Let me start off with a brief explanation of myself. I am currently a grade eleven student and am enrolled in a number of different courses this year. I did a very prestigious Co-Op position for the first semester of grade eleven as a youth representative for my city. I resulted with a 93% final in first semester.

My biology class is absolutely insane; rather, my biology teacher is absolutely insane. He gives us a quiz every week. Thing is, it’s not a quiz but rather a seven page test with all essay questions. He continuously tells us that he is making his “quizzes” ridiculously difficult so that people drop his course. He feels that there are a number of students who should not be in the class and thus, the only way to get them to drop the class is to basically force them to fail every test/quiz. What kind of motivation is it when your Biology teacher tells you that you’ll probably fail the next quiz as previous averages of the quiz were 34%? I mean, that’s beyond ridiculous. We wrote this quiz about two weeks ago. Luckily, I received a 90% on the seven-page quiz. I studied a lot for it, though. We had another quiz on Friday; it was much harder than the first. I’m afraid that I didn’t do as well as I did on the first. We also have another unit test on Thursday. As you can see, it’s quite the demanding course.

Because I took two extra credits in summer school in grade nine and grade ten, I have two extra credits towards graduation from high school. Therefore, I am allowed to take two spares between now and the time I graduate. Pretty good, right? I don’t know what to do. I have until mid-term (around April 1st) to drop any course this year without having it show on my transcript. Biology is taking up a lot of my time and it seems to be getting more difficult as time passes. I don’t think I’ll do well in the class, to be honest, considering no one ever does – and he doesn’t shy away from making that fact known to all students in his class. I have come to a fork in the road – do I continue working my butt off to maintain my high average in Biology, while putting the other three courses on the backburner, running the risk that I might not do so well in my other three courses or do I drop Biology and focus on my other three subjects?

I do not need Biology for my post-secondary education requirements. Right now, I am planning to get an Honours BA in Psychology and then continue to obtain a PhD or PsyD in Psychology. I have conducted a large amount of research on all of the universities in Canada; the research has been quite extensive and it’s still continuing. I know what you might be saying; I know that I’m only in grade eleven but grade twelve is coming up quickly and I want to have a plan. University applications begin in about October/November of your grade twelve year and continue to the beginning of January. That means that applications begin in about six months. That’s not a lot of time to make such a huge decision! I am the type of person to make a plan and think things through before making any rash decisions. I know that things may still not work out as planned, no matter how thoroughly you plan it out but I do want to attempt to create a plan for my future in hopes of being successful; my biggest fear is failure.

Do you have any tips regarding this? How am I supposed to decide what I’m going to do for the rest of my life? I have done a lot of research on a wide variety of careers and subject majors. Thing is, I keep changing my mind. I was really interested in business up until last year. I do extremely well in business courses; I have received the award for the highest mark in every single business course I took (including Grade Eleven University Accounting, which I took when I was in grade ten). Now I’m beginning to think that business isn’t the right path for me. I don’t like math very much nor do I like science. I don’t totally despise Biology but it’s just a lot of work because unfortunately, I ended up with a horrible teacher – as I mentioned above. He doesn’t teach well at all, his quizzes/tests are ridiculously hard, he puts us down and doesn’t motivate us, and so much more. I don’t like his class – at all.

I just don’t know what to do. When I apply to university next year, I know that some universities look at second semester grade eleven marks for early acceptances. Do you think that taking three courses instead of four would hinder my application in any way? If I drop Biology this year and focus solely on my other three courses, do you think that will look bad on me for university? I don’t know. Please don’t suggest that I speak to the guidance counsellors at my school, teachers, or my parents. I tried to speak to them about it and have had no luck whatsoever. I want to move out of the house for university. That might be really tough due to lack of university funding I have available. However, I’m willing to try to make things work – even if I’m in severe debt after university. I want to ensure that I receive the best possible education, no matter how much it’ll cost.

