@dsi411 I feel the same way looking back at math club in middle school. There was collaboration and adoration of math and a bunch of cross-grade interaction-- math club is how I got to know all of the kids I’m in Calc with right now. We focused on Mathcounts prep which actually turned out interestingly well considering that there wasn’t much in the way of intense training.
@Faultystart we read Dracula this year. What do you think of it? It was great at first, but the middle lost my interest and the end was rushed and didn’t do the book justice, in my opinion.
@petitlion I enjoyed the beginning a lot, but the middle part, where I am now, doesn’t hold my interest much. Hopefully it becomes more interesting towards the end.
@Faultystart I read Dracula a few months ago! The beginning was good, but it slowed down near the middle. It had a good climax despite the VERY anticlimatic ending (in my personal opinion).
I don’t even know if my school has a math club, which is weird, considering the level of geekiness at my school and the fact that we have approximately 100 clubs. According to my math teacher, it’s in the stages of rebuilding. But I liked my middle school’s math club a thousand times better–you didn’t have to be one of those crazy-smart-I-qualified-for-the-AIME-in-eighth-grade people to be there. A lot of academic shaming goes on at my school in the “smart” clubs. When trying out for Science Bowl, I often felt like I didn’t belong there and I wasn’t smart enough for it.
@topaz1116 See, that’s my problem with my school’s math club. Everyone I know is in the most advancd math class for their grade, and I’m in the regular class. I feel like I’m not good enough at math to join.
Science is a different story though…
At my school, it’s not enough to be in the advanced math class–that’s expected if you’re joining an advanced math/science club. You have to be some sort of genius to excel–the science bowl captain this year, for example, has qualified for the USAPhO camp twice and made the traveling team once. Another girl on the team got a 800 on her Bio SAT in seventh grade. A third can do calculus (or really any math) in his head in two seconds.
I tried joining science olympiad at my school. I went to the first meeting but it was very intimidating because everyone already knew each other and I knew nothing about the club. There were probably around 50 or more people there and I just sat in a corner (well, a lab station) by myself and decided never to come again. And that’s why I can never do any extracurriculars.
But at least I don’t go to one of those really competitive schools in the Bay Area.
@topaz1116 Well, I’m pretty sure my school is not as big as yours (and probably not as competitive).
@dsi411 Yeah, that’s how I felt joining my Science Olympiad team. I was one of three sophomores, and none of the other sophomores show up to meetings. I didn’t know anyone’s names either (now I know maybe one or two?).
@dsi411 ha. Hahahahaha. HAHAHAHA. (you want competitive? come to my school.)
I was actually really scared to go to the first meeting of the combined SciBowl, SciOly, Quiz Bowl, Ocean Science Bowl, and History Bowl club (we have one for it all). I didn’t go at all freshman year, and this year, I was super-scared, but once I got inside it wasn’t that bad.
I wanted to join Science Olympiad, but I couldn’t because I have a Winterguard competition on the day of regionals D: It would have required a very, very specific combination of events (and none of the ones I wanted) for me to even have a chance at attending both, so I decided against it. We’ve got, like, three SciOly teams though.
@topaz1116 My school doesn’t even have that many competitive academic teams! (I think there is Science Olympiad, Academic team, and stuff like Mock Trial and MUN. We may have a competitive math team too?) I wish we had that many though, but there are only like 250 kids in 9-12. We’re trying to get two Science Olympiad teams together. Not many people are strongly committed though.
Got my tentative junior year schedule today.
IB English HL
IB Math HL
IB Latin SL
IB Economics SL (doubles as AP Macro for junior year)
IB History of the Americas HL (doubles as APUSH for junior year)
IB Chem SL (doubles as AP Chem for junior year)
Yeah, my school is weird. Instead of just calling the IB classes by what they really are, they technically place us in AP Chem, USH, and Macro for junior year. I guess it’s better that way, as more colleges will give credit for the AP exams than the IB exams.
Nice. My schedule is
AP English Lang
AP Environmental Science
AP Calc BC (2 periods)
AP US History
Business Law
Spanish 3
Lunch
Gym/ Personal Finance Concepts (1 semester each)
APUSH and APES are a joke at my school. Hopefully my workload won’t be too bad
@folkiestcat My school does the same thing. They combine AP and IB so you can get credit for both if you want.
@tigerman333 you’re lucky that they are. At my school, they’re two of the hardest courses (but then, we have a lot of very difficult courses; this list consists of: APUSH, AP Lit, AP Chemistry, APES, Spanish 4, French 4, AP Spanish, AP French, and both AP Physics courses; many other courses are very difficult if you get the wrong teacher).
@Faultystart that sucks D: We also have Speech, Debate, MUN, DECA (our school has one of the best DECA programs in California, with over 150 students), and I think a Mock Trial club was started recently? But most non-competitive clubs at my school are jokes and don’t really do anything–people just start them for college apps.
My schedule for next year will probably be:
Honors English 11 (tear no AP Lang offered at my school)
AP Physics 1
AP Chemistry
AP Calculus BC
US History (ain’t nobody got time for APUSH)
Journalism (if I get in; our school newspaper is super-prestigious) OR Spanish 4 (DE credit)
Marching Band (but it’s only first semester and it’s the reason I’m not taking APUSH)
@topaz1116 Your schedule looks great! I wish my school offered AP Physics 1 but no, we only offer AP Physics C (both parts) so I have to wait until senior year. I hope you get into Journalism!
My schedule next year will probably be:
English 11 Honors (no AP Language…)
AP Chemistry
Either Precalculus Honors or AP Calculus BC. I’m trying to take Precalculus over the summer.
Anatomy and Physiology
AP United States History (maybe regular, since I’ve heard that regular prepares you just as well of the AP exam)
AP Spanish Language
Programming I/II (semester courses)
Thanks, sciences for being the classes I enjoy the most, yet meet 6 times in 10 days (1 more than normal).
This is my third time trying to get into Programming I…
I’ve never been so happy for my school’s do a sport and get P.E. credit thing.
I keep wanting to plan out my schedule for junior year but I never have time after I’m done with my homework. Maybe if I didn’t spend so much time on the Internet I’d be able to…
Tentative schedule for next year:
Analysis H
World Classics H/Classical Mythology (English)
US History (not AP)
AP Chem
AP Compsci
AP Stat
AP Spanish Language
Senior Year:
AP BC Calc
AP Physics C
AP Bio (2 science classes?)
AP English Lit
AP Econ (micro and macro in 1 class)
This is tentative; parents in my district are screaming for an AP cap to “reduce stress” (imo it will increase frustration and stress among us honor students).
My tentative schedule for next year:
AP English Lang
AP Bio
APUSH
AP Spanish Lang (maybe…I don’t know what other class I would take if I didn’t take this)
Honors Pre-Calc
Intro to Computer Programming (Even though I already have experience…my school doesn’t offer AP Comp Sci, sadly 
)
Choir
I don’t really want to take AP Spanish anymore, but like I said above, my school doesn’t offer a wide variety of electives, so there’s nothing else that I want to take. And I don’t want to be a TA or have a free period or anything like that. It’s a difficult decision.
I wish I didn’t have to write an actual LETTER OF INTENT to apply for AP/Honors classes!
Lax season started for me… 3.5 hours of practice per day now