I’m going to become a freshman at enloe this year which is a extremely competitive highshcool. By competitive I mean half of my friends are taking Calc AB BC during their freshman year and some of them even placed on a national/state level in science Olympiad or state math. My question is should I take Honors chemistry with honors biology so I can double up on science or should I take AP human geography. I’m debating on this because I know taking chemistry will help me get into a better college and also everybody else is doing it too. However, I’m more interested in AP human geography but most colleges consider that a useless AP so I’m not sure what to do. Not to mention I feel I would be falling behind if I don’t take double sciences since that’s what’s everybody else is doing. I know if I do double up science I would do well but it’s just not something I’m very interested in. Secondly, should I take pre-calc over the summer next year or should I try to find experience in the field I’m interested in such as doing a internship or work with a professor. Lastly, I know it’s impossible but I want to go to a elite college like Yale or Harvard in the future. I’m taking math 3 or common core 3 this year which is much lower than my friends I was wondering do I even have a chance to go to a Ivy League? Also everybody else took Spanish since 6th grade and I’m just starting this year so I know that will hold me back too. The only thing I can think of that’s maybe slightly more higher than everyone else is my volunteer hours which as of now is over 150 hours but I’m sure that’ll change this year. Thanks for reading.
Honestly, I don’t think you should compare yourself to others that much because each person has their strengths or weaknesses. Based on my freshman experience, I think it would be a good opportunity to take AP Human Geography (which colleges don’t consider useless). AP Human Geography is a good starter AP class if you’re planning to take some on later in high school so getting the experience wouldn’t be so bad. For your second question, I recommend doing an internship or getting some work experience so you can figure out whether you really want to go into that field or not (experience is an eye-opener). Lastly, for your Ivy question, I think that everyone has a chance. It really depends on your extracurriculars and other stuff but just know it’s very difficult. I recommend looking at the results thread of those who were accepted into the Ivies or the schools you were interested in.