<p>Drop/Add for my school ends soon, so I need to solidify what I am taking next year. I'd like to choose the schedule that is most competitive for the Ivies. I'll tell you basics first.. I really, really need help, so please bear with me :D</p>
<p>Academics:</p>
<p>GPA - Unweighted: 3.966
GPA - Weighted: 4.04
Class Rank: top 5%
Class Size: 989</p>
<p>Scores:</p>
<p>SAT I Math: 680
SAT I Critical Reading: 780
SAT I Writing: 750</p>
<p>Classes So Far:
Gifted: American Lit, Bio, Chem, World Lit, Accel. Integrated Geometry/Alg II, Accelerated Int. Precalc
Honors: French I and II
AP: World History, Physics B
Electives: Orchestra two years</p>
<p>This is the dilemma.
Next year:
AP Lang
APUSH
AP BC Calc
AP Physics C
Orchestra
anndddd... what? I put Honors French III on my slip, but I can choose almost anything else.
Two questions:
1) Are the classes I'm signed up for too much? Are there others that would be more competitive without being boring?
2) French III or what else?</p>
<p>Thank you so much in advance!! Be brutally honest. </p>
<p>Many colleges like to see at least three years of foreign language, so I’d keep the French III. Your 4 AP courses should be challenging enough - maybe take something that interests you even though it isn’t AP? If you REALLY want challenging, there is AP art history, which is tough as all get out and at my daughter’s college gave her 6 college credits.</p>
<p>That’s one of the only ones my school doesn’t offer! Hahah
Do you think the other classes are okay? I know it’ll be a bit much junior year, but I’m bored in gifted and would like the challenge, especially because I can gain college credit with it… Do you think they’re good courses or an overload? </p>
<p>@yullari27 you’re welcome and good luck! not saying you’ll definitely get in, but if you work hard and with your courses, you have at least a shot (they’re still reaches for everybody)</p>
<p>They’ll always be reaches… But I want to set myself up to have the best chance that I can. Are the other courses I’m taking next year good? @guineagirl96 </p>
<p>It’ll be difficult, but given that you were in Accel precalc, took Physics B, and took AP World, it should be doable. Usually I don’t recommend that combination you have, but you have taken the classes you needed to learn the skills to succeed in this schedule.</p>
<p>For a lot of kids it can be overwhelming, but I have known kids at my school who have done much worse schedules junior year. I honestly think you’ll be able to handle it based on your previous coursework, but it won’t be easy.</p>
<p>I am being brutally honest yulla:<br>
We went to the accepted students weekend at UCLA: they reported that the average GPA was 4.0 unweighted and 4.33 weighted for it’s admitted engineering class (similar to a number of majors). Average SAT score was 2330. This is UCLA, which a number of students applied to, who also happened to have typically applied to the Ivies. </p>
<p>What are your long-term EC’s besides orchestra? (Musical performance is a very common EC) Do you have anything that stands out? Ivies like students who stand out or are creatively different (Olympic athletes, authors, young business owners, celebrities, people who have won out over significant adversity, newsworthy candidates, amazing EC’s etc.). This is what we were told. Son got into a number of elite colleges but he had a number of long term EC’s and missed a perfect score on the SAT by two questions. </p>
<p>I agree that you would be better off working on bringing up your math SAT to north of 700 than worrying too much about your schedule for next year. If you are taking AP Calc BC you likely have the capability, you just need to go back and study that particular material before taking again. You are not competitive for the Ivies without this. And unless your ECs are strong (can’t tell, you don’t mention any except orchestra), then you are not a very strong candidate in general for the Ivies.</p>
<p>It would be good to talk to other students at your school to find out how much work your teachers give for those classes… but that schedule is doable. I’m just finishing a junior year of AP Bio, APUSH, Linear Algebra / Discrete Math, AP CompSci, AP Eng Lang/Comp, and Spanish 5-6… and I managed to keep a 4.0 UW and do comfortably well on the APs (won’t find out until July, but pretty sure I got 5s…)
Of course, this depends on if you have the backgrounds for those courses. I had taken AP chem which made Bio easier, was already strong in compsci and english etc. You also have to think about if you’re trying to grab any extracurriculars over the course of the year, especially if you’re trying to catch the attention of the Ivies with them. It was difficult to do much other than schoolwork this past year for me, although I did manage to do science fair and play in a youth symphony. </p>
<p>I talked too much about myself in this post, but I hope I gave you an idea of what to keep in mind while picking courses. I do agree with the others that French III is a good choice. If you’re going to work on that SAT score, I recommend at least buying a blue book of practice tests and working on that over the summer - once a week or something, reviewing the sections you got wrong. Often people who are strong at math or whatever just need to get used to the format of the questions. If you do prepare over the summer, schedule to take the SAT in the fall of your junior year, the soonest after you’re most prepared. </p>
<p>I wasn’t expecting to take the SAT this year (my dad signed me up without any heads up), so I only did one practice test before. I’m confident I can bring my math up to match my other scores if I actually prepare and get used to what kind of questions they will ask me… It’s very different than what we do in precalc haha. I have some other EC’s but didn’t feel they were strong enough to mention… It’s been difficult to stay after or to early because it requires my dad to get off work early to pick me up, and that’s not something I’m comfortable asking him to do on a regular basis to do very many clubs or anything. I’ll have my license next year, so I’ll definitely amp up the EC’s and do a lot of service this summer. Are there any particular clubs or anything that colleges love to see? @wchuck @intparent @"aunt bea" </p>
<p>Ivies love to see students who have gone off the beaten path. Found their own way to pursue a passion. While in your case it may be legitimate that you could not join clubs before your junior year, to colleges it looks like you joined near the end of high school to make your college apps look good… You need to focus some energy on finding colleges that are a good fit for you that aren’t “Ivies”. This is a great place to get advice if you provide info on what you are looking for in a college outside of a brand name.</p>
<p>@intparent I want the best and most thorough education I get. Whether that’s an an Ivy League school or not isn’t important… Ivy League schools are just known for their rigor, and that’s something that’s important to me. </p>
<p>If you are only in Pre Calc right now ( the acceleration doesn’t really matter) Calc BC will be EXTREMELY hard for you. I reccomend you be careful with that and take Calc AB instead. You don’t want to try to challenge yourself too much, and then end up getting a bad grade. Also, going from 2 to 4 APs may be too much. Be careful and choose classes you will enjoy</p>