Academic Planning: What You Need to Know
As students return from their holiday break, the conversations regarding course selections will quickly begin. This might possibly be one of the most stressful and contentious discussions between parents, students, and counselors that happens each year. It is often driven by fear and misinformation, and even with the best intentions doesn’t always have the intended results. These tips will address the most common questions parents and students voice concerning academic planning:
Make a 4-year plan
Don’t just plan one year of coursework at a time. It is essential to look at the total coursework that a student intends to take over the course of their high school career. One of the things colleges look for is increasing rigor over the course of a transcript, so this will allow you to plan that out. It will also allow you to see if one year is particularly overloaded, and it will give you an opportunity to balance out the courses over several years, if possible. Lastly, it will establish the overall rigor of coursework that the student will have at the time of graduation, which will help determine the student’s academic profile for their college applications.
Remember, teachers make recommendations in a silo
Your teachers don’t see the recommendations of your other teachers, and they don’t know what your commitments are outside of school. Only you and your parents can see the entire picture. You can see all of the courses you have been recommended to take, and you know all of your extracurricular commitments. It is your responsibility to take all of those recommendations and decide what is best for you.
Take 4 years of core curriculum
This is quite possibly the one area where students make the most honest mistakes. There is a difference between meeting graduation requirements and being competitive in an applicant pool when you are applying to college. Many students can meet the graduation requirements in specific subject areas well before graduation and then neglect to take all core subjects throughout high school. That is a mistake. Colleges do not like to see a gap in core subjects coming into college. Additionally, not taking 4 years of math, science, English, and social studies when the majority of the applicant pool will be, could put you at a disadvantage and hurt your chances of admission. It is not a risk worth taking. Just make sure you take each of the core subjects each of your 4 years in high school.
Take 2 years of the SAME foreign language
The foreign language requirement is one that has some variation and also some confusion. Most colleges require students to take 2 years of the same foreign language in high school, and few require more than that. Some colleges will allow that credit to come from middle school foreign language courses if they appear on the high school transcript, however, that is not the case with all schools. What constitutes a foreign language varies from state to state as well. Of course, all of the traditional languages qualify, but in some cases American Sign Language or Computer Science may qualify.
Balance the amount and type of rigor in your schedule carefully
You have many options to choose from when it comes to high school courses. You can take on level, honors, AP, dual enrollment, and any combination. Take what makes sense for you. Colleges generally like to see students take the most challenging coursework available to them at their high school before going outside of their building for additional courses. However, there may be compelling reasons for a student to choose a dual enrollment course over an AP course. There also might be an argument for a student to stay in the AP course and NOT take the dual enrollment course that is available to them.
Remember, colleges do not look at a single course; instead, they view a student’s complete transcript, analyzing the coursework, the rigor, and the grade trends. The high school transcript is the single most important factor in admissions for most schools.
