Hello! I’m going to be a rising senior in high school this coming fall semester and I was wondering if taking two off-blocks would look bad on college apps for top colleges- specifically MIT (dream school).
My current corse load is Orchestra, AP Biology, AP Economics (Macro+Micro), AP Lang, Honors Comp Sci IV, and Multi-Variable Calculus. I’ve already maxed out all my science and math classes at my high school and I don’t know what else to take.
I have considered signing up for courses at my local community college, but the commute there to take tests is ~40 minutes and testing hours are usually during the school day/when my parents are at work. I also don’t know how to drive…
If anyone has any advice for me or reassurance (haha), please feel free to share! Thank you!
Have you spoken to your GC about options of courses. You say you have maxed out on science and math. What about the humanities, social sciences. What about PE and health…not required at your school? No more foreign language?
My GC said taking two off-blocks was okay and she’s never really advised me to take more courses, but I’m still a little bit concerned.
Humanities/Social Science: I’ve already taken APHUG, APWH, Government (summer class), and US History (summer class). My school offers AP Psychology and Euro, but my school’s Euro teacher is infamous for being an extremely harsh and strict, and my school’s Psych course is known for being notoriously ‘useless’ as the teachers apparently don’t teach. While these are both options, I don’t want to cry because of a class during senior year, and I actually want to take a class I can enjoy and learn something in.
PE + Health: I was on my school’s varsity tennis team my freshman year (PE credit fulfilled) but had to quit due to several repeated leg injuries+scheduling conflicts. Joining tennis again this year isn’t really an option because I uH have a bit of beef with the tennis coach. I also don’t really see the point of taking another PE course/Gym when I’ve already gotten the credit needed to graduate… Health isn’t required at my school, but I have already taken it.
Foreign language: I did 3 years of Chinese. My school has this policy where if you take the AP exam and pass, taking the language again won’t count towards your GPA and they throw you back into the AP class. I don’t want to retake the exact same class T^T…
Could you take an online class (I know you’re probably tired of them), or TA for a teacher, or use it as an independent study period for something like an individual project?
I didn’t apply to MIT, but I did well in admissions with a similar courseload, and I went the online class route for one of my three free periods.
I was actually planning on using my off-blocks as being a TA for my Physics teacher and working on my research project, but my school classifies independent studies/TA work as “off-blocks”. So even if I decide to be a TA or do an independent study, it’ll still show up as an off-block on my transcript.
I will definitely look into some online courses! The issue with this though is that only classes taken through our community college show up on our transcript, and the online courses taken at the community college require in-person tests for high school students. But I think taking some online courses for fun would be nice.
Thanks!
What about art or music classes? Our high school requires two classes along with two business classes, three PE/Health. I think showing some interest in the arts/music/business is only a good thing. I love the idea of being an asst for a teacher. Enjoy your senior year, you already have a really hard schedule. My son has 11 AP classes yet he has taken handbells, art, plus about 5-6 other electives.
@aad92 senior year, both of my kids took culinary arts. They loved it. When they were cleaning out high school “stuff” the only things they kept were their culinary arts notebooks…one was foods and the second semester was pastries.
That seems like a good plan! Your transcript isn’t your be-all, end-all. Either your guidance counselor can write about it in their recommendation or your can note that an off-block was used for this purpose in additional info, but due to your school’s transcript requirements, it’s not on there. That’s actually the same situation that I was in–I just sent proof of enrollment in my class to my guidance counselor.
I think if you meet your HS requirements and the college requirements - then your schedule is fine. My daughter had a similar schedule - but she checked the HS and college boxes and it didn’t hurt. She also had nutrition - a regular class, and loved it.
You still have rigor - and that’s what matters.
Just know the schools you are looking at are near impossible for all - so if you get turned down, don’t assume it was because of this and second guess yourself.
TA and volunteer during those blocks. Your course load is plenty.
Study Hall and “off blocks” are not usually on the official transcript sent anywhere, just on your schedule you see. There may be a way for the TAing to show up as workstudy. Ask the guidance counselor.
Good luck on your applications. Be genuine and remember you need teacher recommendations, so you might want to repair any “beefs” you have ongoing with coaches or teachers.
See if the CC published exam schedules for Fall 2020 and Spring 2021: these often don’t change, MWF 8 am=> exam 2nd day of exams, 4th period, this type of things. You may be able to choose a CC class with exams in the late afternoon or early evening?
Have you taken physics? If not, that’s rhe course Id prioritize considering your interests.
I think most schools have 8 blocks. One is for lunch. One is for study hall, lab, health/gym, etc. Most students would take 5 academic classes (Math, English, Science, History, Language) plus an elective, plus lunch and that free period as noted above.
So, you’ve already got a very rigorous course load. Sounds as if you’re planning on engineering, so your applications probably won’t benefit from taking an online college-level Chinese Literature class. You’ve got a rigorous science, English, Math, social science (Econ), Comp Sci, and Orchestra. I think you are TOTALLY fine with this. The only thing that you could do that might help you get into MIT would be prepping to raise your SAT to stratospheric level, or some incredible engineering research project that would be done/published/win award before February, 2022 (unlikely). As for the other tippy-top schools, if you haven’t done some type of creative, extroverted service project, like organizing your classmates to provide a free “discover the fun of engineering/coding/math” for elementary and middle school students in a nearby poor district for this August or fall, then you might want to consider doing something like that. I don’t know that it would matter for MIT, but it would matter for the Ivies.
Otherwise, I’d consider taking a popular life-skills elective with a good instructor. Something like cooking. Or driver’s ed. You’re definitely going to have enough on your plate with that course load and college applications. I would not go out of your way to take a community college class, unless it’s something that you really want to take, completely aside from buffing your credentials.
okay! thank you!
i was originally planning to use these off-blocks to continue my camp research, and i’ve already previously published a paper. these past few years i’ve also been teaching math classes and coaching my local middle school’s math club (located in a rather poor district).
hopefully my essays are good- i’m crossing my fingers for an acceptance this december!
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it’s just the tennis coach- i left on an iffy note and i’m not really planning on asking him for a teacher rec