Rate my schedule and a few questions :)

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hey guys I’m currently in the 2nd semester of 8th grade and we’re having to plan a 4 year plan, so we can have an idea of what we wanna do in highschool. I’d really appreciate it if you guys could rate my schedule, tell me your opinion, and maybe help me choose some classes. I will still talk to my Guidance Counselor but I feel like having other people’s opinion such as yours and my parents is good to so here it goes:

In 8th grade I’m currently taking Algebra 1, Spanish for Spanish Speakers 1, and Art 1 as Highschool credit classes.

I’m really worried because I don’t know if I messed up, I got 2 A’s and 1 B, so now my GPA is 3.6667 :frowning: :frowning: :frowning:

9th Grade:

English 1 PreAP
Geometry PreAP
Biology PreAP
World Geography Studies PreAP
Physical Education or Athletics
(Fall)Still deciding/(Spring): Spanish for Spanish Speakers 2
Health Education

10th Grade:

English 2 PreAP
Algebra 2 PreAP
Chemistry PreAP
AP World History
PE/Athletics or some elective, I don’t know because I don’t know if we have to do some physical related class for 4 years or 1
Spanish for Spanish Speakers 3/AP Spanish Language and Culture
Principles of Health Science

11th Grade:

AP English Language and Composition
PreCalculus PreAP (I could take AP Statistics but then I wouldn’t have a AP choice for 12th grade and I feel like Calculus BC is better to take in 12th grade)
AP Physics, AP Chemistry, or AP Biology (Kinda confused and lost here because I wanna do pre-med in college and I don’t know which one colleges find better?)
AP US History
PE/Athletics or some elective, I don’t know because I don’t know if we have to do some physical related class for 4 years or 1
Health Science 1
Communication Applications or Professional Communications (Required)

12th Grade:

AP English Literature and Composition
AP Calculus BC (It’s better than AB right?)
AP Physics, AP Chemistry, or AP Biology (Same deal as in 11th grade)
AP US Government and Politics/ AP Macro-Economics
PE/Athletics or some elective, I don’t know because I don’t know if we have to do some physical related class for 4 years or 1
Clinical Rotation- Practicum in Health Science
Still deciding this last elective…

2

I would do AP Bio in 11th and AP Chem in 12th. Chem is generally harder than Bio. If your school allows this, I would do preAP bio in 9th, AP Bio in 10th, preAP chem in 11th, and AP chem in 12th. That way the material would be fresh in your mind.

3

First, this is just one semestr: bring that B to a B+.
And it’s only 3 classes…
You’ll have 48+ grades added. That one B will be diluted. Don’t worry about it. Do everything you can to get higher than a B, but a B in 8th grade won’t count against you anyway and your GPA will NOT stay that way. :slight_smile:

for better advice, please answer these questions:

Is Spanish for Spanish Speakers a semester course?
Does you HS offer other foreign languages?

Are “principles of Health science” and “Health Science 1” required?

Does your high school offer AP Psych?
Can you take some classes over the summer (in person or via a virtual high school)?
Is there a community college nearby that would be free to dual enroll at?

Ask whether you need to take PE every year and whether that can be met with a Virtual HS class (you wear a monitor to prove you exercised every day. Easy to do over the summer)?

What type of universities would you be aiming for?

What State are you a resident of?

4

Thanks, right now I managed to bring my Algebra grade up to a 94 almost 95

Spanish for Spanish Speakers is a semester course in highschool, but since I’m taking it in 8th grade, it’s a full-year course.

My HS offers other languages, I am a Brazilian so I can speak portuguese, I’ve lived in Mexico and learned spanish and english which i speak fluently.

Principles of Health Science and Health Science 1, I must take because I’m gonna take the public services endorsement which is good for people who aim for a career in medicine.

My highschool offers AP Psych. should I take it?

Yeah, I can take classes over the summer.

Yes, my HS offers dual-enrollment classes with the cc

I think PE is only needed 1 credit so only 1 year is required, I emailed my GC asking though.

I’m aiming for UT Austin, UNC, UMichigan, Baylor, Rice, mostly those.

I live in Texas.

:slight_smile:

5

I say take AP Chem senior year too, but that all depends on what you want to be. If it’s going into the sciences, I say load your course schedule up for that, but if not, then don’t waste your time taking useless AP’s you think are going to make you look good on a college ap, because colleges are looking for your genuine interest, not just a bunch of AP courses that 100,000 will have taken.

6

Thanks, I am aiming for a pre-med major in college

7

What colleges are you aiming for?

8

Rice, Baylor, John Hopkins, UMichigan, UT Austin, UC, mostly those

9

Your schedule looks good!

10

It looks good, just take AB calc instead of BC. Calculus is difficult and BC is geared as a second year class of calculus.

11

Focus on 9th grade schedule and see how things progress from there. No need to plan all 4 years now. 9th grade schedule looks good.

12

@sprights
At some schools Calc AB and BC are treated as a sequence, at others they are stand alone courses.
@Pitusky
Find out how your school sequences AP Calc.
You should take at least one year each of chem, bio, and physics.
Are you able to double up on science classes (take more than one at one time)?

If you are already fluent in Spanish it would probably be better if you learned a different language.

