Help with classes

Hello all. I am currently a Junior and I am looking at what my class schedule will look like next year. We have a couple of days to choose, so I would like to ask for help in deciding.

Freshman year:
Spanish 2
Honors English 9
Honors Biology
Honors Algebra 1
Global Studies
Theology (mandatory bc Catholic school)
Electives: Speech (public speaking), and PE

Sophomore year:
Spanish 3
Honors English 10
Chemistry
Algebra 2
Honors Western civilization
Theology
Elective: Acting

Junior year:
Spanish 4
AP English Language
Physics
Honors Geometry
AP US History
Theology
Elective: Photography

And for my senior year, I have 4 classes that I am absolutely sure I want to take and they are:

AP English literature
AP Macroeconomics (want to major in)
AP Government
Theology

This means I have three slots to fill with whatever I want, but I do not want to take too many AP's and be overworked during college apps

I am thinking about dropping spanish and not going on to AP. Is that ok because I have already done 4 years? As for precaluculs, I was recommended for honors precalc but am not sure I want to take it because of all my APs and honors. I would also like to take AP Biology, but would it be ok to take say Marine Biology so I can focus more on my other classes?

My counselor is recommending me for an independent study to fill my elective slot because of my heavy course load. Is that ok to have on a transcript when you are obviously not slacking off with other classes?

Thank you if you read this far, and just to clarify.... I have three class slots to fill with the following classes: AP Spanish, AP Biology, Preclaculus, honors Precalculus, Marine Biology, and Independent study. These would be on top of the 4 listed above. And before you say go all out with 6 AP's, I just want to say that is not something I really want to do, there is a fine line between a hard course load and too much.

Thank you very much! And any help is appreciated,
-wegiveaship

Sounds like you already know what advice you are going to get from the forum. Take 3 AP courses.

But if you feel that that will overload your schedule take honors Precalc, Bio and Independent Study. It will cover your math and science. AP Chem would be better that AP Bio, and AP Bio would be better than Marine Biology to fill the science slot. You could substitute the independent study with just about any other elective and it would not make much difference.

Also, if you grades are already solid, they will probably not request your seventh semester grades. But that isn't advice to slack off.

I would definitely recommend you take Honors Precalc to have a strong foundation in math. Taking AP Spanish isn't necessary unless you really want to, since you already have 4 years of it. I would recommend you go with the three AP's you listed, AP Bio, Honors Precalc, and Independent Study so you aren't too overwhelmed.

5Day said:

Sounds like you already know what advice you are going to get from the forum. Take 3 AP courses.

But if you feel that that will overload your schedule take honors Precalc, Bio and Independent Study. It will cover your math and science. AP Chem would be better that AP Bio, and AP Bio would be better than Marine Biology to fill the science slot. You could substitute the independent study with just about any other elective and it would not make much difference.

Also, if you grades are already solid, they will probably not request your seventh semester grades. But that isn't advice to slack off.

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FutureCadet12 said:

I would definitely recommend you take Honors Precalc to have a strong foundation in math. Taking AP Spanish isn't necessary unless you really want to, since you already have 4 years of it. I would recommend you go with the three AP's you listed, AP Bio, Honors Precalc, and Independent Study so you aren't too overwhelmed.

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thank you for the insight! I think what I will do is take AP Bio and Honors pre-calc with an independent study. How bad is it that I will have not taken Calculus?

@wegiveaship It would definitely be beneficial if you have taken Calculus already since it is deemed by many to be a challenging course.
However I am not sure if not taking Calc will negatively affect you - someone else will have to help me answer that question.

USNA told my daughter physics, AP Chemistry and Calculus. In addition she has AP Stats, AP English AP Govt. honors band

Can you take AP stats and pre-calc?

Load with APs math and sciences if you handle that. My DD had AP Chem and Calculus on her schedule and the academy recommended she drop her composition class she really wanted to take and pick up physics 1 so she did. She received an LOA back in September. So her class rigor and grades helped her. She had already taken AP Bio her Jr year. All her history has been AP. English AP last 2 years.

West Point (and other universities) want to see that you have challenged yourself by taking the most difficult classes your school has to offer that you can make an A or B in. Calculus, physics, and chemistry are year-long classes at West Point and are difficult. I'm a little concerned that your physics and chemistry classes don't seem to be AP or honors and that you won't have calculus or AP calculus.

I would not take Spanish again because for the most part, West Point tells you what language you will take and it probably won't be Spanish (my USMA grad had to learn French). I also would not take AP Biology---I would do AP Physics, AP Chemistry, or AP Stats if your school offers them. (All of this is just my opinion obviously.)

Take a look at the courses you will be taking at West Point. Go to http://www.westpoint.edu/curriculum/SitePages/Course Catalog.aspx and click on the link to the "Red Book" pdf. Go to Page 14 and look at the classes for Fourth Class as well as Third Class. That is what you will take as a plebe and Yearling.

Of course, JMHO and YMMV.

Dixieland said:

West Point (and other universities) want to see that you have challenged yourself by taking the most difficult classes your school has to offer that you can make an A or B in. Calculus, physics, and chemistry are year-long classes at West Point and are difficult. I'm a little concerned that your physics and chemistry classes don't seem to be AP or honors and that you won't have calculus or AP calculus.

I would not take Spanish again because for the most part, West Point tells you what language you will take and it probably won't be Spanish (my USMA grad had to learn French). I also would not take AP Biology---I would do AP Physics, AP Chemistry, or AP Stats if your school offers them. (All of this is just my opinion obviously.)

Take a look at the courses you will be taking at West Point. Go to http://www.westpoint.edu/curriculum/SitePages/Course Catalog.aspx and click on the link to the "Red Book" pdf. Go to Page 14 and look at the classes for Fourth Class as well as Third Class. That is what you will take as a plebe and Yearling.

Of course, JMHO and YMMV.

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this is great information. I am not able to take AP Chem because I did not take honors Chem. Would it be ok to drop AP Biology and take AP stats?

Also, will not having calculus nor AP chemistry (I have regular) negatively affect my application?

wegiveaship said:

this is great information. I am not able to take AP Chem because I did not take honors Chem. Would it be ok to drop AP Biology and take AP stats?

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I can only offer my experience --both of my kids took AP Stats in high school (with a very hard teacher) and did well and then both did well in college stats. They both felt AP Stats was very helpful. Ask your guidance counselor for advice and take the course schedule for West Point with you.

wegiveaship said:

Also, will not having calculus nor AP chemistry (I have regular) negatively affect my application?

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I can't answer that because my grad loaded up on math classes in high school and took AP physics. I will remind you too that West Point will seek recommendations from a high school math teacher, an English teacher, and a physics or chemistry teacher so you want to have done well in those classes.

Here is a similar thread from back in the summer: http://www.serviceacademyforums.com...classes-competitive-enough.44207/#post-437820

I understand the OP asked for assistance with class selection. However, lets go outside the box. How is your athletics and leadership background looking? Academically you will find success outside of WP. So you have a bright future!

Push Hard, Press Forward

tug_boat said:

I understand the OP asked for assistance with class selection. However, lets go outside the box. How is your athletics and leadership background looking? Academically you will find success outside of WP. So you have a bright future!

Push Hard, Press Forward

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I'm not sure if you can see it, but my post right before this one has all of the information! It's called "how to improve my application?"