I have looked at over forty-five universities nation-wide. I have looked at each of their Honours BA Psychology programs, not having any bias in mind; I strictly assessed and ranked each university based on their program for BA Honours Psychology. From the list of forty-five, I reduced it to a list of the top twenty-five universities. I am not completed with my research as I have sent over 150 emails out to the universities this week – requesting information on their Psychology program, residence, tuition fees, scholarships, etc. It’s a really big decision for me and therefore I want to ensure that I do all of the research that I can to ensure I’m making the right decision when I finally succumb to that decision, know what I mean? Ah, this is just a really confusing situation for me and again, I apologize for rambling on. It’s just that I believe it’s essential to know of these details in order for you to fully comprehend my current situation.

How am I going to choose what university I want to attend? I can’t even decide on the major I want to pursue; I keep changing my mind. One day I want to get an Honours BA in Psychology and then go on to obtain a PhD in Psychology. The next day I want to get an Honours in Psychology and Business, but I don’t know how this lack of specialization in one subject area would look when applying to graduate school. Ugh, there are so many things to take into consideration here. How am I supposed to make this decision?

Like I mentioned earlier, my last average was 93% and it has been around that mark since grade nine. I want to get a higher average in grade twelve. Do you think that if I work really hard next year, I can get an average of over 95%? I know that’s quite the difficult question to answer but nonetheless, it’s important. I really want to work hard to obtain an average of 95% in my classes next year. Universities look at one’s top six marks when applying for admissions into university. In my school, the standard is to take four courses per semester, allowing us to take eight courses in one school year. Because the requirement is merely six grade twelve courses, many students take either one or two spares during that year – depending on how many extra credits they have. What do you think of this? Do you think I should take eight courses and thus choose the best six out of the eight? Or do you think I should only take six courses and focus only on the three per semester? Taking only three courses per semester in comparison to taking four courses in a semester allows me to allocate more of my time to my other courses.

Marks are extremely important when it comes to university, not only for admissions but for scholarships as well. Thing is, there are other things required for scholarships as well – especially the larger scholarships. I am involved in quite the number of extracurricular activities. I have been on three school sports teams since grade nine, I volunteer a lot of my time to several organizations, I participate in many councils around the school, I held a very prestigious position in my city (last semester for Co-Op and am still involved with my city), etc. I have a lot going on right now. On top of all of this, I manage to maintain a decent average above 90%. I don’t know what to do. I’m starting to become very stressed out about all of this; it’s just too much. I want to do everything and anything in order to ensure I’m going to not only receive admissions into my first choice university but also receive a fair bit amount in scholarships as finance is a big issue for me at the moment.

I want to get at least a 95% average in grade twelve as well as volunteering a lot of my time in order to build up my resume. Do you think this is possible? What do you recommend I do? Do you think I should get rid of all of the extracurricular things and solely focus on my average? Do you think that I should have a balance between the two, even though this might result in a lower academic average? I don’t know what to do and any thoughts or opinions on this would be greatly appreciated. I’m just extremely overwhelmed. You see, my biggest concern is not even solely getting in to university but also to receive as many scholarships as I possibly can. The way I see it is that everyone has the potential to do so much and I want to embrace that potential and maximize my time to do as much as I can. It just doesn’t seem like there are enough hours in the day. It really sucks.

I won't lie to you, that was long.

You won't get many answers here from teenagers who are hard pressed to be thinking of university at the moment. No, it's not too early. You actually should've made this decision before your Grade 12 course registration.

I'm not going to answer all of your questions. It's basically one single question, and you've merely broken it up into its own fragments. Most of which I will consider rhetorical, or else I'll be typing an essay.

If you don't need biology, don't take it. But you're going into Psych, so it would be beneficial to have. Honestly, a quiz a week isn't that bad. You just have to get used to the routine; if you want to be challenged, and you take challenging courses, then face what you signed up for. There are countless others who work their ass off to fulfill their personal goals everyday. If you think it's difficult to face your expectations with bio, then use the two spares to help you with it. I personally don't think it would be of much aid, but it's your choice, nontheless. As for the 95% mark, in all honesty, it's up to how hard you work and how much you want it. As for how much you want this...I have my doubts when I see you online so often.

