Sophomore year is coming close to an end, and I finished with a 3.9 unweighted GPA.
Although it was challenging, I barely managed to get straight A’s the second semester (First semester was a breeze).
The classes I took my sophomore year are
Spanish 3 Honors
Yearbook (2nd year)
World History AP (man that AP test was meh).
Algebra 2 Honors
Bible 2 (I go to a small Christian School in Houston Texas).
Chemistry Honors
English 2 Pre-AP
Athletics (Varsity Soccer & Golf)
The colleges that I’m looking at are Columbia, NYU, Northwestern, U Chicago, Stanford, UCLA, USC, and UT.
I know, all of these colleges are reaches, but a kid can dream right?
So next year schedule sign ups have just been released and this is what I was planning on taking:
Spanish 4 Honors
Yearbook (3rd Year, will count as an Honors class)
Dual Credit US History (School offers AP, but it’s only available online, and my counselor advises me not to take it online, for it is harder, because it does not offer an in-class setting, side note: I already passed the TSI)
Pre Cal Honors
Bible 3 (School requires Bible all four years because it’s a Christian school)
Physics Honors
AP English 3
and Athletics (playing soccer and golf again)
The reason why I’m asking for all of your opinions, is because I know Junior year is arguably the most important year of your high school career in terms of academics, especially if you plan on applying Early Decision, which is what I plan on doing. And because of all of those extremely selective colleges that I mentioned before, I was wondering if I should drop some of those extra classes that I don’t really need like Yearbook, Spanish, or Athletics for more AP classes like AP Bio or AP psychology. I plan on taking AP Bio my senior year, because I really liked Biology my freshman year. But should I double up Junior Year?
Is it best if I drop some of these honors classes to take more APs, or will I be super stressed out?
Any advice is appreciated. (Please don’t recommend How to be a High School Super-Star, I’ve already read it.)
Other info about me: I volunteer a lot at local events including football games, elementary campus events (my school is a Pre-K to 12th), and special olympics. I am also the current class president of the Sophomore class, and I designed the class t-shirt, which we raised enough money for everyone to have one for free. I also helped organized two major events for the sophomore class, which we were able to raise around $6,000 to help fund for our Senior Trip (We go to Disney World).
I also work as a receptionist for my parent’s nail salon. And with that statement you can already tell I am asian (specifically Vietnamese). And I am the first generation to attend college. 