<p>My daughter is in the process of choosing her courses for her senior year. She plans to apply ED at W&M. Here is what she has so far:
AP English Lit
AP Gov
AP Art History
AP Calculus AB
Physics
Chorus</p>
<p>Here is her dilemma...she was thinking of Spanish 5 but is worried that the course load will be too heavy. She has been asked to "TA" (teacher's assistant) for a teacher which would take the place of Spanish 5.
While she would love to TA for this teacher and has reservations about workload she is very concerned that it may not be looked on favorably by W&M admission. </p>
<p>I am hoping to hear from W&M Admission here...how important is that extra class? How are TA experiences looked at?</p>
<p>Additional info - She has a similarly heavy load this year - AP Eng Lang, AP US History, AP Environmental Science, Precalc and Spanish 4 plus electives. B+'s and A's in core classes.</p>
<p>Thanks for any guidance!</p>
<p>…just got her mid year grades. Most B+'s some A’s</p>
<p>fwiw, my D (now a sr) dropped Span V after a couple of weeks during Senior year. There were 5 people in the class besides her, and they were all native speakers. Just became too much. It enabled her to get really good grades in the other courses. I don’t think it hurt her at all, and of course 4 years in HS fulfills the language requirement.</p>
<p>we encourage students to take the most challenging courses in which they can do well. If your daughter can take Spanish 5 and maintain high grades we would encourage her to do so. However, if she feels taking Spanish 5 will compromise her performance in that class or others she shouldn’t take it. She could also seek out another academic class in its place be that another AP (AP Econ or AP World for example) if she believes those courses may not be as stressful or taxing.</p>
<p>We have so many talented students applying many of whom achieve very high grades in very strong classes. We don’t want any student to overexert themselves in order to impress us so again, we caution students to take the most challenging courses they can which will also allow them to perform admirably.</p>
<p>smdur is correct, successful completion of Spanish 4 meets W&M’s foreign language proficiency</p>
<p>W&M Admission - thank you so much for your thoughtful guidance. I will pass along your thoughts to my daughter as she makes her decision.</p>
<p>Any time. We’re here to help</p>
<p>I am currently a junior from Northern Virginia highly interested in applying to William and Mary Early Decision next fall. The time of the year has approached when students must choose their senior classes. Does William and Mary favor AP Calculus over AP Stat? Math is not my strongest subject, but I have managed to maintain an A/B+ average throughout my high school years and have been told that competitive colleges search for Calculus on a student’s transcript. I am currently taking four APs as a junior, but am worried that my senior course schedule is not going to be much more difficult (four APs as well) since I will be Editor-in-Chief of my high school’s newspaper and will not have any spare time to take classes I am going to struggle in.</p>
<p>We do recommend AP Calculus over AP Stats if you believe you can do well in the course. We consider calc to be one of the most demanding courses a high school student can take so we do look for that as a benchmark of a rigorous schedule. Calc is not required and if you don’t take it, do take AP Stats but if you think you can earn a B or better in AP Calc we suggest you take it.</p>
<p>My d has taken French all three years in a New England top boarding school. She took the school’s 2 French Lit courses in 10 and 11 th grade. The Lit courses she is taking as a Junior are the old AP Lit courses, but there is no AP Lit exam. Her French grades in HS have all been the highest possible.
She has now learned that there are no more French courses available. She is sooo disappointed that she cannot take French next year, I cannot tell you. She does plan to take it in college, and also uses it in her Vocal Performance.
As a result, she will have only 3 years of French on her transcript. While it is an achievement to have exhausted the courses at her school and attained such a high level so early.
What would be best for her French slot next year? One year of a new language? Or a second Honors Humanities course?
She will be taking Honors Calc 1, Honors Bio, Honors Music, Honors Humanities and needs one more course.</p>
<p>Assuming your d took French prior to entering high school, do not worry that only 3 years appears on her transcript. As long as her transcript indicates completion of French 4 (and it sounds like she’s gone above that) she will have completed what we look for as part of an application. She can also ask her counselor to explain in his/her letter that your daughter exhausted the French curriculum. We cannot ask a student to do more than that.</p>
<p>As for her remaining course, assuming she’s taken a robust science curriculum to include chem and physics she can fill it with a new foreign language or a social science course. As long as the course is rigorous it will be a good selection. If she hasn’t completed chem and physics we would recommend whichever one of those she is missing.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your rapid reply - on a Sunday, no less! Very helpful as she has only one more week till Spring Break.
