<p>Ideally you should learn the material well and be able to use it going forward. There is the problem of wanting to look good on paper vs learning what is interesting, useful and what you love. You can learn trig on your own from a book (I never took precalc or a trig course - I just went straight into Calculus from Algebra 2). I just bought a few books and studied trig and precalc on my own. Just remember to do the exercises.</p>
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<p>That’s certainly more of what I would expect.</p>
<p>I think the real problem is that UD took a slacker schedule and hasn’t taken core courses. As I read his post, he only took 3 courses first semester of his junior year:</p>
<p>College Trig (at college)
Freshman Comp 1 (at college)
Intro to Psychology (at college)</p>
<p>That’s a light schedule. It would not be considered full time at the CUNY affiliated CCs here. None of them are classes that are advanced. It doesn’t help that the OP got a B in one of them. A 3.66 gpa at a local community college while taking only 3 courses just doesn’t strike me as something that’s going to impress college admissions officers.</p>
<p>Next semester (Still junior year): English Literature 1300-1800 Fundamentals of speech (or Political Science. Not sure yet.)
Precalculus Algebra
U.S. History (at high school)
AP Composition and Literature (online High school course)
Honors Chemistry (at high school)</p>
<p>That’s better.The OP will be taking 6 courses. However, there are definitely guts in there–Fundamentals of Speech? Intro poli sci? </p>
<p>There is no foreign language either semester. Was the OP advanced in foreign language? Has (s)he already taken the equivalent of 3 years of it? If so, did (s)he at least take the SAT II in it to have some proof of basic competency?</p>
<p>To me, every high school junior intending to attend college should be taking a serious English, math, science, social studies and foreign language course both semesters. The OP hasn’t done this. I think that’s a problem. </p>
<p>I think it’s a much bigger issue that whether (s)he took chem or US history as a sophomore or junior.</p>
<p>@Jonri, I had never meants to take a “slacker’s schedule” and had been trying to take classes that I thought would be interesting and somewhat difficult at the same time.</p>
<p>While I only took 3 courses first semester, I’m taking:
Honors Chemistry
AP Literature
U.S. History </p>
<p>These 3 classes are school year long and not one semester. In an entire school year, I’m taking 6 dual enrollment classes with 3 other courses that are a full school year long.</p>
<p>I honestly believe that to be what many other Junior year students’ schedules look like.</p>
<p>As for foreign language, I’ve always had an interest in learning Arabic, and decided to start this Junior year.</p>
<p>For foreign language, here’s what my courses look like:
Freshman year - Spanish 1
Sophomore year - Spanish 2
Junior year - Arabic 1
Senior Year - Arabic 2</p>
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<p>That is nowhere near a typical high school in the US. Only about 3% of high school students in the US take the AP calculus BC test (an additional about 8% take the AP calculus AB test, although there is some double-counting due to high schools with the two year calculus plan). Granted, perhaps a few more take the course without the test, but that is not the difference between 3% and 30% at the high school describe, which clearly qualifies as an academically elite one (at least in math) among US high schools.</p>
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<p>Except that there is no such requirement, unlike Chem 1, Bio, Physics, and Organic. </p>
<p>The revised mcat will test psycho-social concepts, but there is no requirement to take a college level course. (For all we know, the material tested will be no more rigorous than that of AP Psych.)</p>
<p>I cannot begin to tell you guys how much of a relief it’s been to know that the schedules and students SteveMA was talking about is not the norm. </p>
<p>But, as I posted this before:</p>
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<p>Any words of wisdom?</p>
<p>If the OP is interested in medical school, then the consequences of getting a non-A grade in any college course, including those taken while in high school, are significant, in that medical schools count all college courses when calculating GPAs.</p>
<p>Regarding the foreign language, you will have only completed level 2 (although in two different languages). Most of the more selective colleges prefer to see level 3 or 4 of high school foreign language, or equivalent proficiency based on college foreign language courses, SAT subject tests, or AP tests.</p>
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<p>Yes, I believe this is typical. </p>
<p>But at some larger universities, the physics majors and engineering majors will take physics courses that are even more rigorous than what the life sciences people take. </p>
<p>I don’t think that most colleges require life sciences majors to take physics courses that require more math than is in BC Calculus (or a one-year college calculus course). But physics and engineering majors might have to go beyond that level.</p>
<p>One of my nieces did what you want to do in getting into Amherst and she’s now in med school at an ivy. She went to a public high-school (not her own district) and finished with 10 APs - no dual-enrollment courses.</p>
<p>I don’t think three courses in one semester is a typical schedule for any student aiming for elite colleges. I would think most are taking 5 core courses: math, English, science, foreign language, and social science/history in addition to at least one elective. In addition, you might want to check to see if colleges want the foreign language to be three years of one language.</p>
<p>I agree with you, DE classes at real, 4-year universities should be considered more rigorous than AP.</p>
