Academic Planning
Selecting classes is a highly personalized and important choice. Each student must evaluate the unique set of demands upon time and energy necessary to achieve success in academic and extracurricular commitments. Please choose classes that allow you to achieve your short and long term goals, as you define them in concert with your parent(s) or guardian(s), teachers and your counselor. If you seek admission to the most selective universities or colleges, the Counseling Department suggests that you consider taking honors and Advanced Placement classes in the subjects in which you believe you can achieve success. This recommendation is not intended to encourage you to take all honors or AP classes, but rather to carefully select classes that best serve your goals.
Students should carefully review the course descriptions and prerequisites to determine whether they have met the recommended preparation for courses. Parents and guardians play a key role in the course selection process by providing support and guidance, ensuring their child selects courses in which s/he can be successful. Student course selections should be made with care, as student course selection will determine both teacher assignments and the master schedule of classes and requests for change may not be honored due to space limitations. Entrance into Honors-level and/or Advanced Placement courses is based upon performance in prior courses, teacher recommendations, and counselor advisement. Courses at Corona del Mar High School are one year in length unless otherwise stated.
All students must select six courses except seniors who may select to have a minimum five-period day, provided they are on track for graduation. Seniors applying to selective universities are strongly encouraged to take six courses. Students may be required to receive teacher approval, make an application, or participate in audition, reviews, or tryouts in order to qualify for certain classes.
Students should carefully review the course descriptions and prerequisites to determine whether they have met the recommended preparation for courses. Parents and guardians play a key role in the course selection process by providing support and guidance, ensuring their child selects courses in which s/he can be successful. Student course selections should be made with care, as student course selection will determine both teacher assignments and the master schedule of classes and requests for change may not be honored due to space limitations. Entrance into Honors-level and/or Advanced Placement courses is based upon performance in prior courses, teacher recommendations, and counselor advisement. Courses at Corona del Mar High School are one year in length unless otherwise stated.
All students must select six courses except seniors who may select to have a minimum five-period day, provided they are on track for graduation. Seniors applying to selective universities are strongly encouraged to take six courses. Students may be required to receive teacher approval, make an application, or participate in audition, reviews, or tryouts in order to qualify for certain classes.
Course Selection In High School
Course Selection: Why Your High School Class Decisions are Important
By Erin Barnes on February 18, 2021
For many high schools, course selection for the next school year begins as early as January. So, the fall is often a good time to contemplate your next steps. While electives and core classes may vary from school to school, there are a few good rules to follow in order to maximize your time in high school.
Assessing Course Levels
Rule 1: Take the Correct Level of Coursework for You
First and foremost, take the correct level of classes so that you will be challenged and successful at the same time. In some high schools, it may be difficult to avoid getting caught up in the pressures of taking the most difficult courses available. While some students might find it in their best interest to take five AP classes during junior or senior year, that path is certainly not the best decision for most students.
Instead, take the most challenging class that you can handle in the subjects that interest you the most. So, if you are stronger in math, take an honors math class, or if you are stronger in history, don’t be afraid to try an honors or AP history class.
Listen to our short conversation with Peter Van Buskirk about the importance of selecting the correct level of coursework during your senior year.
By Erin Barnes on February 18, 2021
For many high schools, course selection for the next school year begins as early as January. So, the fall is often a good time to contemplate your next steps. While electives and core classes may vary from school to school, there are a few good rules to follow in order to maximize your time in high school.
Assessing Course Levels
Rule 1: Take the Correct Level of Coursework for You
First and foremost, take the correct level of classes so that you will be challenged and successful at the same time. In some high schools, it may be difficult to avoid getting caught up in the pressures of taking the most difficult courses available. While some students might find it in their best interest to take five AP classes during junior or senior year, that path is certainly not the best decision for most students.
Instead, take the most challenging class that you can handle in the subjects that interest you the most. So, if you are stronger in math, take an honors math class, or if you are stronger in history, don’t be afraid to try an honors or AP history class.
Listen to our short conversation with Peter Van Buskirk about the importance of selecting the correct level of coursework during your senior year.
