Craft a story you're proud of: High school course selection

[Courtney] To kick this off, what is course selection and why does it matter?

[Andy] So whether you're a 9th grader or a 10th grader or 11th grader right now, at some point, typically in February, March, or April, you'll sit down and you'll fill out some forms to select the courses that you'll be taking next semester, next school year. Now, there's a couple reasons why this is incredibly important.

The first thing to know is it's actually one of the most important ways that students shape their stories.

So it's the picture that you're gonna present to colleges, to employers, and even yourself about the topics, the content, the classes that you're interested in,what you're ready for, and what you really care about. So your course selection, what it does is it tells the story of your rigor– so that's how challenging your classes are – your fit – how well they match with your goals and your strengths – your focus, what you're developing over time.

There's been lots of research and data done on what colleges look for first and foremost, when evaluating a full student profile The first is your GPA. The second is the rigor of courses that you've taken throughout high school, and the third is your test scores.

Now, of course, teacher recommendations and essays and your extracurriculars matter as well. But course selection is way higher than most students and families might think.

[Courtney] All right. Parents and students, you heard it here. Course selection, the courses that you take in high school, that's in the top three things that admissions officers are looking for when they review applications. It's important. So given that, Andy, what are some frameworks that parents and students can use to help them make good decisions when it comes to selecting the courses that they're gonna be taking next year?

[Andy] Yeah. So a, a couple a couple high level ways to think about this. I think the first is that it's really important to think about how to balance challenge with capacity.

So what we recommend is thinking about, "How can I lean into my strengths to demonstrate that I am taking more rigorous, difficult classes?" For some that might mean honors courses. For others, it might mean AP or IB courses or more advanced classes, but you always wanna make sure that you're balancing that with capacity.

It is better to do really well in a core set of rigorous courses then to do so so in only, in all rigorous classes or even to do really well in way easier classes.

The second thing is to make sure that you're aligning the courses that you're taking with your goals and your interests. So as an example, if a student is hoping to go into the patient care or a medical field or a healthcare field, it wouldn't necessarily make a ton of sense for them to skip classes like AP Biology or honors chemistry, as examples.

Similarly, if someone is seeking, maybe going a pre-law route or really interested in the humanities, it wouldn't make a ton of sense for them to skip kind of core rigorous courses like honors English classes or AP English Language and Composition or AP English Literature and Composition. Right?

The third big concept that we would offer is that you have to show a strong core. Okay? So colleges especially care about rigor in the core subjects: English, math, science, social studies, and then foreign language.

And the big question that they're gonna often ask themselves when they're reviewing a transcript is, "Did this student take.four years, and did they stretch themselves during those four years?" Okay. So even if you love electives and even if there are places to really lean into a particular pursuit, you don't wanna skip the solid core. Now, as an example, we work with a lot of students that are particularly strong in math, and they might be in a position to finish AP calculus or whatever the most rigorous calculus is that they have by the time they're 11th graders.

Well, often there are still opportunities that then take statistics or for 12th grade. Or similarly, sometimes a graduation requirement will only be two years of a foreign language. Now, depending on the schools that you're interested in going to, that may work just fine for your goals. But if you're hoping to go to a more selective college, most selective colleges are going to expect that you have taken that third and fourth year of a foreign language.

All right. And then the final thing that I would offer for a way to think about this is that it's really important to not pick classes one year at a time. Okay, you have to understand prerequisites. Every high school is going to have certain courses that need to be taken before another course.

And a big mistake that students and families can make is they'll select courses year by year, and then if they don't fully understand the prerequisites, that can put them in a position to where they're actually notable to take the classes that they thought they wanted to take. So if you're in a 9th grader, what's gonna be really helpful is to scope out your 10th, 11th, and 12th grade classes.

If you're a 10th grader, scoping out your 11th to 12th grade classes, again, those things may change down the road, but this is gonna really help you think about what needs to be true for the following year to set myself up for longer term success.

[Courtney] Okay, so this is really important. If you're a freshman or sophomore in high school, you wanna be thinking about the transcript that you want as a graduating senior while you're picking classes for your next year.

Now, what are some common pitfalls that 11th and 12th graders should be aware of as they're picking their courses for next year?

[Andy] The number one thing is to recognize that not all advanced classes, whether it's AP or IB or honors classes, are equal in the eyes of admissions officers. Okay? So a big mistake that I see 11th and 12th graders make is choosing to take harder classes, but taking classes that aren't either aligned to their interests or aren't gonna be a part of those core eight.

So a perfect example here is that if a student wants to go, like I said before, into patient care or healthcare or they're thinking of something like that, a mistake they can make is, "Oh, I'm gonna take AP Environmental Science in place of AP biology or AP chemistry." That would not be advised, right, because that's gonna be – AP Environmental Science is not considered as rigorous, and also is not as foundational to what is gonna be expected for students that are going in apatient care sequence or pathway for example.

A different example of this is a student that's really interested in STEM might be going into engineering. They've taken geometry, they've taken algebra II, they've taken pre-calc, and then in their senior year they choose to take AP Statistics or IB Statistics instead of AP Calc, that would not be a good move for a student that is interested in a career in engineering, right? Colleges – colleges of engineering are going to expect that students have completed the sequence, the math sequence, which culminates in most high schools with a course like AP Calculus, for example.

[Courtney] Yeah, that's key. So as you get older in high school, your strategy shifts a bit. You're not just thinking about course selection and course sequencing. In high school, you're also thinking about the kinds of courses that you wanna take in college.

Now, these frameworks are super helpful, but. It does seem like a lot of the decision making around courses is very individual, it can change from student to student fairly dramatically. So where do you recommend that students and parents go to get information that will help them make these very personal decisions?

[Andy] Yeah, I think there's a couple key places to go. So first it's really important to understand your course catalog that's available to you at your school. Most schools, I would – dare I say more than 90% of schools, are gonna have their course catalog posted on their website. And a lot of parents and students actually don't take the time to look at the course catalog.

Those course catalogs are gonna lay out the sequence and they're gonna lay out the prerequisites. So as you're starting this journey, and certainly a couple weeks in advance of actually selecting courses, sitting down and understanding, okay, what is the – what is the sequence of classes that I need to take, and how does it fit into this broader picture of what I want to be true?

The second thing that I would offer is, if you have a sense for the type of school that you wanna go to, even if you don't know the exact school, but you know the type of school you want to go to, pick a couple schools that are in that range. Go to their websites, and they're gonna have information around the type of profile of student that has been accepted to that school, right? You have the opportunity to review not just median GPAs and ACT scores, but what they're gonna expect from a course load perspective.

And so oftentimes students will go to a college's website and be like, "Oh wow, they're expecting four years of a foreign language, but my high school only requires two." There's a mismatch, right? And there's where you need to make sure that you're super clear on that.

The third thing, of course, is this is what we do at Backrs all the time, right? We are often working with high school students and their families to get a sense for the student's longer term goals and interests, aspirations, desires, and then making sure that the course sequence is both reflective of their interests, the what brings them meaning and excitement, what gets them inspired, and also is gonna tell the great story that colleges are gonna expect around their demonstrated achievements and signaling – signaling rigor and depth in particular courses.

[Courtney] Thank you so much, Andy. This is really helpful. So parents and students, make sure you're familiar with your school's course catalog. It should be online on your school's website. If you're in 11th or 12th grade, go ahead and visit some college websites, some college programs that you're interested in, and take a look at the profile of their admitted grads.

That will also help you make some smart course selection decisions. And then of course, we're always here to help you at Backrs. If you have any questions, feel free to email us at [email protected] and thank you so much for listening.