Student Blog: Pick Your Courses Carefully

Hello again! This blog post is a continuation of my previous one, which I posted earlier this month. You can read Avoiding Senioritis here!

As I mentioned last time: I think one of the best ways to set yourself up for success in their senior year is by taking advantage of the course selection freedom that many schools offer in 12th grade to choose classes that you really want to take – or at least find more interesting than not. This also allowed me to give myself an extra free period in the first semester of classes, which aligns well with the period of time I’ll be working on college applications for.

The courses I chose are more STEM-oriented, because I intend on majoring in a STEM-related field during college, but I still intend to continue learning about fields such as journalism at the same time. This year, I am taking courses in physics, economics, data structures, and discrete mathematics. I am also taking an English elective called Gender, Sexuality & Society, which explores the ways in which people experience the world differently based on how they identify/appear. I took an algebra-based physics course last year, too, which I enjoyed, and the course I’m taking this year will involve calculus as well.

My intention behind presenting these courses is to show that there isn’t a single course I have selected which I do not look forward to. While I am not exceedingly eager to return to school and have nightly homework, I do have a genuine interest in each of the subjects I have selected, which, as I explained last time, seems like the most foolproof way to remain engaged with my coursework, beating the burnout that tends to arise among seniors.

I should also mention that this technique – carefully picking courses you seriously care about – is a great thing for any student to do. Obviously it’s significantly more difficult for a 9th or 10th grader to have as much freedom over their schedule, but when any choice of course arises, even if it’s just picking one of two mandatory freshman classes, I’d recommend giving some thought to it and figuring out what you’d really prefer.

For now, I am in the middle of back-to-school shopping and last minute appointments. I’ll be blogging during September, too, so stay tuned to see how things go!