13

I don’t know what your school district’s policy, but at least at mine, anything taken prior to 9th grade did not affect my GPA. I took algebra 1 in 8th grade and it only showed up as “pass” on my high school transcript. Your tentative plan looks find the way it is. I can guarantee you that things can easily change, especially junior and senior year where desired courses can often potentially have scheduling conflicts.

Don’t worry too much about “if you are pre-med, should I do this, or that” before college. Sure, you can try to get some experiences in a healthcare environment in high school, but when it comes to applying to medical school, medical schools are generally only interested in what you do while in college and beyond. In terms of your AP classes, it doesn’t matter which two of the three (chem, physics, bio) you choose. Medical school prerequisites involve introductory courses in those three areas, and more higher level courses in chem. One thing to keep in mind is that if you use AP credit to satisfy a medical school prerequisite course, medical schools will expect you to take upper level courses in that discipline in lieu of repeating the intro level courses. Your intention to be pre-med does not make a difference in college admissions. At umich, half the freshman come in saying “I’m pre-med”, and only a few hundred students make it to submitting an AMCAS application.

14

Can you get a language test score at the Brazilian Embassy?If you could certify your language skills both in Spanish and Portuguese, it’d be a good signal and a differentiator (good things). Spanish can be certified via AP, but for Portuguese you’d need an external validation or test score.

Changes I’d make:
Take Art during your first semester of 9th grade.
Can you take Physics over the summer? Even a basic Physics class (NOT “General Physics” which is calculus-based and for engineers) at the community college would help you with your science classes.
10th grade: take AP Spanish Language and Culture; sounds like you could handle it and you’d get “credit” for it. With it, you’d be done with the highest level of foreign language in high school. Added to Portuguese (native speaker), you’d be in excellent shape. You’d have time for an elective - don’t choose yet. I would recommend “just an elective”, not an AP.
Plan to take a “fun” class at the community college over the summer. Do relax, sleep in, have fun.
11th grade: AP Physics 1 or 2. Or, if you took Physics 101 at the CC, Physics 102 at the CC… or no physics at all. Depending on how well you’ve handled your schedule, consider taking AP Bio or AP Chem. Take a “fun” elective or AP Psych, depending on your workload (you’ll need an easy class to balance that schedule). Make sure you can sleep 8 hours a night regardless, so don’t overload.
Plan to work on your essays over the summer. Perhaps take a virtual class or a community college class - again, just for fun, for learning’s sake, not to fulfill a requirement. Being able to show you love learning is important to colleges.
12th: AP Bio or AP Chem. AP Psych. Once in college, DO NOT take the credit and use them as background for your first year premed college work.

15

Looks like your schedule is good for English (to AP level), Spanish (to AP level), and history / social studies (4 years, including some at the AP level).

It looks like Texas public universities want a year of art. See http://www.collegeforalltexans.com/index.cfm?ObjectID=B5696E87-D0EE-F501-7D8D3898E6B018D6 . Other colleges and universities may also want to see a year of art in high school.

Calculus BC covers a full year or almost a full year of calculus as normally taught in college, so it is often allowed to credit against the first two semesters of calculus. Calculus AB covers about 2/3 of that material, but is usually allowed to credit against just the first semester.

Generally, you want to include all three of the main sciences (biology, chemistry, physics). Having one or more at the advanced (e.g. AP) level is also often considered a good thing. Note, however, that AP physics now takes two courses (1 and 2) to cover the full range of general physics topics; at many schools, these are year long courses, so it takes two years to cover the full range of general physics topics (college courses in general physics for pre-meds and biology majors will take one year to cover the range of topics).

Because computing is commonly used in all areas, if your high school offers the upcoming AP CS Principles course (see https://advancesinap.collegeboard.org/stem/computer-science-principles/course-details ), or a non-AP course with a similar coverage of topics, you may want to take it. Or take a look yourself at http://cs10.org for a broad introduction to computing in a college course. However, the AP credit for CS Principles is likely to be useless at most colleges. AP CS A is a less useful course, except maybe if you intend to be a CS major (and may not be that useful even then).

If you choose to take college (including dual enrollment) courses while in high school, be aware that grades earned in those college courses will be included in your college GPA for medical school application purposes. Getting A grades in them is good, but getting B+ or lower grades in them is harmful to your college GPA for medical school application purposes.

AP scores are not included in college GPA for medical school application purposes. Many medical schools do not accept AP scores in place of pre-med course work, so pre-meds typically have to take the college courses anyway (either more advanced ones if taking advanced placement from the AP credit, or repeating the introductory level courses that they have AP credit for). If you want to take advanced placement using AP credit, try the college’s old final exams for the course to be skipped to make sure that you know the material well.

As a potential pre-med, you are lucky to live in Texas. Texas public medical schools (and Baylor) are relatively inexpensive as far as medical schools go. If you do go to medical school at a relatively low cost, your total debt at medical school graduation will likely be much less than that of most US medical school graduates. This will give you more options (i.e. you will not be forced by huge debt to chase the money in making career decisions). Since applying to medical school requires interviews, it may be advantageous to attend a college in Texas to make getting to the interviews easier.

Of course, a well rounded high school course selection, including the suggestions above, should be suitable for going to college in any area of study, whether or not you intend to do pre-med.