Rule 2: Elevate Your Course Difficulty Year Over Year
Another important piece of advice is to evaluate your level of course work, step up your game, and challenge yourself year over year. For example, if during freshman year you took one honors class and four academic classes and you did well, then try taking two honors classes during sophomore year and maybe three or four during junior year.
Developing Your Interests
Rule 3: Focus on Subjects That Interest You
Too many students are worried about selecting classes that might impress colleges. However, one of the most important aspects of high school is to develop yourself as a person. From learning time management to discovering passions, high school is a time when you can explore different fields of study or topics of interest, in particular through elective classes.
The reality is that most admission officers would prefer that you take classes, join clubs, and participate in activities that give a greater insight into who you are as a person.
Take advantage of opportunities to explore new subjects and develop new skills. Through this process you might realize that your ceramics class offers a place for you to destress from the pressures of your core classes, or that your engineering technology class is much more interesting and fun than you would have anticipated.
As a result, you might follow a different path than you ever had previously imagined and learned a great deal about yourself in the process. The best way to accomplish this self-discovery is to take some time to read through your school's course catalog and don't be afraid to try something new.
Completing Your Requirements Rule 4: Research Your Course Requirements
It is important to take the classes that interest you while also making sure that you fulfill the necessary requirements. High schools have a minimum amount of classes that you must take in each core subject to graduate; however, the level of college to which you are applying might have a higher standard.
Most colleges require the core classes of English, math, history, science, and foreign language. Typically, a student's transcript will contain the following number of classes:
Senior Year Selection
Rule 5: Continue to Work Hard During Your Senior
Senior year matters - more than you might think. It is important to discover and challenge yourself throughout high school, including senior year. Colleges are looking for students who are still engaged in the learning process because, you guessed it, college is just an extension of that process.
Former Dean of Admission and Scoir Strategic Advisor, Peter Van Buskirk, explains:
Your senior year course selections reveal a lot about your focus and motivation—and can, by themselves, be determining factors in your admission outcomes. 1) Choose courses that make sense to you—move to the next logical level of rigor in each discipline. 2) Commit yourself to doing as well as possible—never settle for “good enough.” And, 3) focus on colleges that will value you for what you have done—they will see your body of work academically as having prepared you for success at their institutions.
Admission counselors do not want you to take a break from learning or to coast through senior year. In fact, it's just the opposite, since senior year is the last year to show the colleges what you are capable of doing. As a result, many colleges will ask for your senior year's first semester grades prior to deciding on your admittance. Also, if you haven't performed up to your ability in the first three years, look at senior year as a way to prove to colleges that you do have the potential to be successful at their universities.
At the end of the day, you should focus on courses that allow you to discover what you enjoy and what your strengths are. Instead of competing for top-rank among your classmates, channel your energy into activities that allow you to gain a sense of who you are as an individual.
Another important piece of advice is to evaluate your level of course work, step up your game, and challenge yourself year over year. For example, if during freshman year you took one honors class and four academic classes and you did well, then try taking two honors classes during sophomore year and maybe three or four during junior year.
Developing Your Interests
Rule 3: Focus on Subjects That Interest You
Too many students are worried about selecting classes that might impress colleges. However, one of the most important aspects of high school is to develop yourself as a person. From learning time management to discovering passions, high school is a time when you can explore different fields of study or topics of interest, in particular through elective classes.
The reality is that most admission officers would prefer that you take classes, join clubs, and participate in activities that give a greater insight into who you are as a person.
Take advantage of opportunities to explore new subjects and develop new skills. Through this process you might realize that your ceramics class offers a place for you to destress from the pressures of your core classes, or that your engineering technology class is much more interesting and fun than you would have anticipated.
As a result, you might follow a different path than you ever had previously imagined and learned a great deal about yourself in the process. The best way to accomplish this self-discovery is to take some time to read through your school's course catalog and don't be afraid to try something new.
Completing Your Requirements Rule 4: Research Your Course Requirements
It is important to take the classes that interest you while also making sure that you fulfill the necessary requirements. High schools have a minimum amount of classes that you must take in each core subject to graduate; however, the level of college to which you are applying might have a higher standard.
