officially registered to volunteer at the hospital this summer… so excited and nervous!!
@picuberoot at most colleges, you don’t declare your major until the end of sophomore year, so technically wouldn’t that be four years?
@pseudoprimal yeah I guess, but right now I don’t even know what school in a college to apply to because I’m so indecisive… It’s like I don’t even know what general career field I want to be in.
@picuberoot I have the same problem. Plus many of the colleges on my lists are UCs, where it’s hell changing majors, let alone colleges (especially if I want to transfer from, like, Letters and Science to Engineering or something).
Ugh I really want to take APUSH but I can’t because my schedule would be too time-consuming then D: And there’s nowhere else I could cut down on. And my parents don’t want me to take APUSH because it didn’t go well for my sister (who wasn’t really a humanities-inclined person).
lol, I don’t plan on taking APUSH at all
Hey I know a lot of you have experience with applying to summer programs, and I have a few questions regarding the teacher recommendations. I want to apply to this small one-week program and it says that I need a recommendation letter. It doesn’t give a form or any kind of outline for the teacher. Is that normal or should I email for more clarification. Also should the teacher mail the letter directly to the program or do I just include it with my transcript etc?
Hey guys! An issue has been eating at me for a while and I can’t wrap my head around it 
I know we all have different schools with different policies, but it would still help to know what everyone’s take is…
Two students vying for valedictorian.
Which is better: 7 AP’s or full-time dual enrollment (full-time dual enrollment is usually 4 classes).
Assume they receive A’s in all their courses.
What do you guys think, based on what you know about each one and how your school weights it? 
@SallyStephens are you just asking about it in terms of class rank or in general as well?
@SallyStephens Ok so I actually go to a Dual-Enrollment School (HS + CC) so here’s my take:
At my school, AP and Dual-Enrollment is weighted the same. Also due to the fact that everyone is in all dual enrolled classes by junior and senior year, they only offer like 4 AP’s. However college courses (depending on where you take them, mine is at the local community college) are usually MUCH easier than AP’s. There’s still a bunch of work and worrying but it’s easier to keep your grade up and often the professor’s offer extra credit. However I personally feel like AP’s would probably be valued higher than dual-enrolled classes at colleges, especially private colleges. Unless you plan on going to a public state school, those dual credits will be absolutely useless.
One question: Why only 4 classes? At my school, the minimum is 5 classes and for some inane reason, I’m taking 7. Of course I suppose it makes sense if every single one of your classes is double blocked (in the sense that you have the class everyday rather than MW or TTH) .
@pseudoprimal I mean mostly in terms of class rank but in general as well
@themarauders My school offers 21 AP courses. You’re right about college classes being easier probably because AP has tons more work like textbook reading notes, quizzes, projects, participation, psychotic teachers, and lots of assignments, and then that big AP Exam in the end that determines if our AP will even count… But at the same time dual enrollment could be hard like that, too.
By 4 classes, I mean in my county or district or whatever, full time dual enrolling means taking 4 college classes and then the day is finished.
Full-time AP is just 7 periods, 7 AP’s each.
I’m asking, class-rank and GPA-wise, would 7 AP’s prevail over a full-time dual enrollment. The way my school weights dual enrollment is strange.
A year long college class is 5.0 the first semester and 4.5 the second, so it averages out to less than 5.0
A year long AP is solid 5.0 the whole year.
A semester long AP is 2.5 and a semester long dual enrollment is 2.5+1
My school doesn’t offer a semester long AP though… and when it comes to credit number, too many credits could make the AP’s you take not count as much after a while…
So with that info, what do you guys think
@SallyStephens in my state, if kids take dual enrollment classes their high school has to count it in their gpa the was AP classes are weighted. Pretty straightforward.
If AP classes are weighted more (5.0) than dual enrollment (~4.75) over the whole year and both people got identical grades, the APs would come out ahead. Additionally, if one class slips, that matters a lot less if you’re taking seven courses than four. Of course, this metric only takes into account one year and not cumulative gpa, but the point still stands.
Colleges will most likely not look at the two too differently with the exception, perhaps, of taking dual enrollment courses offered at higher levels than the high school goes-- but don’t quote me on this.
I’d say to do AP courses, since you can go over more subjects. I took a CC class last summer, and they generally aren’t very rigorous (aka I dropped out of my second one because it was too easy and it was a waste of my time). The only time they’re really good is math; CC courses, as a general thing, don’t go to very high levels, as you’re expected to transfer.
Unless you can keep high grades (i.e. 98-100) in your dual credit classes, it looks like ap courses would be better.
Yeah it makes sense for AP to be better looking on the transcript. And as for gpa/rank purposes, thanks for your feedback!!! I am seeing how AP would probably come out on top over a dual enrollment schedule…
I would be cautious about taking it too far-- I think there are definitely situations where dual enrollment could be better-- but your situation seems to be amenable to the AP route.
We had a debate in English on Antigone today, and I was one of the speakers for my side; it was the first time I’ve actually debated in two years and it was GREAT. I actually managed to do pretty well, although I assume the other side one–they had much better speakers (including a girl who is basically the goddess of debate or anything public-speaking related). One of the kids who spoke for our side hadn’t even read the play; we chose him because he’s generally pretty good at debate, but he didn’t want to do it for that reason.
Reminded me how much I love debate.
Ugh, we have to do this debate thingy in AP Lang tomorrow. We’re in a group of three and we’ll be debating another group of three. I’m the only one in my group that really did research, but the other two people in my group are way better at presenting and stuff. So I hope they researched tonight so we can do well.
When we met in our groups, we had to choose one person to do context; all they’d have to do is give some background on the issue and they wouldn’t have to do much else. I wanted to be that person but another guy in my group said it before me. (Not that I would have said it anyways). So now I’m stuck with having to debate. When I didn’t get the part of context I said very quietly “but I’m not very good at arguing.” I didn’t expect anyone to hear but then a guy in my group said “don’t worry (my name) I’m not that good at it either,” or something to that effect. Ha ha. He’ll see. I can guarantee that he’s much better than I am.
@dsi411 Well, good luck tomorrow! What’s the debate topic?
Our group’s topic is whether Citizens United should be repealed. Citizens United allows unlimited amounts of money to be donated to a political campaign. We ran out of time so I didn’t have to go today, so I get an extra day to prepare. Yay!