<p>As it stands, I'm only signed up for three classes, and no math or science class.
I feel like AP Chemistry and AP Statistics would mostly be a waste of time.
I hope to spend my time productively on research, olympiads, and independent study.</p>
<p>How much does my light schedule hurt my chances of admission and scholarship? Do you recommend that I take AP Chem or Statistics?</p>
<p>These choices hurt your chances very badly unless you are an absolute superstar on an international scale and will spend your spare time winning the IMO or IPhO... and even the kids who actually do that still take lots of classes like AP Chem and AP Stats.</p>
<p>I don't know why you feel AP Chem would be a waste of time... do you know lots of chem? If the class is too elementary, study independently along with the class, not instead of it.</p>
<p>The schedule you currently have, intentionally or not, would smack of arrogance and laziness, and it would be a big surprise if it didn't kill your chances all on its own.</p>
<p>Your response is much more forceful than I expected!</p>
<p>I will definitely heed your advice and sign up for something that I can put on paper, whether that is a college class or a high school class. I'm certainly not a "superstar on an international scale," though I've taken the USAMO and attended one of the olympiad training camps.</p>
<p>While chemistry is not one of the subjects I've put a lot of time into studying on my own, I looked at a syllabus for my school's course and it doesn't have much material that is new to me, after a relatively good honors chemistry course and a lot of physics. Besides, it would barely make a dent into the material covered by a serious college chemistry course. If I'm going to be doing most of the learning on my own, then what's the point of signing up for a course with daily attendance and long, mandatory homework assignments of routine problems? That probably sounds arrogant, I will say that I have put a decent effort into my first three years of high school and I've had a relatively ambitious schedule. Hopefully you can understand my frustration about another year of public high school.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If I'm going to be doing most of the learning on my own, then what's the point of signing up for a course with daily attendance and long, mandatory homework assignments of routine problems?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Don't get me wrong, I personally undestand your feelings completely because I had them myself when I was a senior. It's just that we unfortunately can't trust that people are studying hard independently in a major subject even if they say they are (without evidence like an AP score), and so we are forced to view a very light school schedule as a sign of something negative. So we have to choose the lesser of two evils and essentially require our admits to have a reasonably full schedule, even if the courses are full of a lot of nonsense. But I promise, once you get to Caltech or another school of similar caliber, the nonsense assignments will end (for the most part).</p>
<p>Good luck sticking it through another year. I know it's not always fun.</p>
<p>I took Calc BC my senior year even though I had gotten a 5 on the test my junior year and I had taken Multi-variable calculus at the beginning of my junior year and Linear Algebra over the summer.</p>
<p>Our school required us to take 8 classes. I passed the day by reading, doing Rubik's cubes, ignoring the teachers, and causing minor trouble when i could. Just deal with it. It's just an hour a day wasted.</p>
<p>I can't believe a school would allow someone to take 3 classes...</p>