I am a current sophmore and I need to decided if I can handle AP classes and my extracurricular activities for next year.
For next year I just finalized my schedule to be
IB English
IB history
AP Chem
AP Bio
Honors Italian 4
Honors Pre calc
And then my major at my school which is two blocks of dance.
On top of this I am a competitive dancer, meaning I have dance about 6 hours every week. This is the most important to me so I am 100% not dropping dance. However I also am party of key club, yearbook, student council and class council (if the elections go well this year), mock trial, the drama club’s fall and spring show and lastly cheer.
For people who have been through this, can I manage all of this? Or show I drop some stuff. Cheer tryouts are in a week so I need to decide if I will be in the team again. I am willing to drop but cause I know it’s a good idea but I will miss it, therefore I am having trouble accepting this. Thank you!
Athletics and academics together can be done; it just means you need to manage your time effectively. Don’t take the whole 50 minutes (or whatever) to eat lunch. Do some work on the bus to athletic competitions. It goes without saying that some time-suckers at home, like internet and gaming, would need to be cutback.
Having said that, athletics plus drama is likely to be too time-consuming if they are occurring in the same season, even assuming that there is no overlap in the respective practice times.
Agreed. Each is super time consuming on it’s own. Plus the class also requires lab, which at most schools means a double-block period or a zero-hour. Take one next year, and the other the following year, if you want.
I am a current sophmore and I need to decided if I can handle AP classes and my extracurricular activities for next year.
For next year I just finalized my schedule to be:
IB English
IB history
AP Chem
AP Bio
Honors Italian 4
Honors Pre calc
And then my major at my school which is two blocks of dance.
On top of this I am a competitive dancer, meaning I have dance about 6 hours every week. This is the most important to me so I am 100% not dropping dance. However I am also part of key club, yearbook, student council and class council (if the elections go well this year), mock trial, the drama club’s fall and spring show and lastly cheer.
For people who have been through this, can I manage all of this? Or show I drop some stuff. Cheer tryouts are in a week so I need to decide if I will be in the team again. I am willing to drop but cause I know it’s a good idea but I will miss it, therefore I am having trouble accepting this. Thank you!
@skieurope I disagree! This year, I was in the spring and fall shows at my school (even understudied the lead in the spring), and did cross country (fall, 5 days a week) and golf (spring, 3-4 days a week). Not going to lie, it was tough. Especially as the productions got closer to opening, when rehearsal was every day until 8pm or so, I had to make sacrifices - leaving practice early and getting to rehearsal late, practicing golf at night after rehearsal, and doing runs in the morning instead of with the team - but I managed to do both as well as keep my grades up (including AP Bio and World).
It’s a lot of work, and your schedule is fuller than mine (maybe drop cheer and/or a club you don’t like as much), but if you apply yourself, you can do it.
The advice I’d give - don’t mix work and play. When you’re doing homework, put your phone away and don’t even touch websites unrelated to school (yes, even CC). Basically, your life should go on hold when you’re working. It’s harsh but it’s the best way to work efficiently and have enough time for the things you want to do. (Also, let your free time be free time!)
@OneNormalKnight I don’t think that we’re saying different things; as you said from your personal experience, “it was tough.” Can it be done? Sure. Anything can be done. But it will take a lot of tome management, as I said from the outset.
Seems like you’re overloading yourself with activities, plus AP Bio and Chem in the same year? Are you seriously willing to give up all of your free-time to dedicate to these activities and schoolwork?
If I were you, I would focus on the things that I have a passion for; any other fluff that you’re doing because it looks good on college applications is unnecessary. I don’t know anyone at my school who does these activities and manages As in their class so I would discourage you from doing these activities and courses at the same time, but the only one who can decide is you. Reflect on your abilities and don’t overestimate your capabilities; everyone needs free time, no matter how dedicated you are, so make sure you set time for relaxation so that you don’t breakdown halfway through the school year.
I will be a junior next year, plus science is what I want to do as my career. I already changed from AP chem and AP physics to have an easier schedule. By the time I graduate I want to have taken AP Bio, AP chem, AP physics and AP forensics, so I plan to double up on science the next two years. I can do this because my dance training allows me to drop gym class. But thanks for the advice but my schedule is going to stay.
There is no such thing as AP Forensics. The only other AP science class is AP Environmental Science.
Which Physics class did you replace Chem with? AP Physics 1, 2, C:Mechanics, or C:E&M? I’m assuming not the last two.
Anyway, it’s your life and you decide what you want to do. However, colleges do not want to see a huge laundry list of extracurriculars; instead, it’s much wiser for both admissions and your mental state to focus on a few things that you really enjoy, such as dance. If you seriously want to do all 8 time-consuming activities (I see that they aren’t just random clubs; they all seem to have a large time commitment, especially cheer, dance, drama, and class council) along with that schedule, fine; just understand that you may not have sufficient time to focus on all of these activities without neglecting other aspects of life. Nevertheless, you are the only one who can judge your capabilities, so if you feel that you can do it, then go right ahead; assuming that you aren’t a prodigy who devotes your life to extracurriculars and academics, I wouldn’t recommend it, but who knows? Just don’t overschedule yourself.
As an adult, let me tell you that you don’t have to have all AP sciences in HS. It is expected that you have at least one.HS should also be a time to do other activities like your dance. You may or may not be able to dance in college and beyond. Think about what you are going to major in…if Engineering, make sure to take AP Physics and AP Chem over the next couple of years. IF CHem or Bio, take AP Chem/Bio. No need to take all 3 if you have to do two at time.
You shouldn’t take AP Bio and AP Chem together. For top colleges, you’ll be expected to have bio, chem, and physics + 1 AP. If you’re really into it, 2 science APs, so, one junior year and one senior year, would be plenty.
what strikes me is this:
It looks positively manic. You’re a competitive dancer. That’s your # 1 activity. You’re involved in public life, mock trial +student council&Class council, so, having both makes sense. Everything else needs to be looked at and some of this needs to be cut. Yearbook, Key Club, and Cheer are likely to be the easiest to cut to form a cohesive narrative. Or keep Drama, cut councils. look at everything and figure out what “goes together” and what doesn’t. If you’re an overachiever, make sure to schedule some down time/empty time to think, daydream, “stop”. It’ll help later when your schedule will no longer be externally constructed.
Sorry, I worded that weirdly, I switched physics for bio so that was the two are easier to take together. And I called the forensic class AP for the sake of making it easier and for you to understand the course load but it is actually a dual credit class with Syracuse but it is weighted as an AP at my school.