the June SAT so I’ll see my new scores next week.</p>