<p>Until now, I've generally taken the most difficult classes I could and never took a free period.</p>
<p>Now, since it's my senior year, and I wanted to have time to study for SATs, I took a free period. Now I have a rather unimpressive and unchallenging schedule for my senior year:</p>
<p>AP Government
AP Calculus AB
AP Economics
French III
Creative Writing
Free Period</p>
<p>Also, It gerts worse my second semester:</p>
<p>AP Calculus
AP Economics
French III
British Literature
Gym
Free period</p>
<p>Will colleges see this and think I'm a total slacker my senior year and not accept me??
Should I take up Physics correspondence just to be safe??
Should I change my second semester schedule?? I don't even know why I have gym.
While other people are taking AP English and AP physics, I feel like a total loser, should have taken 5 APs.</p>
<p>Please help, pretty scared...
By the way, I'm thinking of top colleges like Ivy leagues...</p>
<p>Yes, your schedule will look very bad to top colleges. They aren't interested in students who slack off senior year. That could indicate that the student is starting a slide and will continue to slack off in college.</p>
<p>The top colleges want Type A students who are truly excited about learning, and your schedule doesn't indicate that.</p>
<p>Since your schedule seems to reflect what you want, you may be happier at a college with a less intellectually intense environment than Ivies have. Not all smart people would be happy at an Ivy. Many would be happier and more fulfilled at less intense colleges.</p>
<p>Top colleges generally want to see a student take 5 solids (math, english, history/social studies, science and foreign language) throughout the entire 4 years of high school. I don't believe they all need to be AP courses - but you do need to challenge yourself, and you do need to show a steady progression of difficulty throughout your high school career.</p>
<p>what was the point of taking a free period both semester, the SAT's will be over in like a a few days and than you have a free period for the rest of the semester and all of next semester</p>
<p>To me, the glaring error in this schedule is NOT the presence of the free period, but the ABSENCE of a science! Most elite schools want 4 years of a hard science. You have no science in your senior year. Why is that?</p>
<p>My school canceled our Physics class, there are no AP Bio classes at my home school or the other school I go to for two AP classes; we don't have an Honors Bio either (I have a Directed Study for Bio/Physics for my 2nd hour to make up for it). I'm in Environmental Geology too, but it's totally pathetic. Our vocab words for the week included ECOSYSTEM, BIOME, COMMONS, TEMPERATE, and HYPOTHESIS! We don't have books for the class and all we do are these stupid little busy-work worksheets. I hate it and I want out of it. The students are the main problem because they're all the troublemakers and the bottom of the barrel type who are in there because they're banned from all other classes offered during that hour. I was just sprayed today with water by some idiot who turned the faucet on full blast and stuck his hand under it so it sprayed because it's neat to watch the water or something! </p>
<p>I was thinking of switching some hours around and taking Calculus, on top of the Pre-Calculus I have already, or something else. I have exhausted every possible class at my school already that is difficult, to the point where I have to take Directed Studies just to keep out of Student Assistant or Video Photography (blow off class at my school). I don't know what to do because I don't want my schedule to seem padded when in all actuality, Directed Studies at my school are really difficult and it's the best I can take.</p>
<p>Quiltguru, you say that colleges want 4 class of science. By the end of this (my senior) year, I'll have completed 6 classes of science (H Bio, H Chem, AP Chem, H Physics, AP Physics, AP Environmental). Will colleges consider this a plus or think of it virtually the same as a kid who has taken 4 science classes?</p>
<p>our school forces everyone to have study hall. i think some of these comments were a bit harsh. it all depends on what is offered at your school.</p>
<p>hydeist, this is what the OP said:
"Now, since it's my senior year, and I wanted to have time to study for SATs, I took a free period. Now I have a rather unimpressive and unchallenging schedule for my senior year...."</p>
<p>The OP is applying to Ivies, which expect students to take the most demanding courseload that their schools offer. Ivies are not interested in students who get to senior year and need a break from academics. Ivies are interested in students who truly love learning and don't need that kind of break.</p>
<p>There are, however, plenty of colleges that are less competitive that would be thrilled to accept a student with the OP's schedule. The OP also is likely to be happy at this kind of college, not one in which students are intensely interested in academics.</p>
<p>My friend got into Yale w/ 2 free periods last year both semesters. As long as you're taking the hardest course load, or nearly the hardest course load I think you'll be ok. </p>
<p>I think the way you phrased your question essentially: 'i want to slack, does it matter' , probably wasn't exactly what you intended.</p>
