Dropped AP- how bad is it?

Applying to College
1

<p>I dropped AP Psychology at the end of first semester of my junior year because of the teacher. I love psychology, and I had no problem with the "classwork"--I had a high A at the end of the semester. However, the teacher was new in teaching the subject, as well as teaching an AP course, and lacked organization in how he taught. His classes consisted of skits and substitute (he was gone a lot) work that we would do, but he would never grade. His study guide was identical to the final exam with the exception that the study guide was free response while the final was multiple choice--and he gave out the answers to the study guide before the final exam date. He was extremely obvious in his favoritism to the point of singling out a student's private e-mail address (sharing it with the class) and making fun of both it and the student while he (the student) was not present in the class. </p>

<p>How bad will the drop look on my college applications/will it affect my acceptance chance? I probably won't apply to any of the Ivy leagues, but I will be aiming for schools around the UCs/NYU level. Will I get a chance to explain the situation and even so, will the explanation look like a typical teenager's whiny excuse? </p>

<p>Note- I had three other AP classes along with film and one Pre-AP after the drop. The new class was WWII due to a lack of open spaces in other courses.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>No one cares and it doesn’t matter at all. If you don’t mention it, most schools will assume you had a scheduling conflict or simply didn’t find the subject of interest compared to something else you decided to do instead. I wouldn’t even raise it as a topic. It detracts from much more important aspects of your application where you’d rather the adcom focus his or her attention like the overall rigor of your transcript.</p>