You claim to have done your homework on universities and their programs, so what're you doing asking us which university you should choose? Use your research; you worked for a reason, no?

Not everyone is lucky enough to know for sure what they want to pursue. This anticipation is a part of life. Get used to it and face the music. You have all of these questions, and it's like you're not attempting to answer them one by one. Don't pile all of your worries into one big heap. There's no better way to start than where you are. If you don't know how to start, that's something you'll have to learn yourself.

What I've said is all very generic. There wouldn't be any sense of accomplishment if you had your questions answered magically, would there?

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Thanks, but I'm really not online often. I am logged in often but I haven't been much of a poster over the last three weeks or so.

Ok ... let me try and tackle this one.

Since you mention later on that you're average is important to you, it might be best to drop Biology. If you really don't feel confident about doing well and if you're worried that other classes may suffer, it's best if you drop it. Think of it this way, you do well in Bio, but everything else suffers then your average will go down and that's no good.

My sister (6 years older than me) is going to be graduating at the end of the Fall 09 semester and she still doesn't quite know what she's going to do either. When you go into university, this is pretty normal. Just make sure you're set on at least one major. You'll be taking electives and other courses to fulfill degree requirements that'll expose you to other things, and if you stick with a Psychology degree you have a lot of options open to you. Don't feel too pressured to know what career you gotta go into right away. I myself am still kinda shaky on it. I have my major picked out (Journalism) and I'm just working on prerequisites right now. Takes about 2 years without taking any summer courses so you can decide during that time, just make sure you have a major picked out. I don't know about other universities but the one I just applied at says you HAVE to have a major picked out by your junior level (the freshman and sophmore levels are mostly prerequisite courses)

Depending on what kind of university you're looking at. Some of them might just care about your average and not so much how many courses you take. If you graduate from high school with honours and the required courses, that would look good. Once again, if you think that continuing Biology would hinder you in your other courses then drop it. You can always take it in university if you really need it.

Once you have a major picked out, decide how far you wanna take it. If you're going to aim for a PhD, try to go for a school that offers the program. Some people take into consideration things like tuition, housing cost and location as well too, so if those matter to you it could help. The best thing to do though would be to send out an application to all the universities you want to go to and from the ones that accept you you can narrow it down. Make sure you apply as early as possible.

I'm sure you could if you work hard enough.

I think I mentioned this in your other thread, but decide this by what the workload will be in your classes. Make sure you have a good idea of how it will be ... BUT make sure you know the university requirements to make sure you don't miss anything (like maybe perhaps they might require a course you haven't taken yet)

I think if you do want a 95% average you might have to give up some of the extra curricular. Some, maybe not all. I don't know how your workload is, but if you've managed so far with those and still got a 93% average, you might be able to pull it off. Are you able to pull this off right now while still able to get ample rest? If you think you might be losing a lot of rest trying to keep both up, the extra curricular could be dropped. Some scholarships only require a little bit while others require a lot. Check out some scholarships right now and you can make your decision on that. Also, it'd be good if you look at an essay requirement for one scholarship and a few others and see if you can just ... copy the same essay with minor changes (my sister does that)

Hope this helps any :X

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Thanks for the advice.

Well here's my shot.

First off you're very intelligent, and you should be proud of yourself. You do a lot more than most other teenagers your age. You're very ambitious.

As for your college search it seems like you've narrowed it down a little bit which is good.

When it comes to that biology class, if I were you I would drop it, especially if you don't enjoy it and don't plan on having a career that's heavily involved with biology. You said yourself you want to keep your average high. I know for me in school there's always been one class where I just haven't been able to keep up. That class has always been hard and has drained my resources for other classes. To me biology seems like that class to you. It screws up the rest of your studying and such.

