How Do I Pick the Right Courses for Next Year?
How Do I Pick the Right Courses for Next Year?
The first semester is wrapping up– good luck on those midterms!-- and now you have a meeting scheduled with your guidance counselor to select next year’s classes. But how do you know what to choose?? Is there a magical number of AP classes? Is it better to take harder classes and get lower grades or easier classes and get higher grades? How many classes do you really have to take senior year? And is Calculus really necessary?
Is it Better to Take Harder Classes and Get Worse Grades or Go for the Easy A?
The way colleges look at your performance is to measure to what extent you have taken advantage of the resources at your disposal and how well you have performed with them. If your aim is to get into one of the most selective schools in the country, then you need to take the hardest classes available across the board and excel in them.
How Many AP Classes Do I Need to Have?
If you are in the group of kids trying to graduate at the top of your class, you might need to take 7-8 AP courses or earn the HL IB diploma, or get As in all honors classes. What you need to do all depends on what is available at your school. If, on the other hand, your goals are different, then you may adjust and take less challenging coursework in certain areas and push harder in other areas that interest you more.
Pick the Right Classes, not Just the “Hardest” Ones: Grades and Courses Go Together Like Peanut Butter & Jelly
Yes, getting As matters to colleges, but don’t forget to choose courses that make sense for your future goals. In addition to your high school’s graduation requirements, plan ahead to fit in the coursework that is most important for your path:
If you plan to major in engineering, you will be most competitive if you have had AP (BC) Calculus and for some programs, AP Physics and AP Chemistry
If you are dropping typical courses (e.g. foreign language) or taking less competitive coursework in one area to save your sanity/GPA (e.g. dropping down from Honors Algebra II), up your competitiveness in your areas of strength (e.g. take AP Language instead of an honors level ELA course)
If you have a special interest, take the coursework available-- AP Computer Science if you want to be a programmer, CAD and Architecture if you plan to major in architecture, AP Studio Art for the visual artist-- maximize your option set to show your interest/skill in your chosen field
How Do Colleges Calculate GPA?
This is one of the most opaque aspects of college admissions, but it doesn’t have to be if you keep the above discussion in mind. The bottom line is that colleges take your high school GPA and re-calculate it on their own scale. So don’t worry if your private school doesn’t weigh grades or if your high school is on a scale of 6 not 5.
Colleges Consider Your Grades in Light of Your Coursework, and They Also Sort Students Based on Raw Numbers
Think about your grades in two ways: how am I doing in terms of an absolute scale (x/100 or x/4.0), and how am I doing compared to my classmates? For example, it’s not as good to get a B in AP Chemistry as an A (some kids from other schools will have an A), but if the highest grade for your whole class was a B, a college sees that too. In other words, many colleges are assessing your performance compared to that of all students applying and also measuring you explicitly against the other students in your school who have applied. That’s right, some schools will have your file lined up right next to the files of your classmates.
Follow These Tips to Look Your Best for Colleges:
Don’t let your GPA get torpedoed by one bad class (or more)
Taking the most challenging coursework is great, but don’t take all APs if that is going to put a line of Bs or Cs down your transcript
Drop down a level in a class if it is really destroying you. During virtual/hybrid schooling, GPAs were especially susceptible
Here are some Tips for Coursework Selection in Your Junior and Senior Year:
Calculus on the transcript has become a litmus test for many highly selective schools, whatever your major.
Watch for strict academic requirements with big public education systems like those in California, Texas, and Florida. The ELA class your high school approves for graduation, e.g. Journalism, may not fit a large state system’s requirements.
Many schools recommend three years of foreign language (and highly selective schools often want to see you take the highest level of language offered in your school, as shown in your school’s profile).
Reach out anytime to schedule a free consultation with Christina to address all your questions about testing and admissions.
