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So some of you guys may remember me crying about my schedule a month or so back...well I need to fucking vent because this is complete and total bullshit.
Basically I signed up for 3 AP sciences because I'm done with art/PE/language credits and I want to do science etc., was told that they would see if they could do it, and if not, they would work out choices. Ended up being kicked out of my first choice science (AP chem), now stuck with APES and AP Phys B (latter of which I do want to do very much).
I have 5 classes; h eng (no AP eng lang offered), APUSH, calc bc, AP Phys B, and APES. 6th class was going to be chem, but I'm missing it, so I walk in to request honors french lit. Well guess what? Not only do I only have 5 classes, they fucked up my schedule so that I don't even have a 1st period--as in, they arranged all of my classes so that none is offered 1st period, including french lit. I'm not accusing them of doing this out of spite or anything, supposed to be for the greater good of all the students, but not ONE of my potential classes is offered first period for some up reason....fuck...
So my only choice is literally to take a non-weighted bullshit class like PE or art AGAIN. I feel that I am completely qualified to take each class; I don't want to brag or wave my dick around (I've mentioned this before I think), but I believe that I am not completely talking out of my ass and/or unqualified for this, because I did score 2400 on the SAT I early in my sophomore year with the october SAT, maintained a 4.66 throughout the year (4.57 1st sem because of unweighted band, which I dropped because I didn't want an "A period"; i.e. the extra early period for us each day versus the normal 6 periods of even/odd block schedule), and have 96%+ everything etc. etc. etc. Did get only 700 french sat ii though so yeah, obviously I'm not amazingly interested in french even though the teacher is the nicest person ever and the class itself is fun...
I do not want to take Chem senior year because I will be taking Bio then, and I wanted at least to take 2 out of the 3 of AP bio/chem/physics (like bio least so leaving it for senior year). Views and perspectives can change a lot, but I want to major in chemE or EE, and leaving chem for later will rape my chances of the more prestigious summer programs in junior summer (summer following junior year), because the transcript only tells people that I pussied out and wanted to take an easy class even though I already have the credits filled...fuckfuckfuck...daskf;ljkjds;ioup423jak;lsf
They basically told me flat-out that I will not be getting 3 AP sciences for sure, which I'm find with to be honest, but then told me that every fucking AP was filled and basically that exceptions would be made over their dead bodies.....so my future could actually get raped pretty hard...
Any advice? Jesus, I could take a class at a community college and only have 5 classes here, but I want to be doing a lot of EC work outside of school, practicing for nat'l/int'd piano competitions (because I actually like piano a lot, not doing it for the points or some shit), and taking Physics C outside of class online because I want to do physics olympiad which is harder for sure than phys C even. Also want to start devving for Android, lrn2code, etc.
Maybe I should go to a different school, even? school is unique in that there will randomly not be enough students signed up for a class, OR way too many students and only 1 teacher teaching it so a ton of kids are just waitlisted or something
tl;dr Only 5 classes next year, instead of having 2 useless-looking (i.e. honors french lit after AP french + APES), I just have a useless class (APES) and no class at all. Also, I have shit to do and probably will hurt my ECs and life in general if I have to take an online class, community college class, and 5 classes at school.
Congrats to anyone who actually crawled through that crap...must have been wearing anti-angst sunglasses or something
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How does your future get raped by not taking AP classes? If you really think it's screwing your future, just study it on your own. I know some kid who took like a total of 16 AP's and got 5's on all of them. He didn't even take half the classes in school
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I don't think I'm smart enough to do that, unfortunately. I'm not monstrous at pure academics/studying etc.
And also it's a matter of transcript; junior year: heng/apush/calc/physics, then apes and pe? Looks terrible, and I really want to do MITES (dare is say RSI? probably not) or something, and the AP results will be out far later than apps are due for programs...
Hm, I'm interested in hearing what you might suggest I do, though: do you think I should take an unweighted bs class, or take a class outside of school, or what? (wasn't rhetorical, just wondering)
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Even though everyone considers APES a BS AP, it's stlil an AP. And most schools require PE all 4 years, so I wouldn't say it looks terrible. Dunno about taking classes outside of school, it probably looks decent if you're taking a college course but it'll just be a hassle going to the community college and then heading back to school every day.
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Yeah, that's exactly my issue with a college course, plus another course with credit online...will be really really annoying....
Admissions officers or whoever else might be looking at my transcript will be able to see that my school requires only 2 years of PE, though, and I did independent PE with track&field this year (worth 1 sem, need only 1 sem more to complete the 2-year req), so if I do PE next year and go extra, not only will it be a waste of my time, it will look bad. I don't even want to do it, either, of course.
And I see what you mean in saying that APES still is an AP, but that would force me to take bio and chem senior year, and with the terrible scheduling I'm not sure I'll even get both those classes, not to mention I'll probably be busy with college apps etc., and that can negatively affect my apps, my grades, or both come senior year T____T
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No idea what you should do other than to not commit suicide if you're refused entry to an exam because you're 15 minutes late.
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I honestly don't think they'll care that much about you taking PE your junior year. Colleges mainly look at GPA, SAT, and extracurriculars. AP Bio and AP Chem shouldn't be too bad if you got a 2400 on your SAT. If it really bothers you that much, I would find some other class that's not art or gym that would look decent on paper even though you know it's completely BS.
