Senior year schedule for a future VP major

<p>I'm scheduling for my classes by the end of this week. I mostly know everything I'm going to take, with the exception of my English class. I have given myself options</p>

<p>AP English Literature </p>

<p>or </p>

<p>One Semester of College Composition and one semester of literature </p>

<p>I am certainly taking AP Psychology, AP Government, Physics, French, Choir, and a couple more classes I need to graduate. I will audition for BM vocal performance programs, and I want to design a schedule that will allow me at least 7 hours of sleep per night, plus about two hours total of practice per day (30-1hr on voice a day, and the rest on piano, theory, and non-vocal practice)</p>

<p>I have always taken honors and AP English, and have received almost all As in all of my English courses. However, my strong point is writing, not reading. I am a slow reader and I will need to read a chapter multiple times in order to understand the material enough to quiz well. I just don't want to appear as though I am slacking during my senior year, especially without a math class. I would take a math class, except I do not feel prepared for nor do I see the need for AP calculus, which is my only option. </p>

<p>I will likely apply to Rice, Maryland, Michigan, and McGill - the other schools on my list are not as challenging to get into academically. I have slightly above average but not perfect grades and test scores.</p>

<p>That sounds a bit on the heavy side for a senior schedule given all the auditions you’ll be having. Then again, given those schools you do need some serious academic qualifications to get in. On the other hand, you do have to ask yourself if it’s all worth it. I was planning on taking AP English Literature and AP Calculus BC going into my senior year but then went on a tour of out east conservatories and realized that if I was going to really get serious about auditions I was going to have to cut back on the schoolwork so I could get practice time in. Thus, I dropped my APs down to just AP Spanish Language. For me it was completely worthwhile but my school choices were a bit different than yours and my list wasn’t nearly as long. PM if you have any more questions, I just went through this process myself with a 3.615 GPA and a 28 ACT, so I’m assuming given what you said your academic credentials are about what mine are.</p>

<p>If you will be auditioning as a performance major, Rice will not care about your AP classes. At her interview, my D was told by the admissions folks to just take regular/honors classes and focus on her audition material.
She did take a couple of APs. but didn’t take science at all. She’s a freshman there now.</p>

<p>I believe the same is true of Mich, unless you are looking to dual drgree/double major there.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t overload yourself too much seeing as you are already taking other high level courses. Budgeting in two hours a day for practice is good, but you could have less time in reality due to make up work. My second semester schedule is quite full and I was assigned several big projects and essays before my busiest two weeks of interviews and auditions! I was able to get extensions on a few of them, but, in hindsight, I could have things much less stressful. :)</p>