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I have a huge dilemma here. Currently I’m in the 10th grade and I’m signing for 11th grade classes. I’m not sure what to do… By the school’s policy, I’m required to do English, Math, Social Studies, and Science. The last 3 spaces (I only have 7 periods) are for whatever I want. Thinking ahead for college, I’m going to sign up for at least 1 Advanced Placement class and a foreign language class. Seeing as how I’m in Piano, I’m signing up for AP Piano to learn how to compose music. That leaves only 1 space left for what I want to do. I failed Technology 9th grade year, so I have to take it in either 11th or 12th grade. But I’m also in an Academy of Biotechnology. As such I need to do double periods of the 11th grade Science, Chemistry. Either way, I’ll probably have nothing of mine I want to do. And I made a promise to my English teacher that I’ll go into AP English, so that’s another AP class for me. So far, here is how my schedule can look:

AP English
Modern World History
Chemistry
Algebra 2
Spanish 2 (didn’t take Spanish 9th grade year)
AP Piano
Chemistry or Technology

What sucks even more is that I just got a book that lists all sorts of new classes I want to try. I want to take Photography, Jazz, and Ceramics, but I know I just can’t. I’m thinking of dropping the Academy of Biotech (even though I want to be a Biotechnologist), and try Photography. But then there is my Technology credit and my SSL (Student Service Learning) hours. On top of that, I don’t really know which Social Studies class to take. There’s Psychology, Sociology, and Religion. Here’s how it looks now:

AP English
Modern World History or Psychology or Sociology or Religion
Chemistry
Algebra 2
Spanish 2
AP Piano
Chemistry or Photography or Jazz or Ceramics
SSL: Still 60 more hours to go…

Any advice?


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And don't drive your car off a cliff like I did. Girl, no man is worth 10 points on your license.

I'd take whatever AP stuff you need right now and get those over with if I were you (as opposed to irresponcible me). College will have the same kinds of electives and they'll prolly be much higher quality.

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Arts

Farts

Twarts

For the social studies class, honestly I would suggest taking whatever is easiest. Pretty much all of the humanities courses in college cover more material in a deeper depth and are far more interesting (as far as social sciences go). Just like the electives that Narratorway mentioned.

In addition, by taking an easier course you're putting yourself in a better position as far as getting accepted to a college too - it will give you a better grade in that course and let you focus more on your AP courses and the courses you're making up from freshman year. Most colleges that I am aware of are going to look more at the grade you receive in the course and less on humanities course it actually was. I don't suggest 'taking the easy route' as a way to live your life, but in this instance if it helps you succeed and get into college, go for it.

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Oh sure, I don't have to get kicked in the junk to activate it, but I like it anyway. -- Thief commenting on the difference between Throw and Blue Magic.

Quote (WildHalcyon @ 2nd March 2006 13:09)

Most colleges that I am aware of are going to look more at the grade you receive in the course and less on humanities course it actually was.

Not True. Most colleges have had a huge overhaul and now focus on the difficulty of the classes that you are enrolled in (Honors courses mean something now).

Take AP Euro. Maybe it's just the teacher I have, but I love AP Euro so much.

Or since it isn't an option.. .I'd suggest Sociology, as it's a very fun and interesting class.
The Chemistry seems to be the way to go, really if that's where you're at.

This post has been edited by MogMaster on 2nd March 2006 21:48

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If you've been mod-o-fied,
It's an illusion, and you're in-between.
Don't you be tarot-fied,
It's just alot of nothing, so what can it mean?
~Frank Zappa

Sins exist only for people who are on the Way or approaching the Way

Quote (ArcnightDelita @ 2nd March 2006 16:25)

Quote (WildHalcyon @ 2nd March 2006 13:09)

Most colleges that I am aware of are going to look more at the grade you receive in the course and less on humanities course it actually was.

Not True. Most colleges have had a huge overhaul and now focus on the difficulty of the classes that you are enrolled in (Honors courses mean something now).

Say whatever you want, but I got into college just fine by taking almost all Honors-level courses, and my eight AP tests gave me 33 credits and exemption from taking a language. The bottom line is, most colleges still regard AP test scores as valid credit, but as part of one's resume most colleges just treat AP courses as Honors-level courses and don't look at AP-weighted GPAs. On a second note, AP Piano actually exists? I know that there is an AP Music Theory course and test, but Piano? I bet it's a piano-oriented AP MT class, but I guess I could be wrong.

I took one AP my sophomore year, four my junior year, and three my senior year. Now, I'm not sure if that's for you, because I would be at school everyday from seven AM to nine-thirty PM, because I had after-school activities from six to nine every night, and I had virtually no free time outside of weekends. Then again, my high school was RIDICULOUSLY competitive (I had a 3.8 GPA and wasn't even in the top 100 of my class).

But enough about me. If you really want to go into biotech of some sort, then you should definitely take either that tech or chem credit. As much as I would like to say something like "take whatever courses you want and be happy" or some **** like that, college favors the prepared. You'll probably want to take AP Bio and AP Chem before you graduate if you're interested in any biology-related field. If I had to recommend one humanities course to take in lieu of world history, I'd have to recommend psych. AP Psychology was one of my favorite courses in my high school career. Of course, you're not me, so you should make this decision yourself.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
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Assuming you think you can handle the challenge, take as many AP courses as possible. Not only will you get out of taking some courses in college (I didn't need any English, history, or foreign language, and I started with calc. 2 in math and had the option of skipping the first year of chemistry), but you'll have a much better chance of getting into a college and of getting a good scholarship if you're taking the most challenging courses you can.

And to second Laszlow, are you sure about that AP piano? I have to laugh if you are, because it means that AP is just moving toward being less selective and less worthwhile, and probably eventually less influential for college applications.

Another thing to consider is that there are certain "core" courses that colleges look for. That might be a reason to take chemistry over technology. Colleges will have a better idea of what you had to do to pass a chemistry class, whereas they can't really tell the other stuff from fluff. For the same reason, I'd suggest taking history courses and not the other social sciences. AP European History is a really good course if it's taught even halfway well. It will be a good background for most other history courses that you'll ever take, and it might even give you some background on art history and philosophy (mine did) depending on the teacher. So take it, if it's offered.

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Veni, vidi, dormivi.

Following all your advice, my schedule should look like this:

AP English
AP European History
Chemistry
Algebra 2
Spanish 2
AP Music Theory (corrected)
Chemistry
SSL Hours: 60 hours

Thanks guys! I think this is a good schedule for me, although I’m not really sure whether I can handle 3 AP classes. I’m a really hard worker at school, but once I get home, I get REALLY lazy and tend to procrastinate a lot. I hear that an AP class gives out homework every single day, but is it a lot of work or just a menial workload?


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And don't drive your car off a cliff like I did. Girl, no man is worth 10 points on your license.

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there are three types of people in the world, the ones who can count, and the ones who cant

Quote (Auragaea @ 3rd March 2006 11:01)

... I hear that an AP class gives out homework every single day, but is it a lot of work or just a menial workload?

It depends on the teacher and the course. The AP Physics course at my high school was legendarily difficult, with multi-hour problem sets every night and weekend (I got a five on the exam but only a B in the course; more than half of the students that sign up for it drop out before November), but my AP English Language class wasn't hard at all, with considerably less homework than the Honors English 11 course that I took the previous year. All you can really guarantee with an AP course is that you'll be doing AP test reviews like nobody's business once you get to within a month of the test or so.

And cyberbahamut, no offense, but please put some content into your posts. All of these nonsense phrases and one-word replies (noticeably the boredom "topic" you made recently) are going to annoy the mods. Just a warning.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
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