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Just take PE already =/. Honestly it looks pretty good as most colleges require it and if you take it then you're set to go to colleges. Colleges need well-rounded people and if you take both AP classes AND you go above the minimum requirement for PE it shows that you aren't just some book worm or something but are also into athletics a bit. Plus, when you are done with college you may not even remember that any of this happened.
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Relax, school is over. Hodges has a great friend who went undergrad at Irvine, and is now a professor at princeton so...
Btw, how the hell are you at 96% + is this your total lack of any sleep?
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I will consider taking PE, then :/ One of my senior friends told me that some junior was taking AP Econ for some reason, and that was really intriguing, so I'll ask my counselor about that....
Oh, my lowest grade was hphysics (breton T___T), at like 93%, but then the boat lab = massive extra credit+my lab grade was really cruddy, so then I got to 95%, and then for some reason I set the curve on the final--no idea why because I never study for finals and usually end up doing really meh on them--so that raised it to 96%. :D
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Isn't it possible to just not have a class when your first class would be? Last year I only took 5 classes out of a total of 7, so I showed up to school around 9:30 everyday.
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Your college admissions chances will not make or break you by taking AP Chem, it will all come down to the essays. The fact that you are whinning about scheduling additional AP classes when many amazing students aren't even offered them is kinda ridiculous.
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Why is this a problem?
I went to one class a day my senior year and I was scheduled for three and a study hall. Still graduated no problem.
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Kentor
United States5784 Posts
If you want to major in Chem E then make getting into AP Chem in junior year your first priority. As for taking AP classes that you have no interest in, I detest.
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I'm interested in all of the classes I'm taking, of course!! AP chem was merely my first choice science, which I lost by virtue of the fact that I signed up for three AP sciences. Also, this will be junior year and I really just want to take these classes because I am legitimately interested in them... My interest in APES is lower than that of chem, but obviously I would still like to take it--just not in chem's stead.
In any event, I've gotten over it. Taking chem is am impossibility for me at this point, so I'll just sort out the 5 vs 6 classes business. Probably will end up with 5 classes here, 1 community college class, and one online credit class (versus the original intention of 6 school classes and one online).
It's really impossible to have much, if any, sympathy for someone in my position, so I'll just deal with it and move on. Dream colleges and the work associated with admittance there aren't everything, and it's about time I learn that the world isn't always fair or accommodating.
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That's bullshit. The idea that if someone else has it worse then you can't complain is terrible. There can be things wrong with your life, and you should try to fix them. In any case, regardless of what happens with your schedule, when you apply for colleges you should just make it clear that you are passionate about what you do. Results are certainly the easiest way to do that. If you can say that you got a perfect score at the International Math Olympiad, there is unlikely to be a single college that will reject you, simply because by saying that you have said that you had the motivation to get there. Obviously, very few people can actually say that, but the point is that results are not everything. You don't need 20 5s on APs in order to get into a top college. A research project that you worked hard on and got something out of or working with an academic club and striving to teach those people the best you could are extremely helpful things to have on your application. I definitely think you should apply to whatever dream college you are thinking about, because it would be a shame if something as trivial as this deterred you.
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First world problems. Be a man and grow a beard.
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On June 10 2011 17:55 Hamster1800 wrote: That's bullshit. The idea that if someone else has it worse then you can't complain is terrible. There can be things wrong with your life, and you should try to fix them. In any case, regardless of what happens with your schedule, when you apply for colleges you should just make it clear that you are passionate about what you do. Results are certainly the easiest way to do that. If you can say that you got a perfect score at the International Math Olympiad, there is unlikely to be a single college that will reject you, simply because by saying that you have said that you had the motivation to get there. Obviously, very few people can actually say that, but the point is that results are not everything. You don't need 20 5s on APs in order to get into a top college. A research project that you worked hard on and got something out of or working with an academic club and striving to teach those people the best you could are extremely helpful things to have on your application. I definitely think you should apply to whatever dream college you are thinking about, because it would be a shame if something as trivial as this deterred you.
I hear what you're saying, but it just seems that this is non-negotiable. Not sure as to whether I may post a message from my counselor, but there's no "confidentiality notice" attached, nor will anyone likely draw a connection, so here:
The only way a junior will take econ or gov is if they are trying to graduate early. [This is in regard to my hearing that a junior was taking AP Econ, and I need to fill a 1st period, so I asked about taking that.] You can't join that class. I would like you to remember that [name of school] is a public high school and we work very hard to meet the needs of a ALL[sic] of our students. You were able to get many AP classes so unless you are planning on taking a community college class I have added you to a PE class first period.
Nothing I can do, really. They just set it up so that none of my classes are offered 1st period, no workarounds. Not much I can do about that, really. We require 2 years of PE, and I have 1 year frosh, 1 semester from track, so taking a whole year of PE will look bad for that reason as well, but there's no way around it. Such is life at a public high school; one gets what one pays for and all that.
I haven't necessarily given up on my dream school or anything, but having PE as a class hurts me ridiculously because only 2 years of PE is needed. I would also have liked to have all weighted classes (all of the other "smart kids"--and even not-so-smart--will have all weighted classes, so I will also look comparatively inferior), but such is life...I can't fight it unless I work my butt off enrolling in 2 other classes out of school.
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Spend the time you are not using for that getting involved and doing extracurriculars which the top tier universities really care about. The enrollment curve maxes out at about 4.5 for ivies anyways.
Also, that kid was an exchange student takign AP econ. He'd taken Euro Hist in China as a freshman, so he took US as a sophomore, and hence AP econ as a junior. HE just ran out of stuff to do.
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