Hello and welcome to CC’s official High School Class of 2018 Thread. Here you can interact with other users who have the same high level of interest about school as you. Here, we talk about almost everything associated with school and our daily lives as well. During this time of the year, as I’ve seen so far, we’ve been talking about course selections for next year as well getting ready for junior year. We’ve also talked about school sports and clubs, current grades, internships, summer programs, scholarships, and so much more. Anything you can think of pertaining to school, specifically sophomore year centered, we’ve probably talked about it. This thread, as I’ve seen throughout the past three months, can also be used to talk about personal issues as well. The students on here a very supportive bunch and have helped me figure out problems as well as help me through some of the most stressful times during this year. So, this thread can also be used as a way to de-stress and relax. If you have any questions about anything pertaining to this thread, just reply. Hopefully, you’ll stay for the long haul all the way until graduation. I’ve been on this thread for a few months now and I’ve got to say, it can be pretty addicting. Hope you have a nice time on this thread. Virtual Handshake
@plantpig I was on CC for a year before I found this thread and I’m glad I did. It’s pretty great. I started studying for the SAT once school let out. You’ll definitely meet some interesting people on here. I also as won’t really be playing Pokémon Go as I don’t even have a data plan. All I do is call and text. I’d only be able to use Wi-Fi, which varies from place to place.
@Tobster18 Not to be discourage you, but that plan seems completely unrealistic and unnecessary. If you plan to go to Harvard, or any other Ivy League school, I would consider 10 - 12 APs to be the maximum, and necessary, value of APs. AP classes, while good to take, will eventually lose their “wow factor”, meaning, depending on which colleges you’re planning on applying, after you reach a certain number of APs, your AP classes won’t look as impressive. It’s kind of unnecessary because about half of the credits you’ll receive will likely not be used as credit towards your major. Also don’t take APs just to impress Harvard as they only make up one part of the admissions process. There will be people who will have done as little as no APs and still get in. Hope this helps. What APs are you planning on taking anyway, all 18 - 19?
@Tobster18 I agree with @ak2018 - 18-19 AP’s is very very very high. While it would certainly be impressive, I doubt you’d be able to keep up with all your classes, study for exams (AP as well as ACT and/or SAT), maintain balanced extracurricular and social activities, etc. without burning out. 10 AP’s or more is considered very rigorous, and it still allows you to keep the balance outlined above.
In other news, I got my AP scores back!! I got a 5 on both AP Bio and AP World
@Tobster18 To be blunt, that sounds like a really bad idea. That means you’d have to take 8 AP classes senior year (maybe 6 two-semester classes + 2 one-semester AP classes). Even if you’re very smart and hardworking, you’re just not going to have enough time in the day to get everything done. Your GPA will suffer. That’s not even including the time you’ll need to spend studying for AP exams and the SAT/ACT, participating in extracurriculars (very important if aiming for top colleges!), and applying to college. Plus, after about 12 APs, additional AP classes become less and less impressive. If you want to be extra competitive, I’d aim for 14-15 at most. I admire your ambition, but senior year comes with a number of other responsibilities and you’re just not going to have time for it all. Focus on maintaining your GPA and bettering yourself in other areas of your application, it’ll pay off.
Quite honestly how many APs you take loses its meaning after 8 or 9. More than that and you won’t have enough of a life to do adequate extracurricular and to be able to maintain a high GPA
I know a girl who took at least 15 APs including all the AP sciences graduated with a 4.0 UW and got rejected from Harvard and MIT. So, its not really a game about how many APs you take, your extracurriculars are more important.
I’ve been taking a practice ACT bc my scores on the practice SAT have been all over the place, and so far I got a 32 on english and 36 on math!! and I like the test a lot better.
I understand where you’re coming from, the only problem is my schedule is set for 6 AP’s next year (US History,Lang, Calc AB, Physics 1, Chemistry, Euro). My orginal plan for Senior was (AP Calc BC, AP Stat, AP Physcology, AP Computer Science A, AP US Gov AP Physics 2, AP Lit, AP Macroecon/Microencon its offered as 1 class but I will take both exams). But now I may drop Computer Science A, but I feel like since I am taking 6 junior year, they won’t like it if I take less my senior year (may look slack). The only thing is that AP Calc BC, and AP Physics 2 aren’t offered my school, so my guidance counselor has scheduled for me to attend a school that offers these courses for half of the day, and come back to my home school for second half of the school day. So I feel like Harvard and other Ivies will be impressed by this arrangement, because it mirrors my commitment to my education, right??
@Tobster18 If you feel like you can do it and mantian good grades than do it, just be aware that selective colleges like harvard put a much greater emphasis on extracurriculars once you’ve met their standard for test scores, gpa, and rigor.
That’s very true, I do a lot of EC activities. I am in many clubs, I’m doing research this year, I have 500+ community service hours, I got a grant to implant a garden at my school, I am working on making it district wide, so fingers crossed for Harvard2022??
Yeah I’m hoping to publish my research this year, I think it’s really good, I won’t say what it is for obvious reasons, but my dad is a professor and he thinks he can help me publish it
@Tobster18 Colleges will not see taking one less AP class junior year as slacking. Some colleges prefer quality (meaning taking the harder AP classes) over quantity (the number of AP classes) and vice versa. I would think Harvard would want you to challenge yourself by taking the harder APs rather than just taking so many unnecessary AP electives that will be irrelevant towards your intended major.
Also sorry to burst your bubble here, but many students do the arrangement, or one similar, that you describe. Heck, one of the people in this thread, @snowfairy137 , takes all of her (I’m pretty sure I just assumed his/her gender :)) ) classes at a community college. She’ll probably end up with a bunch of college credits and will probably be able to skip a lot of those freshmen introductory courses. I would think going to another school half way through the day might be a bit of a struggle for your parents, especially if they work, but if they have the time, then it’s fine. If you could drive yourself, even better. Overall, I would think many Harvard-bound students are probably doing a similar thing such as you described, so it probably wouldn’t be that special. Not trying to make you feel bad, it’s just that once you apply to Harvard, you’ll be up against kids who believe they have what it takes to get into one of the most competitive schools in the country. I mean, if Harvard had a first come-first serve open admissions policy, where all you would need to do is send in your college app and you’ll be automatically accepted until they run out of space, the school wouldn’t likely have the reputation it has now. Harvard, and most Ivy-League schools, get their reputation by accepting a low number of students who seem highly qualified. You know the deal.
Believe me, the fact that you have already completed 4 APs by junior year is pretty impressive, and I’m not doubting your work ethic. Just remember that APs are only part of your application!
True, I want to submit an application, that would be as good as any other Asian (no racism intended) that applied, rather than being given a “easier” chance just because I am black.
