<p>My school emphasizes strength of schedule. Does this schedule seem strong such as one that colleges would like? </p>
<p>103 - English 9
109C - Competitive Speech
113 - Creative Writing
203 - World History
305 - Algebra II
432 - Chemistry
514 - Spanish 2
604 - Religion 9
701 - Art I
808 - Health </p>
<p>Any suggestions (ie adding courses/dropping weak courses/changing courses)</p>
<p>Seems fine on the surface, but what the adcomms are looking for is whether you challenge yourself depending on what is offered at your school.</p>
<p>if you’re trying to impress colleges early on you might consider putting alot of honors & AP courses on your schedule depending on where you’re trying to go . if your school offers IB that’s a great program too .</p>
<p>Are any of those honors classes? That’s really what colleges look for.</p>
<p>Looks great to me. Most kids I know aren’t taking Chemistry or Algebra II until 10th grade.
Seems like a lot of classes–I assume some of them are only one semester?</p>
<p>A lot of times the student and guidance counselor work this out for the benefit of whatever the student’s goals are. Does your child’s school have adequate counseling? Is your son able to negotiate these things and advocate for himself within the school?</p>
<p>Generally an honors English, math, history, science and language work out well. Algebra 2 is advanced for a freshman.</p>
<p>Honestly, this schedule looks fine, and I hope your son is looking forward to the classes. It is great to look ahead, but I think worries about college can wait until junior year. It really helps to avoid that anxiety while the student enjoys the first part of high school and explores his interests.</p>
<p>5 courses per term isnt very much. Public schools here have 6 & private schools 7.</p>
<p>I’m guessing Art and Health are one semester? And maybe Speech and Creative Writing, too?</p>
<p>Yes. It’s 8 courses per semester. Art and competitive speech are electives in the fall while creative writing are elective courses in the spring. There don’t seem to be any honor classes offered for freshman which is slightly annoying. Do you think that creative writing is really essential, maybe taking a science elective would be more beneficial</p>
<p>Is math your best subject? If you are taking Algebra II in 9th grade, you are two grades ahead of the normal sequence.</p>
<p>If you like to write, or want to try it, take creative writing. If you love science, take science. Follow your interests, and even try to explore some things that you have not yet developed an interest in.</p>
<p>Colleges look at the whole picture and generally want to see that you have done things for authentic reasons, not just to “get in.” </p>
<p>That said, by all means cover the basic requirements for admission that are listed on the website. (But even those are flexible in certain circumstances.)</p>
<p>It really varies by school. In our school there are no 9th grade honors classes because theoretically they want kids to start with a clean slate. In practice 9th graders who are qualified for 10th grade level classes can take honors classes. So a typical freshman schedule (for someone aiming at top colleges eventually) looks like this:</p>
<p>9th grade English (no honors offered)
Global History Part 1 (no honors offered)
Honors chemistry
Honors Geometry
Language Level 2 (no honors offered)
Art elective (required by NYS for graduation)
PE (which alternates with a science lab)
Possibly one more art that meets zero period.</p>
<p>It’s not written in stone - my oldest took AP Comp Sci and an art elective and physics because there was a conflict with chemistry. My youngest took two orchestra classes.</p>
<p>The real question is whether you are taking the right prerequisites for future courses and/or courses that interest you now that you might want to explore in greater depth later, plus of course taking care of any pesky state requirements for graduation.</p>
<p>Six core courses plus two electives per semester is quite a lot. High school courses can be a big step up from grammar school studies - this schedule would have 4 hours of homework a night at my kids’ HS. Don’t set yourself up for failure and burnout. It’s better to take fewer classes (and even a study hall) and get A’s than a lot of classes with grades of B and lower.</p>