Most colleges require the core classes of English, math, history, science, and foreign language. Typically, a student's transcript will contain the following number of classes:
- 4 years of English
- 3-4 years of math
- 3-4 years of history
- 3-4 years of science
- a minimum of 2 years of foreign language
Senior Year Selection
Rule 5: Continue to Work Hard During Your Senior
Senior year matters - more than you might think. It is important to discover and challenge yourself throughout high school, including senior year. Colleges are looking for students who are still engaged in the learning process because, you guessed it, college is just an extension of that process.
Former Dean of Admission and Scoir Strategic Advisor, Peter Van Buskirk, explains:
Your senior year course selections reveal a lot about your focus and motivation—and can, by themselves, be determining factors in your admission outcomes. 1) Choose courses that make sense to you—move to the next logical level of rigor in each discipline. 2) Commit yourself to doing as well as possible—never settle for “good enough.” And, 3) focus on colleges that will value you for what you have done—they will see your body of work academically as having prepared you for success at their institutions.
Admission counselors do not want you to take a break from learning or to coast through senior year. In fact, it's just the opposite, since senior year is the last year to show the colleges what you are capable of doing. As a result, many colleges will ask for your senior year's first semester grades prior to deciding on your admittance. Also, if you haven't performed up to your ability in the first three years, look at senior year as a way to prove to colleges that you do have the potential to be successful at their universities.
At the end of the day, you should focus on courses that allow you to discover what you enjoy and what your strengths are. Instead of competing for top-rank among your classmates, channel your energy into activities that allow you to gain a sense of who you are as an individual.
Dear Students and Parents,
As students get ready to register for fall semester classes, it is important to think about a few things in order to make the best choices. Our goal is to provide the best education for each student based on a core of knowledge and individual strengths and interests. CdM provides a variety of courses to achieve that goal and student academic pathways are as individual as the students themselves. We hope students and their parents will seriously consider the following factors:
1. Balance – Students need to have balance in their lives. This should include academics (class time and studying), extracurriculars (athletics, clubs, community service, music, drama, work, etc.), social life (family and friends) and personal time (reading, thinking, relaxing).
2. Sleep, Food, Exercise – The average high school student needs eight hours of sleep each night in order to stay healthy, alert and happy. Students should also have at least three healthy meals and some physical activity each day.
3. Time – With eight hours of sleep and six to seven hours at school each weekday, students have roughly nine or ten remaining hours for homework and studying, extracurriculars, social life, family activities and personal time.
We hope that students and parents are considering these factors when selecting classes, especially Advanced Placement (AP) and Honors classes. AP classes are considered college level courses and require more extensive reading, homework and studying than a College Prep class. Honors classes are also more rigorous and require more time and effort. Any AP or Honors course should be selected because the student has the academic capability, interest in the class and time for the work required. The ultimate motive for taking an AP or Honors class should be satisfying intellectual curiosity not peer pressure, competition or college admissions.
Myth #1 – You will not be accepted to a good college unless you have lots of AP and/or Honors classes. Colleges always like to see AP and Honors courses on a transcript if the student has earned an A or a B. That said, colleges also prefer fewer rigorous classes done well over a lot of them done average or poorly. Corona del Mar HS offers many AP and Honors classes, but that does not mean students must take them all or even a majority of them to get accepted to college. There are many great colleges that will accept students with one or two AP and/or Honors classes or even none at all.
Myth #2 – You can easily go from one AP class sophomore year to four AP classes junior year. This would be similar to running one mile on Monday and feeling ready to run 10 miles on Tuesday. Yes, there are some natural athletes that can do this without harm. Similarly, we have a very small number of highly capable students that can handle going from one AP to four AP’s, but the vast majority of our students can’t and shouldn’t. Many juniors also have extracurricular activities that put added pressure on their time and energy. If students are over scheduled and under prepared, they don’t do well on much of anything. We want to keep them happy and healthy both physically and mentally.
