Pressure, expectations, ambitions, and most of all college admissions are the factors that go into building a schedule. For many, creating a schedule goes beyond selecting seven courses on Infinite Campus.
Parental expectation is a big contributor to rising anxiety levels among high schoolers, as shown in a 2021 study by the Institute of Basics of Health Sciences.
“My parents pushed me, and I wanted success for myself,” junior Colin Amen said.
Amen said that he signed up for APUSH and Honors English without much hesitation, thinking that the more advanced classes would help him get into his dream college. But he didn’t anticipate how hard it would be to fit in the coursework with ASB and water polo.
Junior Milo Stevenson said he got advice from his parents when he was selecting his schedule for junior year.
“My parents didn’t want me to be breathing through my schedule,” Stevenson said. “I also wanted to have time to be able to do other things I enjoy.”
A March 2025 Pew Research Center report said that about 68% of teens say they feel a great deal or fair amount of pressure to get good grades for college-related reasons. For many, weighted classes aren’t just an opportunity, they feel like a must.
Junior Matias Seelenberger said he picked his classes with college on his mind, however, he said he also carved out time for a class he chose because of personal enjoyment: acting. Still, the balance is difficult.
“I’m sacrificing sleep, and I can’t really go to debate until football [season] ends,” Seelenberger said.
Junior Leyton Poole tried to balance between GPA and free time, selecting some of his courses based on his interest in the course, and the others because they were weighted.
Other students aimed to balance their schedules with both rigorous courses and classes for personal interest
“I picked my courses half on if I was going to enjoy the class and the other half for GPA and weighted classes,” junior Leyton Poole said.
But course decisions don’t always happen independently. Students often rely on the advice of peers who have gone through the same classes before them.
“I think that lots of younger students rely on the opinions of people they know and trust who have already taken the class,” senior Meher Bachher said. “It was especially helpful for understanding how to balance it with everything else, not just the workload.”
Bachher said her strategy when selecting courses is to sign up for all the courses she wants regardless of their difficulty, and see how it goes later so she is in a position where she is forced to balance it out.
“I think classes like APUSH are really rewarding, and what I usually tell people is to believe in themselves,” Bachher said. It’s empowering to take hard classes and do well.”
“[My courses are] hard, but I wouldn’t change anything because I believe it will pay off in the end,” Amen said.
The PHS class of 2025 valedictorian Gus Von Metzsch said that looking back, he would still choose the same schedule he had in high school.
“It let me explore a variety of interests while still going deep in the subjects I cared most about,” Von Metzsch said. “That preparation was invaluable once I got to college where the workload is substantially higher.”
Von Metzsch said that he encourages younger students to push themselves whenever possible because that is how one can discover and expand their boundaries.
“Ultimately, there isn’t one right way to build a schedule,” Bachher said. “Everyone has to choose the classes that fit them best.”
