My High School Schedule
Another common question asked: What classes did you take in high school?High schools vary across the nation, but hopefully getting a glimpse of what I took will help you understand a bit better what colleges look for in a student's high school curriculum.
Some basics about my high school.
- It's a public school in Minnesota, so there were some AP (Advanced Placement) classes, but only in Social Studies, Math, and few other subjects. After I left, more AP classes were added but the school only administers them if there are enough people (30 to 40) that will take the class so most of the new offerings are scrapped because of budget cuts.
- Each year is divided into three trimesters and each trimester is divided into seven class hours. This means that you can take a total of twenty-one classes per year.
- If you talked to the counselors beforehand, students could add PSEO (if you don't know what PSEO is, you can find an explanation of it in my other posts about college/high school) classes and Independent Study options to their schedule. This was only in the case of last resort if you had exercised all available options.
- CIS (College in the School, not to be confused with the hit TV show CSI!) is a special type of class that essentially boils down to a College Level Class offered at the high school. Teachers have to be accredited with the University of Minnesota to teach these classes, so the program is a Nationally Accredited Program. The courses are assumed to be taught at the same level as an introductory class at the University of Minnesota, so they are difficult. When you are done with the course, you will get both a high school grade and a University of Minnesota grade that goes on your transcript, which is great because the credit that you earn is ensured to count for any Minnesota State College and most private colleges in Minnesota as well. This is a really quick overview, but for more information visit College in the Schools - University of Minnesota.
- I was in UMTYMP, so I was doing math at the University of Minnesota. If you need more information on that, click on the UMTYMP page on the top toolbar.
- The level of difficulty goes Regular
- The Mentorship class was a class that met once a week because I had to spend six hours outside of my class in my mentorship.
- I had to include a PSEO hour in my schedule so that I could do part time PSEO. This was essentially a study hall but I had to go to class every Wednesday once a week at night for Organic Chemistry.
- Since my high school did not offer AP Science classes, I independently studied for the AP Biology and AP Chemistry tests and took them at the end of the year.
Hours | 9th Grade | ||
1 | Social Studies | Social Studies | Social Studies |
2 | Honors Earth Science | Honors Earth Science | Honors Earth Science |
3 | Honors English | Honors English | Honors English |
4 | Health | Gym | Gym |
5 | Driver’s Ed | Tech Ed | Computer Aided Drafting/Design |
6 | Band | Band | Band |
7 | French II | French II | French II |
After School | UMTYMP Calculus II/Linear Algebra | UMTYMP Calculus II/Linear Algebra | UMTYMP Calculus II/Linear Algebra |
Hours | 10th Grade | ||
1 | AP US History | AP US History | AP US History |
2 | Honors Biology | Honors Biology | Honors Biology |
3 | Honors English | Honors English | Honors English |
4 | Health | Gym | Gym |
5 | Accounting | Accounting | Accounting |
6 | Band | Band | Band |
7 | French III | French III | French III |
After School | UMTYMP Calculus III | UMTYMP Calculus III | UMTYMP Calculus III |
Hours | 11th Grade | ||
1 | AP European History | AP European History | AP European History |
2 | Honors Chemistry | Honors Chemistry | Honors Chemistry |
3 | AP Language | AP Language | AP Language |
4 | AP Statistics | AP Statistics | AP Statistics |
5 | Honors Physics | Honors Physics | Honors Physics |
6 | Band | Band | Mentor Seminar |
7 | French IV | French IV | French IV |
Hours | 12th Grade | ||
1 | Independent Study Microeconomics | Independent Study Macroeconomics | Independent Study AP Government |
2 | School TV Show | School TV Show | School TV Show |
3 | CIS Writing | CIS Writing | CIS Literature |
4 | CIS Anatomy | CIS Anatomy | CIS Anatomy |
5 | PSEO Period | PSEO Period | PSEO Period |
6 | CIS French | CIS French | CIS French |
7 | Mentorship | Mentorship | Mentorship |
After School | PSEO Organic Chemistry I | PSEO Organic Chemistry II | PSEO Organic Chemistry II |
