@kristennl99 I think you can do it. Last year, I did martial arts and tennis at the same time for the fall season, and even though my grades dropped, only two were still borderline A/A- with the rest being A’s (I was taking 6 honors and 1 AP class). The main problem I had during that time was having energy. As long as you still have the energy to do homework and stay awake in class, I think you can manage.
I signed up to take 6 AP’s this year but now I am having second thoughts!! Any tips or suggestions?
@Tobster18 Are you doing any extracurriculars that take up a lot of time? Have you taken the SAT/ACT? Which APs did you sign up for?
AP Physics 1, AP Chem, AP Calc AB, AP Lang, AP US, AP Pysch. I do marching band, play golf, in bunch of clubs, I also do lots of community service, currently doing research. I have not taken any SAT’s yet. I also have a job.
Are any of you guys planning to continue your jobs in school year as well?
@Tobster18 I feel like doubling up on sciences isn’t a great idea, considering all of your other work. Unless you really want to take it, I would also drop AP Pysch.
@nyuhopeful44 I’m not sure. I get a lot of eggs but I am not sure how it compares to everyone else. I chose Instinct because my friend and I wanted to be underdogs lol.
All signed up for the September ACT
@Tobster18 It will be possible to take all of those APs and stay involved in your ECs, but you will need good time management skills. I am also taking six APs and I have some time-consuming ECs.
@kristennl99 I say you should be fine, however, I’d also say to schedule your day pretty well too. One thing I would say to do is try and actually schedule/plan your days out once school starts. I understand your hesitation very well. I was on my school’s outdoor track team during the spring and at times found being a student-athlete a very challenging thing to do. However, this was a good thing, something I didn’t expect would happen through athletics.
Outdoor track took place during most of the third quarter at my school. During that time, I wouldn’t get home until about either 4:30pm, on days my dad could pick me up, or 6:00pm, when I had I take the activity school bus home. I fondly remember those days when I would stay in school until the buses came, hung out with friends, and come back home at 6pm. However, the problem was that after I got home, I would go straight to bed and usually wouldn’t wake up until about 1am, 3 and half hours before I had to wake up for school. I would usually get my homework done during this time, but it became a problem later in the year. I became really sleepy and sometimes wouldn’t wake up until 4am, giving me not time to do my homework.
However, my solution to the problem was simple. During the time between 1am and 4:30am, I sometimes wouldn’t use my time efficiently, so after a few times, I eventually did. Towards the end of the year, I started to do some of my homework during lunch and during any free time I had.
This was just a little story I wanted to share. I kind of went off-track, though. The point was that while third quarter was challenging due to my athletic commitments, it was also my best quarter. That quarter, I had 5 As and 2 B+, the highest my grades were last year. Overall, you might have a few mental breakdowns along the way, but being a student-athlete requires great time management skills. It will definitely take some time practice to master these skills, I’m still trying, but you should figure out what works for you. GOOD LUCK (to the both of us)! :))
@apple1893 Meanwhile, I’m over here, with my data-less self, on level 3! :))
@LeopardFire I’ve noticed that too. It’s either Mystic or Valor. I really do laugh at the amount of hate The Valor Team gets. My Mystic friends all call them “The Sour Valors” :))
@fuzzypolarbears I don’t have any data, so I’m just using Wi-Fi, when I’m able to.
@kristennl99 I agree with @oPhilippos !
@Tobster18 I agree with @LeopardFire I would personally to just drop one (potentially AP Physics 1 or AP Chemistry) and focus that time on a EC. One tip that I learned from my 8th grade science teacher, who had a child attend Virginia Tech, is that while a lot of clubs look good on your application, so do sports. I believe that sports teaches something that you can’t really be taught that well anywhere else. It teaches teamwork, perseverance, and much more. Think of sports as another class. I think many colleges, especially Ivies, like to see sports when your applying. The difference between sports and clubs is that sports will actually push your to, and beyond, your limits. It presents a level of rigor not on a academic level, but on a physical level. If your brain was hurting after a Calculus lesson, try seeing how much your brain, let alone your whole body, after running two miles.
I would say to try and consider doing a sport next year, if you have the time. It will not only help your application, but will teach you things you can’t learn in a classroom.
I also agree with @TP2000, but that’s only if you have SUPERB time management skills!
@ak2018 Oh I see, yeah I’ll have to stick with wifi soon too.
@Tobster18 If you have awesome time management, you could probably do it. But if you feel uneasy, I would either drop one science or drop AP Psych
Everyone at my school takes the SAT for the first time in like March of junior year and my counselor wants me to do that too, but I want to do mine in December…I think everyone sticks to the same testing schedule cause I go to a small school.
So I just got an e-mail yesterday from my school’s Biotechnology program coordinator and this is what she said:
“Good Morning,
You can certainly count some of your Robotics Club hours towards your Biotech service hours. However, they cannot account for all 100 hours. You must have a total of four different sources for hours. You can read both book club books this summer and do the reports and that will give you 20 more hours. You can join the Biotech club and earn an hour for each meeting attended, and can also earn hours for other science club meetings attended. You do need two AP science courses and you are correct, Principles of Engineering will count as one. Please let me know if you have any other questions.”
This means that I will not have to take AP Physics 1 during my senior year, unless I want to. It also means that Principles of Engineering counts as my “second AP Science class”. In terms of BioTech Hours, I’ll easily be able to finish the last 80 hours through the science clubs at my school. I plan on joining: The BioTech Club, The Chemistry Club, The Robotics Robotics Club, The Environmental Science Club, The Math Honor Society and more.
So school is starting soon and I’m debating taking community college courses during the regular school year. I took two courses at my community college this summer, (Bio & Bio w/ Lab) but I’ve received mixed opinions about whether it’s smart to take additional community courses during the school year, because obviously during the summer you have more time to focus towards the courses since you don’t have a whole academic schedule to balance out. If I were to take them, I was thinking I would take Computer Science during the fall semester and Pre-Calc spring semester. This is my tentative junior schedule:
=weighted by UC/CSU
Honors Euro Literature
Honors Spanish 4*
Chemistry
AP Statistics*
APUSH*
Speech and Debate
ROP Business Internship for 3 hours after school Mondays/Wednesdays (fall semester)
ROP Medical Internship (same as above) but during spring semester
I wasn’t initially worried, but my parents & other people are worried that taking the additional college classes during the school year could affect my core classes in school. I’m not sure, I know people have done it & it’s doable but with the internships and volunteering I do after school now I’m not sure if it’s the best option. Keeping in mind each CC class is about 2 hours long, twice a week, after school, in addition to the 3 hours for the internship Tuesdays/Thursdays. The reason I want to take them is because I want the computer science experience, and I want to take Pre-Calc spring semester so I can take Calculus over the summer before senior year. I’m leaning towards taking them, but I would greatly appreciate other opinions esp from people who have done it before. Should I go for it?
@Tobster18 I wouldn’t recommend taking both an AP history and AP english class. At my school, kids usually drop one or the other because everyone is so busy (the highest number of APs a kid has taken in junior year at my school is 5 I think but the usual is 4 for the top students). Lots of them still get into top schools, so I’d say taking 6 is a bit extra tbh
@ak2018 oh my gosh thank you so much