I have interests in a ton of things, and far too many classes to cram into 4 8-period years of high school. So I’ve tried planning out an external class and after school class schedule, and I’m worried about the workload. Classes taken over the summer count towards the previous school year (course between frosh-soph year count as freshman year)
Freshman: didn’t know you could take any after school, so I didn’t sign up. Thinking of AP Macro/Micro (or college level, whichever is more rigorous) externally, and it’s not offered in school. The external classes are taken over the summer, except for senior year.
Sophomore: Econ class required by the school to graduate after school
College level Environmental Science externally (and AP exam)
Junior: AP World after school. Worried about this one. I’m takinng Euro as a sophomore, and my teacher is supposed to be super hard, so I think I’ll be prepared. I’m planning on taking APUSH in school as well.
College level Psychology externally (and exam)
Senior: AP French after school. Love the language, but have trouble with the teacher/class.
College level Human Geography externally. There’s really no point in taking it between college and senior year.
Crap. Totally forgot about that. Am I stretching myself too thin, especially junior and senior year? Should I change it after taking a few courses and seeing if I’m that interested in social sciences or some other subject, especially with hard courses like APUSH and Euro? I don’t want to seem too scattered, even though I don’t know what I want to major in.
Are you stretching yourself too thin by taking courses over the summer and/or after school? No, not necessarily. However, if your academic year schedule has AP World and APUSH in the same year, I would shift one to another year; both are time-consuming classes.
I would also caution you, depending on what colleges you are targeting for applying (i.e. any in the top 100), you really need to plan on doing something during the summer and after school other than just taking classes.
You’ll really need to spin that differently on your college applications. Taking AP French outside of school to avoid the teacher in school will not be highly perceived.
Most people don’t. Even in college, many people will change their major at least once. Relax.
@skieurope I have EC’s and plans for other stuff, which is why I want to know if I’m stretching myself out. The after school course is still through the school with an online teacher, and I’m likely going to tell colleges that I’m taking French virtually to make space for other classes.
I was worried about World, and I agree that I should move it elsewhere, but I don’t know where. All my external classes are external so I don’t take AP. The college level classes are typically more rigorous to a certain extent, so I want to take them to learn more than what’s necessary for the stereotypically ‘easy’ exam. I JUST found out that the required course might be able to be sibstituted by Macro/Micro, so I’m thinking of registering for either World, Macro/Micro, or maybe Comp. (or US) Gov and Politics (if allowed), then adjusting accordingly. What do you think? Is either Gov an ‘easy’ class?
Dropping the soph after school would mean Micro/Macro externally (not offered after school), and World along with Euro or one Gov class, which is also worrying. AP Bio or perhaps Stat after school for Junior year.
Both are.
Personally, I would not pursue world. Many top colleges are going to limit AP history credit, so it’s unlikely to get you anything from that perspective. If there is truly an aspect of world history that you want to learn more about, read a book.
I was originally on the fence about World, especially since it’s on the ‘most rigorous list’ at my school, along with both Gov classes. I also really enjoy history and took a college major aptitude test online and found history and related subjects were all my top choices (however unreliable it is).
I do dislike essays though. And I admit, I wouldn’t give a second glance to history classes if it weren’t for that online quiz… If not World or Gov, what about AP/college level Stat, Comp Sci, or Art History?
I have nothing against balancing out a schedule with an “easier” class. I only cautioned against taking APUSH and APWH at the same time because they are both rigorous classes, and it is likely that both will have major assessments/papers due around the same time. And the original purpose of your post was to ask if you would be overwhelmed.
If you have an interest in gov, take gov. If you have an interest in stat, take that instead. There will come a point, and it seems that is where you are at, where the amount of classes you want to take exceeds that spots available. In such a case, cross off the ones that are least appealing to you.