Question on HS course selections

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<p>Okay, this is out of my concern for my younger sister who is a freshman.</p>

<p>I'm not the first one to brag, but she's pretty intelligent, and I'd like to think she has a chance at the ivies...(to be honest it's pressure from my parents)</p>

<p>In 11th grade, she'll be forced to make a decision:</p>

<p>1) Take US History 2 AP, Spanish 4 Honors or Elective. She can only choose 2, but can take US History over the summer as a credit course as well. </p>

<p>2) However, taking US 2 over the summer means losing 1 AP course, and leaving her with 1 AP course for her Junior Year (usually AP Chem or Bio).</p>

<p>3) If she drops the Spanish, she'll only have 2 years of it (3 if she takes in Senior year) -- is this the better choice? To drop it Junior year then retake it Senior year?</p>

<p>4) If she drops Band (her elective), she cannot audition for County/Region/All-State bands, which she has a really good chance of making, and this will be her "hook"? </p>

<p>5) Our school gives AP and Honors 1 more credit than the regular classes except for Science AP's which are given 1.66 more credit. Band is considered a regular class, and is only given 1 regular credit. </p>

<p>6) So, if she takes the elective, her GPA will drop (school GPA not recalculated GPA, and therefore, her rank will drop as well). </p>

<p>7) So what is recommended? Should she drop band and therefore her big hook to get the valedictorian/salutorian? She still might have chance at rank 1 or 2 if the others in her class underperform.</p>

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<p>if she drops band, can't she audition for band on her own? if she drops spanish, can't she also do that in community college and then continue in senior year? just some options. I also know people who tried hard in regular U.S. History class and passed the AP test without any preparation. Basically, it's going to be up to how badly she (or her parents) wants it. Lots of stuff can be arranged so her learning won't suffer, but only if she wants it badly.</p>

<p>If i were her, I would just keep as many ap's (2) and take band, cuz its probably easier to be good when you can see your instructor everyday. Spanish she could do on her own time, provided that she's motivated enough. Heck, you might not even need community college. If she could pass the AP Spanish test and/or do well on the SAT II Spanish just by studying on her own, that shows a ton of self-discipline and would be very impressive.</p>

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<p>Try to get her into self-studying for AP exams. You don't get GPA credit, but you can write it off as a very appealing excuse if your schedule won't allow for a class.</p>

<p>I wouldn't automatically count summer classes with your school. If they aren't weighted, it would probably look a lot better to get her into a Governor's School program or TASP or something like that.</p>

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<p>She can try to take AP US History by correspondence (probably over the summer). I have friends who have done that (though I don't know where from exactly). Not only would she be prepared for the AP test, she will also get credit for the class. Now, the only thing to note is that her GC should explain on her application why taking the class by correspondence was necessary. Otherwise, colleges might think that she was trying to avoid a hard teacher at the hs, etc.</p>