Junior Year Schedule

Applying to College
1

Okay for some context:
I’m currently a rising junior starting school soon so before hand i’m editing my schedule.

I have numbered my schedule choices down to two:

  1. Precalc
  2. ap calc ab
  3. ap research
  4. APUSH
  5. Ap Chem
  6. Advs Leadership (no choice)

or

  1. Precalc
  2. AP Calc AB
  3. APUSH
  4. AP Physics 1
  5. AP Chem
  6. Advanced Leadership (no choice)

Ap physics 1 is the highest my school offers and ap calc ab is the highest math my school offers, ive taken 4 other AP’s, out of which, ive failed 1, chose not to take 1, and got 3’s on the other two (ap world and sem) but i never studied for other and got A’s across each of these classes.

My dream school is stanford (uc berkeley or ucla would be nice to though…) and i’m aiming for a 1500+ SAT and will probably end up applying with a 3.8 GPA.

I have a highly selective national program based on engineering as my highest ec.

I do a ton of involvement in my community through DEI representation and being an officer on our city’s youth advisory board.

I am also in a non profit that helps provide for kids from my own country (i’m east african)

…With all this in mind… which schedule should i chose?

2

Where are your English and foreign language classes?

And how are you taking both pre calc and calc at the same time? Isn’t pre calc a prerequisite for calc?

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3

this is ap calc ab, so for me precalc is not really that needed and precalc isn’t a required prerequisite at some schools like mine but in my area i cant graduate without taking it.

I’ve taken up to spanish 3 for foreign language but I speak a second language myself and plan to take the world language test this year.

4

I took Ap Sem this last year and eng 2 freshman year

5

Although you answered this question, I think adding in these would make for a stronger junior year schedule.

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6

Competitive schools expect to see four years of all core classes. Does your school offer AP language and AP lit? If so, I’d take pre calc and take one of the English classes and save AP calc for senior year. I also think a 4th year of foreign language would service you well instead of doubling up on science.

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7

What are your thoughts on ap research and the capstone diploma? Theres a good chance that I won’t have space to put ap lang or ap lit in my schedule and that’s why I haven’t so far.

8

To echo @momofboiler1, schools like the ones you are targeting definitely expect to see English every year, and would prefer to see four years of all of your core classes.

They can be flexible about fewer years of foreign language… IF you’ve already reached the 4th-5th year level. Stanford gives an example of this on their academic preparation info page so you can get a sense of how they view this,

For example, if you complete the most advanced level of a world language offered by your school as a sophomore, it is not necessary to take additional world language classes your junior and senior year.

I can see from your schedule that you’d like to focus more on certain STEM areas, and that’s understandable when you have an interest. But it’s best to cover the core classes first. Then fill in with additional depth where you can.

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9

You should take AB Senior year and pre calc this.

I would go with the “or more” in the below at the bottom of this post They use three so they give themselves flexibility for someone they really want - like an athlete. This is Stanford’s requirements btw.

Seminar and Research are great if you can fit them. Not considered the most rigorous for some students, hugely impactful and Research helps in college.

You are very accomplished but your lack of top success on APs will hurt you at Stanford. You must report your scores and then they’ll wonder why you took some but not others. UCB will not see your SAT.

Not trying to be a downer - just preparing you for reality.

Take four of each class, hit the UC A-G (fine arts) and if avail, AP Capstone.

Math each year so don’t double up.

Good luck.

Recommended High School Curriculum

We do not have a set of required courses for admission to Stanford. However, we have found that a curriculum like the one below offers comprehensive preparation for the academic rigors at Stanford.

  • English: four years, with significant emphasis on writing and literature.
  • Mathematics: four years of rigorous mathematics incorporating a solid grounding in fundamental skills (algebra, geometry, trigonometry). We also welcome additional mathematical preparation, including calculus and statistics.
  • History/Social Studies: three or more years, with courses that include the writing of essays.
  • Science: three or more years of science (some examples include biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, human anatomy, and environmental science).
  • World Language: three or more years of the same world language.
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10

I was wondering the same thing.

You need to be very, very, very careful about doing this. Calculus depends a great deal on its prerequisites, including precalculus (and high school algebra and trigonometry). I have consistently heard that students who are weak at ANY of the prerequisites, or skip any of the prerequisites, can in some cases find calculus to be very difficult and struggle badly. In contrast, students who are very strong on ALL of the prerequisites often find calculus to be quite straightforward. I was in the latter group, but I didn’t take calculus until my freshman year of university. That did not stop me from graduating with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics (from MIT).

Also, the only students who could possibly get away with taking calculus at the same time as precalculus would be students who are VERY strong at mathematics. However, these are exactly the same students who are very likely to use calculus a lot in future classes. There are a lot of other subjects that depend upon calculus. Calculus is something that it is worth taking the time and pacing yourself in order to learn it very well.

I would be very, very cautious about taking calculus until after you have completed precalculus. At a minimum you might want to talk to your math teacher (whether from last year or from next year) and see what they think of the idea.

Personally I would drop calculus from the schedule (but take it a year later) and add either English or some other language.

You don’t get to Stanford or UC Berkeley by jumping ahead and struggling. You get to top schools by taking classes that you are ready to take, and getting high A’s in them.

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11

Those don’t count as anything. AP Research is nice as an elective in addition to an English class. The capstone diploma is of no importance in college admissions.
Replace AP research with AP Lang if it’s possible.
Take precalculus honors this year and calculus senior year.
Also, do not take AP Physics and AP chemistry the same year - AP Chem is one the hardest science classes with Physics C and is best kept for senior year.
The fact you’ve had 3s on the exams shows you need to work on mastering content&skills.
If you can take an external world language test (like DELF or Goethe Institute tests) in addition to completing Spanish 3, you’re good on that account.

As a result, I would recommend this schedule
Precalc honors or AP Precalc
AP Lang
APUSH
AP Physics1
Advs Leadership (no choice)
+1 class reflecting your academic interests
(You could also take AP African Studies if your school offers it, as a way to reinforce with academics what is a strong EC.

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12

Look up the courses onthe UC Doorways web site. Likely AP Seminar but not AP Research counts as English for UCs and CSUs.

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13

… and whose high schools’ algebra 1, algebra 2, and geometry courses are accelerated to cover the precalculus content so that students are ready for calculus.

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