Choosing Courses for 11th grade

You’ll get great advice from your school counselor about choosing courses that will ensure you graduate and demonstrate the kinds of academic habits that colleges are looking for (rigor, intellectual challenge, etc.). What else should you consider?

  1. Do you have genuine interest in a non-academic course or field? If so, take the drama, fashion design, or hospital-volunteering for credit course. Colleges are going to see this slightly alternative path as an honest exploration of your interests, not a way of hiding from harder courses. 
  2. Don’t drop language. It’s so tempting to drop courses, like foreign languages, once you’ve met the minimum requirements to graduate, but many colleges require that you have 3, or even 4, full years of language in addition to the core courses in math, science, social studies/history, and your native language/literature. 
  3. Don’t worry too much about taking American History, unless it’s part of the standard curriculum at your school. Many state universities require domestic US applicants to take US history during high school. International school students whose high school doesn’t offer it as a standard course shouldn’t worry about it, though. Colleges will either waive the requirement for international applicants, or give students the opportunity to take the course for college credit the summer before, or during, the first year. (Admittedly, I’ve heard of students who’ve had some issues with this, but usually it’s a matter of communicating with the office about your international status, even as a domestic applicant.)
  4. If you’re an IB student looking to go to the US for college, choose HL subjects that you feel you can work hard and still succeed in, because HL courses are meant to be a challenge. Don’t choose an HL that sounds awful to you. Also, make sure that your final course selections are balanced across all core subjects. At some non-US universities, they actually prefer that your IB courses are concentrated around the field you’ll be applying to for university study, but US schools and US-style universities abroad prefer a more well-rounded academic preparation. 

More than anything, choose classes that you will enjoy and grow in. Don’t choose them just because you think they’ll look good to admissions officers.