For the French “slot”, she may apply for an independent project incorporating French with other things. Or she may start German, which she uses in her Classical Vocal Music. Or, her school offers “Humanities” elective courses to seniors, on topics covering English, History, History of Art, with some reference to politics and government, but there are no Social Science courses, per se. (She did take a full credit course as UCBerkeley in Political Science last summer- recd an A-! Has taken all the basic sciences.)</p>
<p>Your comments reflect so well on William and Mary- your responsiveness, your helpful attitude. Thank you!</p>
<p>Any time. We’re here to help students and families navigate this process.</p>
<p>PS: We include history in social science if that’s helpful. An independent study course in French, a German course, or a humanities course are all good options. As long as it’s a robust academic class she should be in good shape.</p>
<p>To W&M admission: I’m a junior who’s currently scheduling senior year classes, and I’m wondering if my schedule is rigorous enough with only three AP classes. The only other AP classes I could potentially take are Stat and Economics, but because of the heavy workload for those classes, especially combined with AP Bio, I decided not to. Also, would you still prefer Calculus over AP Stat, even if it’s not an AP course? </p>
<p>Here is my schedule:
AP English 4
AP Human Geography
AP Biology
Topics in Calculus
Science Research 3H
Business Law (probably)
Newspaper staff</p>
<p>I’m taking three AP classes this year (US History, English, and Spanish). I honestly think I won’t be able to handle four. Is it bad to not take more AP classes senior year? My SAT scores and extracurricular activities are good. Also, my school is very rigorous.</p>
<p>cheshirecatlover, we do recommend calculus over AP Stats even if it isn’t AP Calculus however we do consider AP Calculus more rigorous than non-AP Calculus.</p>
<p>As far as your science curriculum have you taken bio, chem, and physics? If not, we’d recommend you complete that sequence.</p>
<p>Any chance you could take a core class instead of business law? We’re guessing you need to take newspaper in order to participate in that publication which we understand making that course hard to drop but maybe you could take a heartier course in place of business law.</p>
<p>While we do generally recommend students increase the level of rigor in their senior year you’re at least maintaining consistency (3 APs each year) and it’s not terribly common for us to see students take 3 APs as a junior so bravo to you.</p>
<p>We always caution students that they should take the most rigorous schedule in which they can be successful. If you think you can earn As and Bs, take the courses you’re on the fence about. If you think your workload will cause you to get Cs or lower grades, you’re not doing anyone any good.</p>
<p>Hope this is helpful!</p>
<p>Thank you for replying so quickly! I did take bio, chem, and physics. As for business law, we’re required to take a business or technology course in order to graduate. My other choice is computer programming, however my guidance counselor isn’t sure whether or not it counts as a technology course since it’s cross-listed in the math department. There isn’t really a core course that counts as business or technology, but AP Econ is close. However, it has a huge workload, and so do AP Bio and Human Geography, so I don’t think I would be able to handle them both. Would accounting be considered a “hearty” course? </p>
<p>The reason why I only have four core courses is because I’m finishing Spanish this year. The summer after freshman year, I self-studied Spanish 3 and skipped into Spanish 4H. Basically, I was good at Spanish and wanted to make room for newspaper class senior year – I knew my schedule would be constrained enough with Science Research for three years. </p>
<p>Thanks, it was helpful!</p>
<p>Does this look like a competitive Northern Virginia senior course schedule for next fall? </p>
<p>AP Psychology
AP Government
AP Literature
AP Stats
Advanced Writing Composition
Journalism 4 (Newspaper)
Human Anatomy</p>
<p>Would suggest AP Calculus instead of Stats unless you already took it as a Junior.</p>
<p>might want to consider AP calc, an AP science (bio, chem, or physics), and an AP foreign language. If you don’t already have these classes, I would say your schedule will be easier than a lot of students in northern virginia.</p>
<p>We recommend that students pursue the most challenging curriculum in which they can be a successful students. Some benchmarks of a more challenging curriculum include calculus, the fourth level of a single foreign language and a science sequence of bio, chem and physics.</p>
<p>If you haven’t taken calc and believe you can get an A or a B in it, we’d recommend that over AP Stats. If you haven’t taken physics, we’d recommend that over anatomy. If you have taken physics we might still recommend AP Bio/AP Chem/AP Physics over anatomy (especially if you do not pursue AP Calc).</p>
<p>You might also consider another AP (such as a foreign language or history course) over advanced writing. You’re already taking AP Lit (and we’re guessing you took AP Comp this year) so not quite sure why you’d take advanced comp over another more rigorous course such as an AP foreign language or an AP science.</p>
<p>What about AP Lit, AP Psych, AP Government, AP Calc, AP Foreign Language, Newspaper, Anatomy or AP Lit, AP Psych, AP Government, AP Calc, AP Environment, Newspaper, Anatomy/Advanced Comp?</p>