tothestars

I was doing some research and just realized that I'm actually a little sketchy on the required Academic Preparation (http://www.princeton.edu/admission/a...n/preparation/) - particularly 4 years of science, 2 years of history, and 4 years foreign language, which makes me really nervous.... Here have been my schedules so far for the past 3 years and currently:

Freshman Year:
-Honors Algebra 2 Trig
-Honors English 1
-Honors Biology
-AP Human Geography
-Chinese I
-Symphonic Winds (band)

Sophomore Year:
-Honors Precalculus
-Honors English 2
-Honors Chemistry
-AP European History
-Chinese II
-Wind Symphony (band)

Summer between sophomore and junior year:
-U.S. History (2 semesters)

Junior Year:
-AP Calculus AB
-AP English 3
-AP Biology
-Honors Physics
-Chinese III
-Wind Ensemble (highest band)

Senior Year:
-AP Statistics
-AP English 4
-AP Government
-AP Macroeconomics + AP Microeconomics
-Drawing II + Drawing III
-Honors Wind Ensemble (highest band, "honors" designation for seniors only)


I have the recommended 4 years of math and English. (But is Calc AB not rigorous enough? It's not that BC isn't available at our school, it's just that math is definitely my weak point...)

However, I only have 3 years of a foreign language. I took a semester-long class at the local Chinese school to prepare for the AP test, which I took at the end of junior year and got a 4 on. Also, Honors Chinese 4 conflicted directly with band senior year. Another concern is that taking Chinese in the first place and getting a 4 on the AP test will hurt me - ethnically, I'm Chinese (was born in the US though), but I don't know how to read/write and we speak almost exclusively English at home (mixed family). 95% of the Chinese I know how to speak is what I learned as a young child, and it's approximately at the level of a kindergartener/1st grader in China, literally.

While I have 4 credits worth of science, it's not 4 years - I took one science in both freshman and sophomore years, and 2 junior year. Is that okay/does that count?

Also for history... I took only AP Euro in school, and 2 semesters of regular US History over the summer. Does that count? Does AP Human Geography and/or AP Gov count as well for fulfilling the history expectations?

Finally....will taking Drawing II and III senior year hurt me? (To explain: I didn't take it because I wanted a blow-off class, I took it because I actually like art a lot and haven't had the chance for the past 3 years...however, I'm not sure if I can convey that to the adcoms...)

Ahh sorry, I'm totally freaking out right now. Thanks in advance for any help/insight.

T26E4

Friend relax. Anyone "freaking out" about a school with below 10% admit rate has the wrong perspective. Your taking Drawing is not going to ruin your life.

Your schedule looks fine.

tothestars

haha, I guess you're right. Thanks for the feedback and the perspective!

tallgirl

I think your courses are quite challenging and it "looks" fine, actually, excellent (all Honors or AP except for electives)!!

Look, you have like 9 APs under your belt and the adcoms can figure out that you "took" -- or rather "covered" 4 years of a foreign language if you have Chinese thru the AP level, which you do! if you want to feel more secure, use that "additional' section of the Common App to write a quick note saying something like "Although it is not readily reflected on my transcript, i have covered 4 years of a FL thru the AP level in that i self-studied & took upper level Chinese classes outside of my HS. To that end, I received a 4 on the AP exam, so i hope you view this as a positive that i accelerated and studied on my own rather than as a negative."

As to drawing, I feel it makes you look more interesting/dimensional and well rounded and I am happy you are enjoying your passion for it! I'm sure it's yoru favroite class each day and that;s a good thing :-) Perhaps you'll even have an art portfolio out of it to augment your app and that would be great!

As to Calc AB vs BC, i wouldn't sweat it as you are still doing TWO APs in math and as you're probably not going to apply as a Math major anyway as you said it's your weakest subject, right? So highlight all your amazing super positive aspects and with some good SAT/ACT scores, essays & ECs, you're going to have many, many terrific options!!

Good luck!!