What kind of classes to take?

pelyas · 06-04-2006, 12:10 AM

I'm currently a sophomore at a pretty competitive Jesuit high school in Los Angeles.

This year I took four honors courses, and freshman year I had one. My unweighted cumulative gpa is around a 3.95 and my weighted is around a 4.34, which will probably go up after this semester as I have a projected weighted gpa of around 4.66 for sophomore year.

My question is this, do I need to up the ante to five advanced (honors + ap classes) classes in junior year? Keep in mind there are only six classes per year in my school and one has to be a theology or fine art, so no advancement there. I'm debating whether or not to take honors chemistry. First off, I'm not going to even consider a science or math major in college and I'm a very liberal arts-oriented guy. Would I be better off just sticking to four advanced classes that I am interested in, reflect my interests, and will be easy As or should I go the full way and try out honors chemistry even though it has nothing to do with my major? I also have to factor in my extracurricular activites (nationally competitive debater, mock trial, journalism, christian life community), volunteer activities (25 hours), and SAT prep classes.

Do colleges consider your major when they look at transcripts? Do colleges really make a big deal out of five honors classes versus four? I'm looking at Georgetown as my first choice, but also UCLA, USC, NYU, UCSD, Columbia, and Harvard. Please help!

akalboy · 06-04-2006, 12:16 AM

well if you can handle doing well in 5 advanced classes, then you should take them. but if you don't think you can, with good grades, i'd say stick with your 4 and do better

pelyas · 06-04-2006, 12:25 AM

thanks, do you think colleges will keep my major in mind when they look at transcripts?

anisha08 · 06-04-2006, 12:39 AM

yeah, i agree with what akalboy said. at my school, honors chemistry is a semi-difficult course, but if you are willing to do your best, it isn't that hard. also, i don't know about the colleges looking at transcripts thing, but generally, i've heard that if you can manage honors/AP level math and science courses even though you are liberal-artsy/humanities-ish,its a plus.

pelyas · 06-04-2006, 02:46 AM

Honors chem is a really difficult course at my school with a high cutoff for an A, making an A- a probable score as opposed to an easy A+ in chemistry. And then since I'm not planning on being a science major, and I'm aiming for a more liberal arts-oriented school like Gtown or Columbia, will it have an impact?

Just for reference, my schedule this year was:

Social Justice (Sem 1) A
Photo 1 (Sem 2) A
Hon. English II A (Prob A- in 2nd semester)
Hon. Western Civ. A+ A+
Hon. Algebra 2 A- (A- or A 2nd semester)
Honors French 2 A A
Biology A A

suze · 06-04-2006, 03:10 AM

MITs average CR score is nearly the same as their math score. Enough said.

pelyas · 06-04-2006, 02:23 PM

this is a bump

flopsy · 06-04-2006, 06:55 PM

pelyas:

UCLA: Safe Match

pelyas · 06-04-2006, 09:13 PM

thanks flopsy, thats good to know

do you think I should add another advanced course to my load (honors chemistry) even if it doesn't pertain to my major?

pelyas · 06-05-2006, 03:33 AM

Sorry to keep bumping this, but does it really matter if we have advanced classes that don't pertain to our major?

anisha08 · 06-05-2006, 04:29 PM

Well, it's a definite plus and shows that you can handle a heavy load. Skimping on the honors chemistry means you will have to supplement your time with dedication to ECs.

So in a nutshell, it would be better to, but it's not necessary.

pelyas · 06-05-2006, 04:55 PM

thanks anisha. Would nationally competitive speech and debate be enough to supplement a lack of honors chemistry? (Alsow ith mock trial, writer for school newspaper, and christian life community and community service volunteer 25-50 hours). I don't know how good my extracurriculars can be considered.

anisha08 · 06-05-2006, 05:35 PM

Hm. The only thing I can say is to maybe get more involved outside the realm of what the normal elite-college-bound student does (debate, journalism, math contests, etc.) and try to do something out of the box with your interests. This is semi-random, but I remember my school principal telling us about an Ivy-accepted kid who bought a lobster boat and caught lobster as his passion? Yeah. Random and weird, I know, but I just want to say you should channel your efforts into a passion that makes you more unique, and makes you stand out.