Hello CC community,
I’m currently very torn about a certain academic situation—whether or not to drop AP English Lit.
Reasons to keep AP Lit:
I enjoy the academic material and I want to further my education in the subject.
From an admissions standpoint, taking AP Lit would likely strengthen my application. There is plenty of stress around the college application season, and I do not want to hurt my chances. (I have a 3.6 unweighted, with a strong upward trend, and 2 AP courses from previous years. I’m looking at schools with acceptance rates ranging between 30%-70%).
I have a sizable self-confidence deficiency, so taking a third AP course (I have two others on my schedule) might make me feel slightly less awful about myself.
Reasons to drop AP Lit:
A large amount of stress and time loss due to all the other commitments I have might reduce the quality of my work in this class.
I’m starting to get a little close to the deadline with the summer assignment (although this relates into the first point).
My extreme lack of self-confidence cannot be fixed with another AP course. Although my school is a fairly competitive high school, every student learns differently, and treating AP courses like Pokémon (gotta catch em’ all) is an awful mentality that manifests itself throughout the high school—and it might even hinder learning for some. As part of recognizing the fact that I have two serious mental conditions, I might have to accept the fact that now is not the time to overwork myself—instead, it might be smarter to take a step back, fix the issues, and prepare myself to succeed academically in college.
The most important thing is your own happiness. Senior year is not about getting into college, it’s about having another fulfilling year of your life. I would say drop it. You have four years of college to study literature in an academic context, then the rest of your life to further learn.
I would say drop it and spend time on things you are interested in and enjoy. And we are all still dealing with the very stressful COVID situation. My son dropped the same class and got into his top choice: his reason was to avoid stress.
Might be worth mentioning that I’m working on my Eagle Scout, working on a Capstone Project (major project similar to eagle—it’s a graduation requirement), and I currently have a paid internship that relates to my intended area of study.
And that’s on top of applying to college, a health issue, and most importantly (or at least most time-consuming), I’m the drum major for my high school’s (competitive) marching band.
But my parents are worried that dropping AP Lit will significantly hurt my admission chances…
OK well that seals the deal. That is a lot to deal with. Dropping one AP will not significantly hurt your admission chances. Rigor will be looked at for all 4 years. It’s not like you are going from say from 3APs Junior year to 0 senior year…one class is not going to make a difference.
Have a great year and good luck with your projects!
one AP won’t make or break your application…but the added stress could break you. Not worth it. I opted out of AP US History…at the time I worried that decision would “ruin” my chances at a top college. The teacher was a GPA killer and I already was stacked with AP classes and tons of EC’s…so happy I opted out!! AND ended up at a great college.
From your thread back in March, I would say that your parents are the very last people to whom you should be listening right now. From what you wrote there, your parents are thinking about the prestige of the college which they want you to attend, not about whether you will reach graduation in one piece.
Are you seeing a therapist right now? If so, ask them. If not, you really should see one.
While I lean towards saying that you should drop AP Lit, you also write that you are enjoying it, and it interests you. Is there another AP class which interests you less that you can drop instead?
To expand on my previous post: By coincidence, my mid-thirties son visited me just before this thread. He thanked me for a few things from his upbringing. One of those, seemingly trivial, was that I supported him dropping AP Lit in senior year. He said it made all the difference for that year and he still got into his top choice, one that your parents would be happy with. He also said that that model, of looking after himself by avoiding stress and living with balance, has served him well since then, which makes a decision like this less trivial I guess.
We had one rule WRT AP/DEs in our house; only take them if you’re intellectually curious about the topic, not for college apps. DD skipped AP Lit and took Forensic Science and Theatre 4; they woundup being 2 of her favorite classes in HS. We don’t know you or your parents, so we don’t know if the opinion of a bunch of strangers on an internet forum will sway their decision, but I don’t think dropping one (very time consuming) AP class will sway an acceptance one way or another unless it changes the ability of your GC to mark “most rigorous” on your profile. Check with your GC before making any decisions and have a fun senior year.