<p>English (no special advanced courses available)
French II
History (again, all freshman take it)
Chemistry
Pre-Calculus
Art Studio</p>
<p>Soph:</p>
<p>English (no advanced courses offered)
French III
AP Euro
College Physics
Trig (1 term)
Philosophy (an advanced, upper level course... 1 term)
PhysEd (1 term, required)</p>
<p>Junior:</p>
<p>AP Art History
French Literature
AP AB Calc
English (no advanced course offered)
English electives (2 terms, senior elective courses allowed by special permission of department chair)
PublicSpeaking (to fulfill requirement, 1 term)</p>
<p>Senior:</p>
<p>AP US History
AP Statistics
English electives (3 terms)
Music electives (2 terms, to fulfill requirement)
African History elective (1 term)
History seminar on Cold War (1 term)
Independant Project, english/philosophy related (2 terms)</p>
<p>someone told me that my course load would not be considered "most rigorous," can someone please point out the weak spot? not that i can go back in time, but i'd just like to know, please.</p>
<p>is it because i took AP art history junior year instead of senior year? </p>
<p>i'm aiming for top tier schools... will i look like a slacker to them?<br>
sorry if i sound paranoid as hell, im just a little shaken... i really just followed my passions with my course selections and now... i don't know if that hurt me... ahhh</p>
<p>It depends on what is offered at your school. Ask your guidance counselor how you stand up against your classmates. At our HS, kids take 8 classes per year - one is phys ed/health so that leaves 7 slots. Kids applying to top schools typically take 6 academic classes/yr and 1 elective. Perhaps you were limited to the number of classes you can take. We have kids who fill their schedules with electives and study halls, but they generally aren't looking at top academic schools. Following your passion is good but there are some weaknesses such as you only took 2 science classes, 2 1/2 yrs of math and 2 yrs of a language.</p>
<p>Select a few schools you're interested in and look on their websites to see what they require/recommend taking. "Recommend" implies required IF offered - since competition is so strong. At some schools, it depends on your major - some universities (like Cornell) have "colleges" and each college has its own requirements so depending on one's major, they may want 4 years of " " whereas that wouldn't be required for another "college". </p>
<p>I know it hurt my son at some schools because he followed his passion (took 6 Science classes) but ONLY 3 yrs of a language. Some top schools want 4 yrs of a language. He refused to do another year - there were just too many other classes he preferred to take. Now that's he's in college, he has decided to learn a new language. Go figure.</p>
<p>My DD followed a strong academic track (all honors/AP classes through Calc, 3 lab sciences, etc). She decided LATE to pursue a BFA in graphic design so her Art background was WEAK by comparison to her classmates. She had GD electives but not a heavy art background. She hurriedly took some art classes at a local college in addition to bypassing pre-reqs and taking an upper level HS art studio class through the Gifted and Talented pgm. She had little time/help putting together an art portfolio (classmates had a yr long class to prepare for it). BUT on the bright side, her academic classes/GPA/SAT scores put her in contention for merit $ that we didnt' even know existed for Design students.</p>
<p>Colleges look at your high school profile and determine if you have taken the most difficult course load available to you - if you have done everything that you could you'll be fine</p>