Split senior schedule--problems/any recs?

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I'm wondering if anybody can offer advice for my senior year schedule</p>

<p>I will be taking a split senior scheudle.
The first part of my schedule will be:</p>

<p>AP Calculus AB (1)
Senior history studies (2)
physics: (3)
AP english (4) </p>

<p>Option one:
AP enivormental science(5/6) at another school, </p>

<p>option two: AP econ (micro/macro) (5), one community college class: sociology, philo, psychology, etc (6)</p>

<p>option 1:
drive 20 min (40 min total)on the highway to a nearby high school to take AP enviornmental science. The ap envio. sci is a two hour long course, since it covers much more than regualr envior. sci classes--it includes projects for science competitions, satellite technology, etc. It has a technology component which makes it two periods and is wieghted for two periods (classes) get home around 4 PM. The problem is colleges won't think it's as tough a course load, it's two periods but shows up as one in the transcript, colleges don't think envior. sci is as good a class-"slacker course" even though this teacher is hard.</p>

<p>Option 2:
take one class at the community college one block from my high school--a choice of sociology, cultural anthropoglogy, creative writing, philosophy, intro to humanities, art history, and a variety of psycology courses. + take AP econ (micro/macro) online. get home around 1:30 PM</p>

<p>With option one, I would be completly finished with school (w/ classes, homework, etc) at around 8.
with option two, I would done done around 5. </p>

<p>The thing is, I want the schedule that looks the hardest-and I also want time to study for my SAT's/sat II's--I really need to bump up my 1700 score-and take two sat II's for UC"s. Since my GPA's a litttle, low, I really need this boost. Going the community college route lets me do that, but then again, most of my extracurricular activities revolve around enivormental science, so taking enviormental scicence would supplement that. Also, I really do not feel comfortable asking my soph/junior year teachers for recommendations 4 private colleges, and the evior. sci teacher generally writes them for many seniors. I asssume that would also come in handy for scholarships, etc, but I really don't want to drive 40 min every day on the freeway for a whole year. I'm afraid I'm going to tire myself out and drop the class due to transporation after first semester..and that doens't look good.</p>

<p>What do you parents think, which schedule(above) looks better? Thanks!! I need the hardest looking schedule since my junior schedule was a little weak.</p>

2

<p>Sometimes the answer is in the question.</p>

<p>Here is what you wrote you need:
* schedule that looks the hardest
* time to study for SATs</p>

<p>You also said that you really don't want to drive 40 minutes each day.</p>

<p>So I think that everything you want objectively points toward the community college choice. It's great that you are interested in environmental science, but colleges certainly don't expect you to take the course in high school (AP env. sci isn't offere that widely) -- so I think that the only reason you are having a hard time deciding is emotional: you really, really wish you could take that environmental science course, but everything seems to be leaning against it.</p>

<p>Don't worry too muc about the recs. My daughter was quite sure she wanted a rec from her chemistry teacher, because he had brought it up to her that he wanted to write one, and his rec. wasn't that good -- he said good things, but it was a very short, to the point letter, and came across as being pro forma. Her best rec came from a teacher she had for english & history who she really didn't get along with that well -- but the teacher wrote a long, glowing letter that made it sound like my d. was the most amazing person who ever crossed the threshhold of that school. I am sure that rec influenced the decisions of the reach schools that admitted my d. So the point is: don't be afraid of asking the other teachers for recs - you do not necessarily get the best rec from the teacher you like the best or the one who you think likes you the best. In general, English or social studies teachers tend to write the best letters, since they simply tend to be better writers.</p>