“I will be taking 4 HS classes and 2 college classes(in the fall and spring) during the school year”
what college classes will you be taking during the school year?
[I missed if you previously mentioned taking college classes during the school year.]
Bottom line - 6 classes is PLENTY.
Like I said, I’ll be taking Essentials Of Nutr and the Japanese class during the school year. I can take more college classes if needed to be.
wait, what? you are planning on taking 2 nutrition classes? One in HS and one at the college???
And a beginning Japanese class?
And you think that taking ONLINE college classes this Summer that last only 5 weeks will be viewed as the EQUIVALENT of year long HS AP classes?? You are sadly mistaken.
NO. this is a very, very bad plan.
Regardless of whether it is ok with your HS counselor, this will only result in your college applications being rejected.
Forget doing online college classes as a substitute for year long HS AP classes.
Stop trying to take shortcuts.
Take 4 AP classes and a 2 easy classes at your HS.
And skip college classes until you are in college.
If I’m taking the nutrition class in college I won’t take it in HS.
What I don’t understand is why would 2 easy classes at my HS be better than taking 2 college classes?
So your saying 6 HS classes is better than 4 HS classes and 2 college classes? They both equal 6 classes. So does it really matter?
Would it be better to take those summer classes during the school year instead? I just thought it would be better to take them in the summer since I’m doing nothing and have way more time.
So here’s my plan, in the fall I’ll be taking Japanese 1 and Ethics in college. In the spring I’ll be taking Japanese 2 and Essentials Of Nutr in college.
I’ll be willing to take more college classes if necessary.
This is, in a nutshell, what I’m concerned about:
I fear that your GC, who has 500 other students to worry about, most of whom are not as smart as you, has given you the information you WANT to hear, and checked you off her list.
She has NOT given you the advise you NEED to HEAR.
If a College admissions committee sees your HS transcript, which shows, during your SR year, that you took only 2 AP classes offered at your HS, even though a glance at your HS Profile report shows there were more available to you- they will ask the question “why did you do this?” You risk looking like you slacked off , and that is a really bad idea. Taking a College Japanese class and an ethics class will NOT make up for skipping the type of rigorous Core educational classes colleges like to see on a transcript.
As you do not have a REALLY GOOD reason for taking fewer classes at your HS- you had to leave school early to work to support your family, etc, etc, - they will then put your application in the reject pile, in favor of students who took more classes AND the most rigorous AP classes their HS offers, whose class content is known to the admissions committee.
“What I don’t understand is why would 2 easy classes at my HS be better than taking 2 college classes?”
This is a false premise . Taking HARDER classes at your HS your SR year is the best choice and use of your time next year. Sorry if your classrooms are hot.
“I just thought it would be better to take them in the summer since I’m doing nothing and have way more time.”
Then take the online classes if you like, but do it IN ORDER TO PREPARE YOU TO MAKE A’S in your SR year AP classes.
“The GC told me herself that these classes are substitutes for the Econ and Gov credit the school district requires.”
Satisfying district credit requirements for HS graduation is an entirely different proposition than taking the classes that demonstrate the right kind of academic rigor to college admissions officers. Your GC seems to only care about the first one.
Forget about SUBSTITUTING summer online classes for any HS AP classes. Take them because you want to be ready for your Sr year and because taking them also demonstrates intellectual curiosity and ability, something colleges like to see.
Use any additional time you have open this summer to research colleges.
Run the FA calculators to see how much it will cost your family to send you there… Have the Money talk with your parents - soon!!- what can they really afford to pay? And come to the parents forum or the Financial aid forums on CC to ask questions. There are lots of veteran parents on those 2 particular forums who have really smart students and who know a lot about the college application process. We are here to help.
There are lots of colleges that offer merit $$ to top students but it takes time to figure out which ones also have the right programs, features and fit.
[ Ivys’ and the tip top colleges offer very little to no merit scholarships, so If you want a strong chance to go to college for very little $$ , then you will have to cast a wide net . Start here -
http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/
And start writing your essays this summer- they do take a lot of time to get right,
Once again-I’d advise you take AP physics, AP CAlc, AP Econ , AP Gov, honors English and either ES or Etymology.
