Though I have a few months until course selection rolls around, I have begun to think about my courses for next year. It will be my senior year, and I keep wavering between which classes I want to take and what classes I SHOULD take. Let me give you some info: I get As, my GPA is a 4.2 Freshman year my school doesn’t allow any APs to be taken, so I took all honors in the 5 basic academic subjects: Honors Geometry, Honors US History 1, Honors Physical Science, Honors English 9, Honors French 2, required phys ed, and then I took chorus. Sophomore year I took Honors Algebra 2, Honors Biology, APUSH, Honors English 10, Honors French 3, required phys ed and chorus . This year, junior year, I am taking Honors Precalc, AP World History, AP Gov/Pol, Honors Chem, Honors French 4, AP English Lang, and chorus. I already have an idea of what colleges I want to apply to, my top five are McGill (I’m in the US but I like McGill a lot), William and Mary, George Washington, American, or BU. My absolute reach is the University of Chicago. So I know all of these schools are pretty competitive, and I looked on all of their websites to see what they like people to take in high school, but most either did not say or just said three years of science. So this leaves me wondering: Do I need to take physics next year? I wil be applying to these schools as an English major or political science major. I have no interest in science AT ALL. Next year as a senior I was hoping to replace science with a creative writing elective, meaning I would be taking no science but doubling up in English. I really do not want to take science next year and it isn’t a requirement at my school, but I wasn’t sure if not taking four years of science is bad? I just don’t understand why colleges would rather have me take physics over a second english, if english is what I want to study. Please let me know if you think this is a problematic schedule for my senior year, given the colleges I will be applying too!
AP Calc
AP English Lit
AP Psych
AP French
Honors Creative Wrting
Half Year Ethics/Law
Half Year Study Hall
Is this challenging enough? 4 APS is a lot but I also really want to take creative writing. I’m staying in chorus because it counts as an honors A+ and I want the 4 years of it for continuity. I also have never taken a study and would like some chances to use my school’s senior priveleges. Please tell me what you think about my schedule for next year!! Thank you!
Have you taken a good look at those colleges you have listed? University of Chicago is known for having its core curriculum, where you are required to take specific classes in each subject for quite a bit of time, including 3 full years of math and science.That might be something to consider because it doesn’t sound like want you want. You might want to look at schools like Brown, Amhesrt, and University of Rochester that have open curriculums.
That being said, would it be possible for you to drop your half study hall/ethics and law in exchange for a science? Its really not a bad idea to have at least 4 years in English, math, science, social studies, and foreign language just to be safe and show colleges you are well rounded, especially if you are aiming for top schools.
Take Physics. Even if you don’t plan on going into science, I would at least have the Physics basics down. Your college might require Physics for your major and it might not. I’d try to be prepared. Also, you really shouldn’t stay in choir if it’s just for an “easy” A.
The honors creative writing is fine if you have a passion for writing and english in general, it would show passion and consistency, but I would drop the half year ethics/law and half year study hall, doesn’t look good at all, especially the half year study hall part, it looks like your taking a bs class. I would take that out and put in a weighted class or regular class you really want to take, it would look better than taking study hall and wasting a whole semester on that.
Colleges want to see that you are taking full advantage of your high school career, challenging yourself and taking classes that interest you, not study hall. The rest are fine as long as you are prepared for the work and rigor, but I would drop the study hall.
I’m taking chorus both for the gpa boost and because I do like to sing. I take voice lessons and do extracurricular activities with singing, and have thought of minoring in it. And yes, I could drop the half year ethics study, but I never took a study ever before and I really would like to have the senior privileges, especially after working my butt off all three years before
Everyone wants that out after three years of high school working their butt off, but the people who get to the top, get into the top colleges are not the ones’ who break, because to be honest life doesn’t give breaks in the real world. You have to keep going and go it hard, not take breaks, challenge yourself, and keep going even when you’re beat, thats the difference between a top tier college student and a normal college student based purely on academics of course.
On top of that, it seems like you’re taking an out, and colleges want the kids who don’t take outs and keep going even when they are beat. Ultimately its your decision, but I would recommend not taking it easy, take it easy the summer before college.