Hi guys! I’m working on course selection for my upcoming junior year in high school and I wanted some advice on something. I’m planning on taking AP U.S. History, AP Bio, Honors Precalc, Honors French, and Honors English (these are the highest levels offered). So far, I have a 4.94 GPA (out of 5), or 3.95 out of 4.
My problem is that I really want to take a social studies elective in addition to these 5 majors that is only offered at Level 2 (one step below Honors). I’m really interested in learning the material and that is why I want to take it. However, getting an A in that class will lower my weighted GPA.
I’m thinking of applying to very selective colleges (my dream school is UPenn); do you think they would like to see me taking 6 majors that I love, with a lower weighted GPA and a Level 2 class on my transcript, or just the basic 5 majors and a higher weighted GPA and all honors level classes on my transcript?
I never had the grades to get into an Ivy or ACT score (though I did well) but I fully advocate taking what you love. You’ve got one shot in life and I believe that filling it with classes you’ll simply be in for the grade. Senior year is full of burn out. You need something to resort to if everything in your life seems completely pointless.
Especially since you’re thinking of this now, this class could really change the way you think. It could lead to new clubs, new ideas that shape your essays and more importantly, yourself.
And honestly, one class you do well in that isn’t the highest offered shouldn’t kill your admission chances.
Good luck!
There’s nothing wrong with taking one non-Honors, non-AP class. They’re not going to look at it and scream “slacker.”
I’d take the class. You’ll enjoy your year more and thus be more likely to succeed.
During my senior year in a small, mediocre high school, I made two unconventional choices.
In the fall, I took a one-semester course, required, in “problems of democracy.” Instead of using the boring textbook, we read and discussed Newsweek. I loved it. During the spring semester, I had an open period and didn’t want to take another study hall. So I went to the teacher and the counselor and asked whether they’d let me take the class again, this time as an auditor. I certainly didn’t need the credit. Probably nobody ever had made a request like this, but they agreed, since the work would be different in another term (unless Newsweek unexpectedly reprinted whole issues).
I also had a class rank issue. I was at the top and had run out of things to take, so I registered for a full year of shorthand in the business department, rather than the one-semester notehand class for college-bound students. I had to fight to get in, because nobody ever had wanted to do it, but I’d found out that kids who took the shorter course didn’t end up using it afterwards. Then I almost regretted that I’d gotten in, because it was harder than any of my academic classes, and I almost lost my rank. But I really worked, ultimately pulled out an A, kept my top rank, and write this as a Penn graduate whose unorthodox senior schedule didn’t preclude her admission.
If you could audit the class, you would get access to the material and a chance to show Penn that you actually have an intellectual interest. (Yeah, colleges tend to like that. They get so many applications from kids who take cookie-cutter schedules and end up sounding alike.)
Sometimes I think people use the “less difficult class I’m passionate about” line as an excuse to avoid a more rigorous courseload. You, however, are genuinely interested in this subject and are looking for some intellectual exploration. That can’t possibly be a bad thing!
I personally took an UW online Latin I course that dropped my W GPA and my rank. My GC was able to explain it to adcoms in her rec, and it hasn’t, from what I can tell, adversely affected me in anyway. (In fact, I’m almost certain my GC used it to elaborate on my “intellectual curiosity” in her rec.) Go for it!