Running Out of Classes to Take in High School !?!

Hey CC, I am High School Sophomore right now (2016) and here is what my schedule looks like
Spring
College Biology Equiv. to AP Bio
College English Equiv. to AP Lit
College History 17A Equiv to APUSH (1/2)

Fall & Spring
AP Calc BC
AP GOV/ECON
Academic Decathlon
Spanish 3
Chemistry 1
English 2
Athletics
Orchestra

Next Year as a Junior (2017-18), here is what my schedule would look like
Fall
College Chemistry Equiv. to AP Chem
College Physics Equiv. to AP Physics
College Multivariable Calculus
Spring
College History 17B Equiv to APUSH (2/2)
College Philosophy

Fall and Spring
Academic Decathlon
AP Spanish
AP English Composition
AP World History
Orchestra

Senior Year: ???

I cannot think of any classes that would be worth taking Senior Year (Other than Differential Equations). I would have all of the SAT I, SAT IIs, and APs taken care of during the year that I take each course. My Counselor told me that I should consider Graduating Early, but as of now, I am not sure about what to do and how I can go on. ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!

For Clarification on What I wanted to pursue as a Career: I am going to become a Neurosurgeon (So right now I am pre-med) and I am going to major in Mathematics.

Is there a local university where you could take classes? In my state this was free, so it was a better option than graduating early.

I live in California in Merced, we have a UC and a nearby Stanislaus, however, our school has a contract with Merced College (Community College) and these classes are free as a High Schooler, but the University Classes are not. Therefore, If I take University classes I might as well apply for Undergrad and get admission because either way I would be paying full price for the classes.

As a math major, I would recommend some comp sci courses, either AP CS or something at the CC, and AP stats even though it would probably be easy for you. AP Psych is another one that seems to very useful for transfer credit for my son’s friends. I thought all high schools in CA require 4 years of English, as well.

Yeah, I would be getting the four years of English, Eng 1 (9th), Eng 2 (10th), College Eng (10th), English 3 (11th). I’m also self studying Psychology (Sorry, I didn’t state that earlier). As for Computer Science & Statistics, at Our School the teachers are very lax regarding those subjects and they are supposedly very easy. Additionally, I’m not interested in Computer Science, at least not as much as other subjects.

Do you have any Early College programs near you? In Texas we have TAMS (Texas Academy for Math and Science) that takes advanced students from all over the state and let’s them ‘jump’ into college with opportunities for research. There’s also Bard College at Simon’s Rock. It’s an early college program for Juniors and Seniors.

We don’t have any Early College programs anywhere close to Merced. However, I am considering graduating normally, with the exception that during Senior Year I don’t take any classes and instead, pursue a Research Project at UC Merced for a full year. I am not sure if my High School allows it, but I will definitely check with my counselor.

Greetings … My daughter, currently a junior, is in the same situation as you. We realized last year that she would run out of classes, so I spent the summer researching her options. She has either taken or will take every AP class available at her school and by the fall of her senior year would have completed 29 JC classes (60+ semester units) and if she goes to a UC, she will be a freshman with junior status. So since you seem to be in the same boat, here are three things which might help:

  1. Are you familiar with Cross Enrollment? Every JC/CSU/UC is slightly different so you will need to research your specific school for the details of their agreement, but UC Merced's website does say they have an agreement with their local JC. Here is how it works with ours. As long as my daughter is enrolled in at least 6 semester units at the JC, she can apply for cross enrollment at the local CSU or UC. You then try to ADD the CSU/UC class. This is totally at the discrestion of the professor and you absolutely have no priority enrollment. Other rules also apply. At the UC she cannot take a class offered at the JC, but that rule does not apply to the CSU. The CSU/UC class gets credited to your JC transcript not a separate UC/CSU transcript. But at the same time you pay the JC price for the UC/CSU class. So since JC classes are free to her as a high school student, the UC/CSU class is also free. It is important to note that this has never been attempted by a high school student in our county. I had to meet with several people to work it out and it really came down to the fact that no one could find a specific rule NOT allowing a high school student to do this. So you get to complete upper division classes towards your major for free. Since you are just starting, if you map this out correctly and attend a UC, you could technically get almost the first three years of college for free.
  2. Since you are pre/med and math (my kids are too) your classes are sequential. You should look at the major requirements at the schools you are trying to attend and attack those lists. For example, you might want to add Bio 2, Micro Biology and Organic Chemistry to the list. Go beyond the first class in each subject. For math, my daughter will take Calc 1-4, Linear Algebra and Discrete Mathematics. If she gets her drivers license then she can also take Physics 2 (Calc Based), Physics EM & Physics Mechanics. You should take classes that will complete your future major requirements. Once you exhaust all the JC classes in those subjects, you can move onto the UC/CSU classes through cross enrollment. There are also other AP classes I did not see on your list like Music Theory, European History and Art History. So there is still more to take.
  3. If you are going to a UC, have you looked at the IGETC pattern for your JC? If you have, you'll probably notice that the HS A-G list, IGETC and AP Class List have a lot of correlation. If you plan correcly, you can eficiently complete all three lists without any duplication.

Finally, my most important piece of advice to you other than to have fun and not just study, is to understand the rules as best you can. Since you are veering off the normal path, evem though you are doing extra-ordinary work, you could unintentionally be setting yourself back.

Hope this helps.

Yeah this helped a lot. Thanks very much for your input. And I am absolutely amazed by how much research you’ve done on your daughter’s behalf. This will definitely help me complete High school in the best way possible.