I was in a similar albeit less intense situation than you. First semester this year I was in fundamentals of physics and at the end of the semester I dropped it. It was very hard, very demanding, I didn't understand hardly anything and my other grades and aspects of my life were suffering. So I dropped physics. Now my other grades are up and I'm much more able to focus on the classes that I really enjoy, mainly AP Spanish 4 and AP Government.

As far as worrying about your average next year, I wouldn't worry about it as much. I'm not sure how colleges do it in Canada but I'm guessing it's fairly similar to in the US. Here colleges mainly look at your first 3 years of high school. Mainly because when you apply you might not even be finished with the first semester of your senior year. You may well be accepted into the college you want to go to before Christmas next year, or shortly after.

Take your time. Take a deep breath. If you have spring break coming up enjoy it, don't think about school and all of your other obligations. Meditate. I've been meditating a lot lately and it's very relaxing. You might like it.

Peace

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Thanks all.

As for the Biology, it was merely a course that I took to gain some general knowledge as I thought it would aid me if studying Psychology. It's *a lot* of work, the teacher is horrible and I'm spending a lot of time focusing on Biology. I don't know if I can handle it and I'm starting to get really stressed out. I don't know what to do. I have three other courses that appear to be taking the complete backburner because of this Biology - and I don't even need it, nor do I need the credit!

I don't know about Psychology now. I'm hearing different things from a wide variety of people and not only is it overwhelming but also very confusing.

Picking a major can be really hard :X Something you should look at is your hobbies and see if you can generalize it with a certain degree. Some universities though don't require you to have a major picked out until a certain time, so in the beginning you might be taking prerequisites and then you can pick out a major.

My boyfriend is still working on his prerequisites and he doesn't quite have a major picked out. Well, he does but not a career so he's been working on his degree really slowly

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Drop it.

Now you're unsure about even getting into psychology? What's making you have doubts?

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If biology is completely non-existant in your transcript, and you have 2 spares, what do you think about whether or not biology would be a lot easier the 2nd time you took it? Or taking it in the summer?

Suppose you had an B- or C- in biology. And it was close to dropping 1 letter grade below.

And suppose for the rest of your 3 other classes, you had an A- in all 3 of them.

You can work so hard to keep your biology from going down the 1 letter grade, and then your A- in your other 3 classes become B+'s, or, you keep the A- in the other 3 courses as still as A-, leaving whatever remaining time for your biology.

Basically it comes down what can heavily affect your G.P.A. more: 3 classes, or 1?

Answer: Make it so that the other 3 classes fall at least above the A-. If they are at a 95%, don't push it to above 95%. If they are at 90%, push it so it is safe that they won't fall below 90%. Then once that's guaranteed, use your remaining time and effort for biology. You can also try to ask your current grade before April 1.

Actually, no.

In my high school, we had this A.P. system. Where an A = 5.0 instead of 4.0 for the regular classes that weren't A.P.

This ultimately meant taking as least classes that were on the 4.0 as possible - to get the highest G.P.A.

Then, some students that took all A.P. classes, also took summer school (where no A.P. classes were offered). So they took more and more classes, but yet their G.P.A. shrunk.

So it basically comes down to, the more and more non-A.P. classes they took, the more it hurt their G.P.A.

Good universities I know of - require a letter of recommendation from yourself. You can try to excel in that. And if you did a lot of volunteer work on your resumé, wouldn't that actually be more stuff to the list?

Very simple - the price of tuition and the location. You will already have narrowed down the colleges you already got accepted to. Dude, I took 12 classes when I was in high school grade 11 and graduated with below a 3.0, and I'm still in a 4-year university.

Can you actually get accepted into a psychology clinical school or Ph.D program with a BS in biology or something non-psychology?

You can always minor in something. Minor requirements are usually 1/3rd of the entire major requirement. You can minor in biology and something else.

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A Christian once knew a guy who "abstained" from masturbation. A couple months later, he could no longer pee, and had to go to the doctor, whom milked out his glands. But then, he continued to abstain, and then, back to the doctor again..