Curating Your Perfect Course Schedule
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Every February, Hamber students begin choosing their courses for the next school year through MyEducation BC. Specialized options include fine arts electives, service classes, and an assortment of AP classes.
Many senior students choose courses based on the programs that aim to pursue in post-secondary. Ethan Sham (12) decided to prioritize taking courses that related to the commerce program he aims to attend, while also balancing his choices to allow time to develop a personal profile and gain volunteer experience, which helped make his application well-rounded.
Sham recounted that “both business schools of SFU and UBC [..] recommend you to take something economics related [...] or something to do with finance,” which led him to choose business-related courses offered at Hamber. Sham recommends that students look at required or recommended prerequisites for the programs they are interested in, to help select the right courses.
If researching post-secondary programs seems too overwhelming, other options exist to curate a successful schedule. Students have also gotten advice about choosing courses by asking older students about their experiences. Evan Kwoo (11) didn’t have to look far for help. “I think all of the electives I took were electives that my sister took,” he said. “I just copied my sister.”
With some of these electives, Kwoo had scheduling issues that surprisingly led to positive experiences. He had originally chosen to take woodworking but didn’t end up getting the course; instead he had to take photography. “It was negative at first [...] I was pretty mad that I didn’t get woodwork, but I ended up liking photography,” Kwoo said regarding the switch.
Willow Peterson (11) also had scheduling issues that ended in positive outcomes. Peterson, interested in pursuing the sciences in post-secondary, said that last year she had a hard time committing to taking AP Physics 1. She “kept switching back and forth between [...] taking it and not taking it,” but throughout her selection process, she found that the counselors were “really supportive and [they] wanted [her] to get into the course.” Peterson also struggled with not being able to take Calculus 12 in person at Hamber. However, she took the course online, and found it to be easier.
Similar to Sham, Peterson recommends choosing courses based on what you are interested in pursuing after high school. She suggests setting yourself up for success by taking courses related to your preferred major and not straying too far off that path by taking unnecessary courses.
To curate your perfect schedule, many factors have to be taken into consideration, such as what you are interested in and what you want to do in the future. However, you also have to consider how all of the courses you want will fit together and certain prerequisites you may need to take before choosing a course.