Should I Drop Classes and Take More Challenging Courses for College Admissions?

[Fuz]

Ok. Tomorrow I will be selecting courses for my sophomore year. I'm pretty nervous about this because I want to go to a very good collage to study math and physics. I'm talking like Princeton or Stanford. Next year I will be taking Pre-Calc and Advanced Biology, both honors classes. I will also be taking either AP or honors US History and Debate II (also honors). As if that was enough, my English teacher suggested that I be in honors English 10 next year. Oh and I will also be taking my first year of Spanish.

Should I drop a class or two? How hard is this schedule?

 

[story645]

Should I drop a class or two? How hard is this schedule?

I've had worse and done brilliantly, had easier and done horribly; it's really a matter of what kind of place you'll be in next semester, how the teachers run the courses, and what you can normally handle. Drop if you think it's going to be bad, and stick with it otherwise.

 

[Poker-face]

Try it, the worst that could happen is you may need to drop out of one of the honors and get into college prep. If you are motivated at such a young age and doing well you have a bright futur ahead of you. My only advice is becarefull putting too much pressure on yourself. College is arguable the best experience you will have in life so make sure you enjoy the ride where ever you get accepted to.

EG

 

[jgm340]

I took 9 AP classes in high school overall, all fives but two, and all I got into was NYU

Universities like Princeton and Stanford essentially expect you be taking the most difficult classes in your high school. This, however, is not the reason to take them. The reason to take them is that you will learn so much more, and probably enjoy them much more too.

While you may not realize it at the moment, high school is incredibly easy! It becomes easier when you are taking classes that inspire you intellectually. A big advantage of AP/Advanced/Honors classes is that more of your classmates actually care about what they are learning, and this is a tremendous help in making school interesting instead of soul-sucking.

If you are worrying your grades might suffer from taking advanced classes: don't. It might be a bit more work than you are used to at first, but it is no where near the limit of what you are capable of.

Now, taking advanced classes is only the start of what you should be doing. You should be going above and beyond your school work. Once you are settled in, you should be reading on your own. The trick is to not be doing trivial things. Ask yourself: "A year from now, will I care that I did this?" If the answer is no (such as it would be for watching a TV program, or making a post to a message board ), then it's not worth it.

Most importantly, though, is to make the most of your time in high school. By that, I don't mean drinking with your friends every night. I mean try to trust me when I say that at this point in your life, you have more freedom to explore things than you ever will. Think of your homework assignments and those pesky seven hours of class as a required minumum. Above that, you have so much time to let yourself wander. Use it.