Meet With Your Counselor

Meet with your school counselor to review your college plans and your course schedule for your remaining high school career.  Did anything trip you up 9th grade that would change your course load in the future?  

Pace yourself.  If you take the most challenging classes too early, it may leave you with nothing good to take during your senior year. Colleges and scholarship judges notice if your senior course load looks unusually light.  You still want to demonstrate that you are a serious and committed student in your senior year. 

Discuss your plans for AP courses and honors courses.  Take a challenging but manageable course load.  AP and honors courses will impact your grade point average (gpa) more heavily than other courses because they are given more weight in the gpa calculation.  Students sometimes sabotage their own success by taking unrealistically challenging classes, hoping for the extra point advantage but instead find themselves with less than stellar grades. 

Only you, your parents and your counselor can develop a plan that is the right balance for you.