<p>What about dropping classes that are "core subjects" but are taught at such a slow pace and are pathetic and have 65% arses who are just there to hoot, holler, and make rude noices and comments. It took us three days to get through four pages of fill-in-the banks notes because some hoodlums were interrupting the whole time. What if you explain this and then make up for it w/ Directed Studies?</p>
<p>After reading this thread, I am kind of worried about this topic with my junior S as well. He has taken all honors and AP classes, by the end of his senior year, he will have 12 honors and 6 AP classes. He has all A's and is currently tied for valedictorian. My concern is that for the fall of both his soph and junior year, he has taken a study hall. He did this because he is the starting varsity fullback, and if any of you know the practice schedule of a TX 5A football program, it is amazing that he can get to sleep at all with homework and studying. The study hall was to protect his sanity. Is a top college going to hold it against him and think he is a slacker?!? Besides being a 3 year starter/letterman in FB, he is also a 3 yr varsity la crosse player in the spring and on the varsity powerlifting squad in the winter. He hardly slacks, but if taking a study hall is a detriment to his application, he is in trouble!</p>
<p>Recruited athletes get more breaks from colleges than do virtually any other category of applicant. The top colleges also need a lot of football players, and they know how much time it takes for students to be on a team.</p>
<p>I wouldn't worry about your S's schedule hurting his chances.</p>
<p>ag54, even if your son were not a recruited athlete, his schedule is quite rigorous and his grades show his success. Because of the large time commitment to the teams you describe, he has demonstrated that he can succeed despite his large amounts of time dedicated to non-academic endeavors. Good luck to him! </p>
<p>The main problem with the OP is the attitude. His schedule is a slacker schedule and there are probably opportunities in his community (e.g., community college, on-line AP classes, etc.) to add a 4th year of science or add more rigor to his schedule that he has not capitalized upon. It is NOT the free period that is the issue. It's the overall lack of rigor. My D elected not to take a 4th year of history in her schedule this year...but she DID take an extra semester of AP English expository writing, an extra semester of AP Physics in addition to her AP Bio and and Independent Study in AP Music Theory. She didn't give a hoot whether or not this would help her get in to any elite school. She just loved the subjects and wanted to take them. It meant giving up her free period, but she didn't care.</p>
<p>Elite colleges want 4 credit years of a science, preferrably biology, chemistry and physics and one other advanced level, not 4 classes.</p>
<p>I have a study hall as well. I had to take a study hall because the only other AP class I could take was at the same time Spanish 6 was being offered. It was either do a study hall or take a non-AP or non-IB class. Didn't want to do it. Hope my study hall does not make me look like a slacker!</p>
<p>AP Stats
IB Physics
IB Spanish VI
IB English
IB History
IB Drama/Theatre (it is required)
Study Hall</p>
<p>What if your school requires you to take study halls?</p>
<p>i have the following course load
AP Calc
AP Literature
AP Biology
Honors Physics (no ap at our school)
AP European History
Phys Ed/Health (required by state)
Study Hall
Study Hall</p>
<p>If you take a science, you HAVE to take a study hall with it in our school (b/c theres 2 labs a week), but even though i begged my GC she wouldnt combine my two study halls, saying that i would have more credits than everyone else if i took another course...(b/c bio is 7 credits in our school)...to me that makes absolutely no sense...but thats how it worked out...will it hurt my chances?</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses GG and North. When he met with the guidance counselor to set his schedules he made sure the study hall would not affect his chance at val. He is taking the required amount of honors/ap to get the extra gpa points, but will get a grade for the study hall. It probably is not fair to someone tied with him who is taking an extra science or English in the place of his study hall, but he is pursuing his love of sports, and without the hour to get some work done, he could not keep up his grades (or health) with the rigorous schedule he keeps. </p>
<p>At this point, we don't know if he will be a recruited athlete or not, we are just beginning to go down that road, but my main concern has been about his class standing and his academic record. He won't be earning a living on an athletic field, and his college experience, while hopefully including some football games, needs to be about putting him in a position to be well educated and, ultimately, gainfully employed.</p>
<p>What will colleges think when they see that I took AP Physics and AP Environmental (when AP Bio was available)? Most kids in my grade (in fact I know only ~5 that double up on science this year) only take a single science class. I didn't take AP Bio because I thought having both AP Physics and Bio at the same time might kill me during the spring (tennis), and I took AP Environmental because it would be interesting. However, I understand that colleges know that Environmental Science is not necessarily the most rigorous AP science class. Any opinions?</p>