Myth #3 – You must take five AP classes senior year to be considered for admission at the highly selective colleges. Those colleges want to know that students they accept can meet the academic rigor they require. Extra APs senior year are no guarantee for proving that and, in fact, may work against them with poor mid-year reports. Colleges also have standardized test scores, teacher and counselor recommendations, essays and GPAs to consider. Don’t be too busy with academics senior year to spend the needed time on your applications letting the colleges know what an interesting, unique and capable person you are.
Myth #4 – You can take the rigorous classes (AP and Honors) and get a tutor to survive. Students in AP and Honors classes need to be authentic matches for those classes and able to do their own work. To see if a class is a good match, find students with your academic level and extracurricular demands that are currently in those AP or Honors classes and ask for their advice. You can also contact the AP or Honors teacher for information about the academic rigor and time needed for the course.
Please help us in finding the right match and balance in your class schedule and in your life. We want happy, healthy and successful students at Corona del Mar HS.
The CdM High School Counseling Department & College Programs Coordinator
As students get ready to register for fall semester classes, it is important to think about a few things in order to make the best choices. Our goal is to provide the best education for each student based on a core of knowledge and individual strengths and interests. CdM provides a variety of courses to achieve that goal and student academic pathways are as individual as the students themselves. We hope students and their parents will seriously consider the following factors:
1. Balance – Students need to have balance in their lives. This should include academics (class time and studying), extracurriculars (athletics, clubs, community service, music, drama, work, etc.), social life (family and friends) and personal time (reading, thinking, relaxing).
2. Sleep, Food, Exercise – The average high school student needs eight hours of sleep each night in order to stay healthy, alert and happy. Students should also have at least three healthy meals and some physical activity each day.
3. Time – With eight hours of sleep and six to seven hours at school each weekday, students have roughly nine or ten remaining hours for homework and studying, extracurriculars, social life, family activities and personal time.
We hope that students and parents are considering these factors when selecting classes, especially Advanced Placement (AP) and Honors classes. AP classes are considered college level courses and require more extensive reading, homework and studying than a College Prep class. Honors classes are also more rigorous and require more time and effort. Any AP or Honors course should be selected because the student has the academic capability, interest in the class and time for the work required. The ultimate motive for taking an AP or Honors class should be satisfying intellectual curiosity not peer pressure, competition or college admissions.
Myth #1 – You will not be accepted to a good college unless you have lots of AP and/or Honors classes. Colleges always like to see AP and Honors courses on a transcript if the student has earned an A or a B. That said, colleges also prefer fewer rigorous classes done well over a lot of them done average or poorly. Corona del Mar HS offers many AP and Honors classes, but that does not mean students must take them all or even a majority of them to get accepted to college. There are many great colleges that will accept students with one or two AP and/or Honors classes or even none at all.
Myth #2 – You can easily go from one AP class sophomore year to four AP classes junior year. This would be similar to running one mile on Monday and feeling ready to run 10 miles on Tuesday. Yes, there are some natural athletes that can do this without harm. Similarly, we have a very small number of highly capable students that can handle going from one AP to four AP’s, but the vast majority of our students can’t and shouldn’t. Many juniors also have extracurricular activities that put added pressure on their time and energy. If students are over scheduled and under prepared, they don’t do well on much of anything. We want to keep them happy and healthy both physically and mentally.
Myth #3 – You must take five AP classes senior year to be considered for admission at the highly selective colleges. Those colleges want to know that students they accept can meet the academic rigor they require. Extra APs senior year are no guarantee for proving that and, in fact, may work against them with poor mid-year reports. Colleges also have standardized test scores, teacher and counselor recommendations, essays and GPAs to consider. Don’t be too busy with academics senior year to spend the needed time on your applications letting the colleges know what an interesting, unique and capable person you are.
Myth #4 – You can take the rigorous classes (AP and Honors) and get a tutor to survive. Students in AP and Honors classes need to be authentic matches for those classes and able to do their own work. To see if a class is a good match, find students with your academic level and extracurricular demands that are currently in those AP or Honors classes and ask for their advice. You can also contact the AP or Honors teacher for information about the academic rigor and time needed for the course.
Please help us in finding the right match and balance in your class schedule and in your life. We want happy, healthy and successful students at Corona del Mar HS.
The CdM High School Counseling Department & College Programs Coordinator