<p>In general, does putting off all the boring, required classes until Senior year have any negative consequences?</p>
<p>Depends. If they’re electives, no. If they’re academic classes such as Math, English, Science, then yes.</p>
<p>I would just get them over with unless they’re easy.</p>
<p>Well, my friend who is a senior was so obsessed with being Valedictorian (not saying that you are, I’m just giving an example) that she put off taking Spanish 1 and 2, PE, and an Art. Now she is in those classes as a Senior and hates it because she’s stuck with all the annoying freshman and has no friends in those classes.
However, other than social negatives, I can’t think of anything like admissions wise.</p>
<p>Thanks guys. I was mainly asking this because I had heard a while ago that credit completion generally impacts class rank or something like that.</p>
<p>I recommend finishing most of your graduation requirements and “prerequisite” classes at the beginning of high school so you’ll have more freedom to take what you want in your junior and senior years. At a lot of schools the “better” advanced courses are open to juniors and seniors rather than freshmen and sophomores, and you won’t want to miss out on those just because you have to meet some graduation requirement you could have done when you were a freshman and not allowed to take as many AP classes. (For example, I’m taking all my classes at a local university this year…I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I had a bunch of stupid required classes still left to do.)</p>
<p>Some people will disagree with me because of the possibility of senioritis, but I think it’s beneficial to have a challenging schedule in your senior year because EA colleges will know what courses you’re taking but not your grades (until the mid-year report, but it’s a lot easier to be rejected than it is to have your admission rescinded).</p>
<p>I’m a sophomore this year and I’ve managed to get all but two of the required credits to graduate. It’s fun to think I have the freedom to do what I want in my junior and senior years, like college math, AP Chem and AP Physics C.</p>
<p>I think you should take them as soon as possible. My friend put a few of them off for senior year, and now is unable to take two classes she is really interested in because she needs a performing art credit. </p>
<p>It’d just really suck to miss out on an interesting class… </p>
<p>From a college admission point, it might as hurt as well. The electives you take as a freshmen (in place of grad requirements) are probably less rigorous than what you would take as a senior. I got my graduation requirements out of the way quickly, and got to take Principles of Engineering, Biotech Engineering, Accounting, AP Psychology, Constitutional Law, Independent Study AP Macro as electives - all more rigorous than what I would have taken as an underclassmen - Lifetime Fitness, Photography, Nutrition & Wellness, Drafting/CAD… I didn’t take the harder electives because they were more difficult - my interests just changed and I was better able to handle difficult classes. </p>
<p>Waiting until senior year to take Health, Art, Speech, etc could send the message that are a huge procrastinator, which isn’t exactly an admirable trait. </p>
<p>So IMO it’s much better to take them early, from a personal standpoint and college admissions standpoint.</p>
<p>I’ll have taken most of the interesting and/or better courses by the end of my Junior year, and then my Senior I’ll probably take PSEOs along with the required classes. Would this look good?</p>
<p>Note that the only things I’m putting off are 2 semesters of PE and 2 semesters of art.</p>
<p>I don’t really see the harm of putting of PE or Art until senior year… I’m probably going to do that, hahah, but if you’re required to take a foreign language, you should probably take that before your senior year.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’ve been taking foreign language since 8th grade. That’s not a problem. </p>
<p>Thanks so much everybody!</p>