6 classes/…
"do I have to take AP Econ and AP Gov?
YES YOU DO- IF you want the chance to get into the type of colleges that your SAT scores suggest you would thrive at.
Agree with menlomom’s post above. If you’ve worked steadily at a certain level all through high school, don’t change gears senior year just to take Japanese at the university while sacrificing your high school schedule. It looks lopsided unless you take at least 6 courses in high school as usual. Why not take something that could be enriching? What language have you taken in high school til now? Wouldn’t you continue with it in lieu of starting up with Japanese?
Like I said my high school doesn’t offer many AP classes. The only AP classes left I would would not have taken yet would be AP Art and AP Lit(which I can’t take anyways).
AP Econ(spring) and AP Gov(fall) are 1 semester classes. Would it count as just 1 AP class or 2 different AP classes. All other AP classes are 2 semesters long.
If I go off to the college I would be only missing the AP lit and AP art, unless you think AP Art is important to take?
There aren’t any more honors courses I can take either. I wouldn’t be missing anything rigorous at my HS.
That’s why I have to go to college to take additional courses. There aren’t any more rigorous courses I could take at my HS. All there is left are regular core academic classes and electives. Isn’t a college course way more rigorous then a regular HS course?
I could add more college classes. I was thinking of taking a college Stats class(my school doesn’t offer any stats class) and Intro To Mus Therapy(easy class meets once a week on Friday night so why not).
." Would it count as just 1 AP class or 2 different AP classes ?
yes 2 AP classes.
“That’s why I have to go to college to take additional courses”
fine. AS LONG AS YOU TAKE THESE 2 ADDITIONAL COURSES AND HONORS ENGLISH AT YOUR HS.
Wow didn’t realize it would count as 2 AP courses. I’ll definitely take them, it’s basically killing 2 birds with one stone right? So a one semester Gov course will have equal weight to a 2 semester year long AP course?
“So a one semester Gov course will have “equal weight” to a 2 semester year long AP course?”
yes and no.
There are year long AP classes and semester long AP classes.
College admins know which ones are “easy” and which are "hard, but generally the year long ones are considered harder than the semester long ones, because of how much material is covered. I’m not sure which AP Econ class your HS offers- Micro or Macro, but both are valid classes and both have separate AP tests.
That said, in your case, taking AP classes that your HS offers is better than not taking them. Since you cant take any others your Sr year because of scheduling conflicts, make sure you GC mentions that in her LOR.
[AP Art History, like AP Music theory, should only be taken by those who are seriously artistic or can read music well.]
May I suggest that you consider taking a beginning CS class at your college, perhaps in the Spring after you have finished your college applications and are waiting for the results, IF, it does NOT require you leaving school early and IF it is offered. Coding is the new language that all college students should expect they will need to learn.
It wont hurt you to start learning it early. And that would give you one more challenging college class that can be mentioned on your college applications, as they DO ask for your entire SR year schedule. It will add a lot more “weight” to your transcript than any Nutrition class.
My HS offers Microecon. Yeah I’m not artistic enough to take AP Art. You actually need approval from the art teacher to take it.
They have a computer science class at night(7-8pm) I could do. They also have one online as well. Yep I can take in the spring.
My HS does offer regular computer science but college CS probably looks way better. They use to offer AP computer science 4 years ago but it got canceled since no one took it… It’s no longer listed on the school profile so that’s good.
Menlo Mom is so right. If you want a good college, let the Adcoms see your continued interest in learning. That’s not a nutrition course. Or were you thinking of majoring in something related?
On the common app, it will ask you to list semester 1 classes, then semester 2. See how yours will look (I’ve lost track.).
This would be different if you had some great opportunity, an internship or job.
have you taken any CS? or done any coding on your own? Would you feel advanced enough to tackle AP CS?
[I’d grab a AP Comp SCI test primer and look through it this summer.] If it might as well be written in Greek to you at this point [If you have NO idea what CS is like] , there is NO penalty for taking the CS class that your school DOES offer. IF it fits in your SR year schedule.
MUCH better to take a basic CS class than any nutrition / health class.
I have not taken any CS classes yet but I have done some coding on my own. My school doesn’t offer AP CS.
