What should I be doing my senior year in order to be a good candidate in admissions?

Applying to College
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So I am in a student at a public high school. I’m hoping to be able to go out of state, but staying somewhere on the western US. I am considering majoring in Nursing or something similar. I’ll give you my stats for some background.

3.997 GPA (one A- on the quarter system, no weighted GPA at my school) // Class Rank 19 out of 382 // ACT - 30 composite: 32E, 28M, 29R, 31S (I’m taking it a second time next week)

For freshman and sophomore year I took 4 honors each (the most offered) and then junior year I took 2 APs (APUSH & Lang), 1 honors, & a CNA class at my local technical college.

Extracurriculars:
HOSA Historian in 10th, VP in 11th, applying for Pres for 12th
Drama Secretary in 11th, will be Historian for 12th
GSA Co-president for 11th and will be in 12th
NJHS and NHS member 9th to 12th
ETS (college guidance) 8th to 12th
(I also did choir 3rd through 10th grade but don’t know if that’s relevant for college admissions)
I have no major awards other than school or small local contests.

Next year I am trying to decide whether to load up on APs or apply for an internship (the internship would give me high school credit and replace 2 of my 8 available class slots and would most likely be something science/nursing related). I think my biggest problem is figuring out how to make my college application stand out. The APs I’m considering taking are: AP Biology, AP Psychology, AP US Gov, AP Calculus, AP Statistics. I am also considering a Medical Anatomy & Physiology class and will be taking a college level english class.

How many APs is too many, which ones would be the most beneficial, and what is more important an internship or a heavy course load?

I travel to visit family during the summer, so I’m not able to work or hold something too consistent and I’m struggling to figure out what I should be doing before my senior year.

ANY input is appreciated, thank you !!

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I would do the internship. That is a lot of AP in one year! The internship, if related to what you want to study in college, might make you stand out more and, more importantly, could be clarifying for you.

If you have scheduling issues, you could always take a class-AP or not- online. Our small public school actually has a membership with this online school for kids who want more choices or have scheduling issues: VHS Learning | VHS Learning

It’s great that you have your CNA. Another option would be to work as a CNA rather than do the internship. Many nursing students work as CNA’s and it can help with admissions.

If you do that, those are still a lot of AP’s and I would go easy on yourself!

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Are you good at math? Calculus is generally not part of a nursing program, but statistics is.

I’d do the internship a take Stats, Bio and Psych. Yea all 3 are AP classes, but besides Bio, not lab intensive. They’re essentially just classes.

Then the real question arises…where to apply. You say you live in the west but want to go out of state. Look into the Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE). Lots of schools offer tuition to students from other states at 150% of instate.

Southern Oregon University for example is a WUE program and has a nursing extension program from Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) in Portland. It’s in an idyllic mountain town.

Lastly, I would strongly suggest looking into advanced nursing degrees like NP and CRNA. They have autonomy and make much more money.

Best of luck!

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Schedule:
Ap bio, ap stats, ap psych, DE English, Spanish 4, anatomy&physiology.
Then add the internship.

Where to apply:
Look for direct admit programs.
Run the NPC before you get attached to any university-start with your state flagship.

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