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<p>I don’t think the OP has clarified his/her entire schedule – including both high school and DE classes. </p>
<p>Also, I think it’s too restrictive to insist that all students must take one course in each of the five core areas each year. In my experience, toward the end of high school, some students may take five or more academic courses but not necessarily take one from each of the five groups, especially if they have finished the required courses in some areas. </p>
<p>For example, in our local school system, it is not unusual for students to drop their foreign language after level 4 or even level 3 and take extra science or social studies courses as their fifth academic subject for the remaining years of high school. Similarly, students who complete biology, chemistry, and physics but have no interest in taking an AP science will often take an extra academic course in another subject instead.</p>
<p>I agree with you, Marian. I think as long as students are taking 4-5 solid academic courses they are fine. It doesn’t have to be one from each area.</p>
<p>I give up. I can’t understand post 64. Before there was no foreign language. Now suddenly the OP is taking Arabic. You only took 3 courses; now you are taking other year long courses simultaneously.</p>
<p>Most top colleges require 3 years of the SAME foreign language. Most top colleges expect JUNIORS to take rigorous courses in all 5 core subjects UNLESS they have been advanced a level. So, yes, if you are sciency but started foreign language in junior high, then you might drop foreign language and double up on your strength. That student takes physics and AP bio. </p>
<p>It doesn’t matter what you “intended.” It’s your actual schedule that matters. From what I can figure out, yours looks like that of a bright kid who wants to transfer to state U and graduate two years after getting his high school diploma, probably as an English major.</p>
<p>Get some advice ASAP. Contact the dual BS/MD program in your state and see if you can get someone to talk to.The CC might have a pre-med adviser. Try talking to him/her.</p>
<p>re college credit for AP psych. Nobody should rely on this, obviously, but a brief google of the Ivies indicates:</p>
<p>No credit: Columbia, Dartmouth, Yale , Princeton</p>
<p>Credit: Brown (for advanced standing; doesn’t count towards courses needed for graduation); Cornell, Harvard (1/2 credit for a 5), Penn: waiver of psych 001 (i.e., advanced standing) </p>
<p>BU does give credit for a 4 or 5. (This is one of the BS?MD classes OP says he was interested in.)</p>
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<p>Pretty sure it is common for there to be a “physics for physics and engineering majors” sequence and a “physics for biology majors and pre-meds” sequence. If that is the case, then math will typically be used much more heavily in the former than the latter. Indeed, that may be the reason why the less-math “physics for biology majors and pre-meds” sequence exists; the math department may not have to capacity to double the number of seats in multivariable calculus needed for the “physics for physics and engineering majors” course that has E&M.</p>
<p>romanigypsyeyes–I don’t see that our schedule is any different than your schedule other than you have 6 periods/day and we have 7.</p>
<p>Your schedule:</p>
<p>Honors Chem or Honors Physics (didn’t offer AP for either IIRC… only AP Bio)
AP Calc AB
Language 4 (Spanish/German/French)
AP English Lit
AP World History
Elective</p>
<p>Our Schedule</p>
<p>vs Honors pre-calc
AP Chem
AP Lit
AP Euro/World
AP Spanish
Band
various electives depending on interest–our kids took a college planning class, a required PE class and something else that escapes me because I’m old and my memory is going (all trimester classes).</p>
<p>re college credit for AP Psych:</p>
<p>Unless it is extremely important for you to maximize the number of college credits you get from APs for financial reasons, why worry about this?</p>
<p>Many high school students who take AP Psychology consider it the most interesting course they ever took in high school. And it counts as one of the five academic courses you should be taking every year. So if you want to take it, take it. You can sort out the credit situation later. If you have to take an introductory psychology course in college, there will probably be enough non-overlapping material to make it interesting. In fact, the likely reason why some colleges don’t give credit for AP Psychology is that their own introductory psychology course is quite different. So you don’t lose anything by taking both courses.</p>
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<p>Okay, I apologize for any confusion I may have caused. Here is the breakdown of my current schedule:</p>
<p>Classes taken/will be taking this year for DE (the following list of classes are for both semesters junior year):
Intro to Psychology
Freshman Comp 1
Trigonometry
Fundamentals of speech
Precalculus Algebra
English Literature 1300-1800</p>
<p>The next list consists of the classes junior year that I’m taking both at my high school and online (through FLVS). The following courses are classes that are a full school year long just like ordinary high school:</p>
<p>U.S. History (at high school)
AP Composition and Literature (online High school course)
Honors Chemistry (at high school)
Arabic 1 </p>
<p>I apologize for not having written my foreign language class as I had not thought it would be very important in answering my question, and I had forgotten it in my original list of classes. I understand that the deviation from Spanish to Arabic junior year may hurt me, but at this point, I really don’t care. If I want to learn Arabic, then that’s what I’m going to do, and if an admission officer has a problem with that, then that’s just too damn bad…</p>