Since I’m taking college CS in the spring, I have time to start prepping for it.
Doesn’t it look better to take college CS than regular CS at my HS?
@lookingforward
As of now, I’ll be taking 4 HS classes and 6 college classes (3 in fall, 3 in spring).
I do have an after school job.
“Doesn’t it look better to take college CS than regular CS at my HS?”
Again- the better option is to add challenging HS classes to your HS Schedule-
NOT try to add college classes instead.
taking CS at HS will bring you up to a total -5- that LOOKS better to colleges.
Leave the CS college class until you are in college.
I think you ae underestimating how mucjh harder the college classses will be than ANY HS classes hyou have taken. And in addition to your AS job, you will ALSO have the part time job of applying to colleges- another time consuming task.
So take 5 HS classes.What are the 6 college classes? If any are nutrition or Health or anything non core- drop them. 5 HS classes + 2 college classes each semester is PLENTY impressive and rigorous for the most competitive colleges!
Dont make the mistake of taking so many classes that your GPA drops.
I would if they actually are challenging HS classes, but alas there are none left I can take. But it’s just regular CS, college course>regular HS course or am I wrong? Regular CS at my HS is not weighted, College CS and any other college course is weighted like an AP course and would help my class rank.
HS CS starts at 11AM, I won’t be able to the Japanese course since Japanese is only offered at 11AM.
Looking at my HS website, apparently the class at my HS is called Computer Programming. I’m assuming its CS.
I’ve taken some college courses already last semester and they weren’t that bad.
I plan on going harder with college courses in the spring. Here’s my plan:
Summer college classes:
Reading, Writing, & Inquiry 1
Fund of Econ
Fall college courses:
Elementary Japanese I
Ethics
Intro To Mus Therapy
Intro To Amer Politics
Spring:
Elementary Japanese 2
Communicat With Stat
Intro To Biol World
Not sure which CS I should take:
Survey Computer Sci
C/C++ Programming/
Intro To Comp Sci I
Programming In C#
Software Engineering
Introduction to C Programming
No. Do take a rest if you were mentally challenged all those years. Colleges will pity you.
Whyyyy are you trying to take so many college classes??? They’re hard, maybe even harder than AP classes. Please don’t choose Japanese over CS unless you’re planning on majoring in it. Why not try to learn Japanese yourself rather than sacrifice other things that you could possibly put on your college apps? And same goes for Music Therapy - sounds easy right? And colleges KNOW that! There’s no point taking classes that look and sound easy because no one else will consider the effort you put in while taking that class. Take career-oriented classes. If you’re planning on majoring in business, take a business class etc. But dont go overboard. It seems to me that you’re interested in nutrition but do not take more than one class. Both will overlap material-wise and colleges will essentially only look at one.
What did you read the entire thread? I know they’re hard, I’ve taken some before but I know I can handle them. I’m not choosing Japanese over CS. I can take both Japanese and CS at a college which I plan on doing.
The whole thread was about me not taking enough classes at my HS since I plan on only taking 4 classes at my HS. So I’m taking college classes to make up for it. The question is, how many college classes will I have to take in order to make up for the lost HS classes?
Nothing wrong with trying to increase my GPA(mine’s low) and class rank. I mean the class meets just once a week on a Friday night, it won’t hurt if I take. And from the looks of the college grade distribution sheet, should be an easy A.
Like @menloparkmom mentioned above, colleges know which classes are easy and which arent. Just like you think that music therapy is an easy A, so will colleges. Do another activity instead of spending your Friday nights doing a BS class. Take more classes at your HS instead of loading up on college classes. Take career oriented classes at your high school, like electives. You shouldnt be so hung up over one class and sacrifice many other things that you could possibly do for that. I have read the entire thread and I agree with what @menloparkmom says. I am also in high school and for me, there is no shortage of AP classes at my high school. But even if there is a class that is unappealing to anyone in our school, we just end up taking a regular class that interests us, not because its an easy A nor because it sounds like an easy A, but because we like it. Taking one or two regular classes arent going to affect your GPA that much. Chances are, if you’re forced to take regular classes, so is everyone else. You will probably not fare well combining half of a high school schedule with half of a college one WITH college apps.