<p>I am a junior and I guess i'm what you'd call a 'late bloomer.' In middle school, I guess I didn't impress anyone so I wasn't placed in the honors/advanced track. As soon as HS came around, I began to 'wake up,' posting high grades, etc. I wanted to jump into the honors track but I was told it was too late. As a result, I was stuck in regular classes frosh year, but went into AP world soph yr, and got into more APs this yr. This year I ended up taking algebra 2/trig and chem, but with the 10th graders who are advanced, so it's a little better. Bottom line is, I have the SAT, the ECs, and the grades I'd need to be ivy caliber. How much will this hurt me?</p>
<p>This year schedule, grades first semester:
A2T honors: 100 UW
Chem honors: 98 UW
AP bio: 98 UW
AP USH: 93 UW
AP Lang: 97 UW
Spanish 4H: 98 UW</p>
<p>I think upward trends in grades, including in the level of difficulty displayed, will only benefit you. I know someone who is a current freshman at Harvard who had no honors classes freshman year of high school. He continued to work hard to get into the honors level track and APs. I also know a current freshman at Columbia who was in the same situation. The increase in difficulty demonstrates that you have the ability to take harder classes and will show potential in college.</p>
<p>I don’t think that four APs going into senior year is any disadvantage, at least in my experience.
In terms of algebra, as long as you do we’ll in it and aren’t planning on majoring in applied mathematics, it shouldn’t be a bullet in the foot.
One thing about schedules is you want them to be parallel to any academic extracurriculars. If you write plays, take all the AP English classes you can. If you do microbe research, take AP Bio.
In the event that there isn’t a class about something you are passionate about, most schools offer self studies.
It is more about what the schedule says about you as a student and person, than what it looks compared to every other person.</p>