Fall in love with your classes for next year!

Happy Valentine’s Day. Now is the perfect time to start thinking about your course selection for next year.

What classes should I sign up for next year?

A student's classes are often a big factor in college admissions decisions. 

1. All students should take a challenging course load. This is especially important to do in subjects you are considering pursuing in college. While colleges like students to take rigorous courses, they also want you to show maturity and not take on more than you can handle. In general, challenge but do not overwhelm yourself. Take classes where you can get a B or higher. 

2. Colleges like you to continue to take classes in all 5 core subjects all 4 years. English, Math, Science, History, and Foreign Language. Highly selective colleges expect you will take all 5 subjects all 4 years. These days, they want poets to be physicists and engineers to write poetry, even better if they write poetry in a foreign language or two. 

3. Take classes in subjects that interest you. Colleges like to see you dive deep into areas of interest, especially if you are considering them as a course of study in college. Also, you will always have better results in classes you want to take. 

4. This is a general guide and you should adapt this as it is right for you. 

So what does this really all mean:

• Most colleges would prefer to see a B in an AP or Honors class versus an A in an easier class.
  

• The more selective the college, the more rigorous your course load should be when applying. For example, highly selective colleges like to see students with at least AP Calculus AB and Physics, even those students not studying STEM fields. Business Schools want students to have taken Calculus and Statistics.
  

• Highly selective and selective colleges expect students to take the most rigorous course load their high school offers. That means a lot of APs if they are offered at your high school. Colleges usually get a school profile from your high school and they will realize if your high school limits how many APs a student can take and when they take them. Or for that matter if your high school does not even have APs. That said, to give you an idea, the middle 50% of accepted students at the University of Georgia have taken 7-12 APs. We have heard at some even more selective colleges the average number of APs for accepted students is even higher.
  

• Foreign language is better if it is the same language all 4 years. For highly selective colleges, it is good if you can get to at least the AP level of your foreign language.
  

• Sciences with a lab component are more rigorous than Sciences without.
  

• If you really hate language and are terrible at it, most colleges only require 2 or 3 years of a language.
  

Please keep in mind that classes you decide to take earlier in high school often determine what courses you will take as you progress through the years. It is hard to jump from all regular classes freshman year to all AP courses senior year. Try and think of your long-term goals at the beginning of high school and plan accordingly. 

Lastly, remember all of these rules can be broken. Colleges want to see you excited and engaged in what you are studying. it is Valentine’s Day; PLEASE take classes in subjects you love and are curious to explore more.

Please reach out with any questions and also check out this podcast I recorded with Tests and the Rest on course selection for highly selective colleges.