How big of a challenge will this be?

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

<p>The time has come to choose my senior schedule, and I’m considering taking a lot of AP courses. Here’s the schedule that I plan to take:</p>

<p>AP English Literature
AP Calculus BC
AP Physics B
AP Government/AP Economics
AP Biology
AP Chemistry
ISM
Band</p>

<p>I was wondering if that might be too much of a workload. Band necessitates mandatory afterschool practice every day until 6:30 in the fall semester, and full-day competitions every Saturday in October. ISM (Independent Study & Mentorship) also requires a lot of out-of-school time commitment. I’m also worried about Calc BC and Chem, as I’ve heard that both those classes are hard. Math isn’t my stronger subject, but apparently at my school it’s expected for seniors to take BC in lieu of AB (AB is considered the easier, “GPA booster” class).</p>

<p>In contrast, my junior year is very light and has been relatively easy. The classes I took junior year:</p>

<p>AP Language - A
AP US History - A
Honors Physics - A+
Honors Precalculus - A+
Honors Spanish III - A+
Health Science Tech II - A+
Band -A+</p>

<p>Based on those grades, how well do you think I could handle my planned senior schedule?</p>

2

<p>I think it will be a struggle. For what it’s worth, I took 6 AP courses throughout the course of all four years of high school and got into an Ivy. Colleges want to see that you’re challenging yourself, but that won’t negate the impression a poor GPA will make if you struggle balancing the workload (as anyone would!)</p>