What do colleges think when they see a high school student drop a class in high school, within the first week of school?
I’m a junior in high school and I began classes yesterday. So far everything is so stressful with my classes and prep for the ACT and SAT.
Yesterday, I dropped out of a class, English 3H. I really want to take the class itself, but from what I’ve heard the teacher is seriously difficult and most of her students fail her class. My English skills and writing isn’t the best, last year in 2H I had difficulty maintaining a A in the class, and I have AP Bio, Pre-Cal, and prepping for the ACT/SAT. With the consent and agreement of my parents, I dropped the 3H down to a 3P class, a regular class.
I’m now thinking of dropping another class, ROP Criminal Justice. I didn’t want that class, but my counselor placed me in it to fill the first semester, with Health in the second semester. I’m not really interested in the class and I want more time for my other classes and such.
Any advice for me?
And is there a penalty for dropping a class during the first week of school?
My school allows changed during first two weeks of school, but do colleges see the drop on my transcipt? I really want to get into UCI, UCR, or Cal State Fullerton, but I don’t want these choices mess up my future.
Please and thank you for your help!
Every HS is different, so you need to ask these questions of your GC.
For my D’s school, they would not even show a dropped class in any record when it is done within the add/drop time. It just like that class was never registered
Agree with @billcsho ^^^. My son’s HS handled the add/drop in the same way.
Thank you for your replies so far, thank you so very much!!
Also, I have another question: Including both sophomore and this year, junior year, I’ve only taken 2 AP classes, AP World and AP Bio. I’m unable take any other AP course because of a rigid schedule (But I could take AP English Lang, but writing isn’t my specialty, and my grades in 2H were hard to maintain because of my essays and writing skills. So I rather not…)
Is 2 AP courses enough for the two years? I plan to take more during senior year, but I want to know if one AP course for the two school years is enough or good enough for colleges so far?
I see my friends, who have and more relaxed schedule then myself with 2 or 3 AP courses, so I’m not sure with myself.
You want to take the most rigorous HS schedule that school offers. How many are the top students taking and how many are offered at your HS? My son’s HS offered 12 AP classes and the top students were taking between 8-12 over the 4 years.
@Gumbymom My school offers about 14 AP classes, with only 1 allowed sophomore year and 6 for junior year.
I took the only one allowed in sophomore year and this year just AP Bio. It’s because for AP Eng Lang, I asked for the class during registration but wasn’t placed into it ((the honors course for Eng 3 is said to be harder)) and I’m not confident of my skills in English; there’s Calculus AB AP, which I’m allowed to transfer into since the school policy about pre-cal first was changed, but it isn’t recommended; I can only take one AP science class, which I am taking; and I can’t ask for AP US because the class is full and I’d rather not have the reading load of AP US, AP Bio, and my prep for ACT/SAT combined everyday.
From what I hear, the top students take at least 5 or 6 courses over the four years. I plan to take 2 more next year so that the totally would be 4 in my 3 years capable of taking AP courses. But I plan on (maybe) taking some AP exams without the class with free studying and such as well.
My school doesn’t allow for freshmen to take AP courses, so our students are at a disadvantage.
If the school offer 12 AP course, it is usually unlikely to have one taking all 12 AP as some would be for world language. Also, most students would not taken AP Calc AB and BC sequentially.
Course rigor depends on what the school offer and the limit of the school. Some schools only allow AP in senior. Some schools set a quota. One should just ask the GC to see what would be considered most rigor at their HS. In most cases, you don’t need to be overwhelmed with AP classes to be considered the most rigor (although that is the case for many schools in CA, NJ, and NY). What is more important, or as important, is to maintain a very good GPA. It would have an adverse effect if taking more AP may lower your GPA.
Transcripts show a grade. The registrar at your school would go nuts if he/she had to report every class change. The transcript record and grade appears at the end of the semester. One week is nothing.
If you hope to attend a UC, they look at SAT and GPA so, your 10th and 11th courses, as well as rigor, are extremely important. I agree with @Gumbymom, it is rigor, and maintaining a high GPA along with the EC’s/essay that get you in. Those AP courses help with the GPA. My son’s school also did not allow AP classes in freshman year. There were approximately 16 AP classes on his campus and he took 14 of those AP’s.
Taking an AP class, during senior year, will not factor into your admissions GPA when you apply to the UC’s.
From what you’ve explained, it doesn’t sound like you will be meeting your A-G requirements. It sounds like you are avoiding any class in which you think your ability will result in a weakened GPA. Where is your foreign language? Where is your performing arts requirement? Self-studying the AP’s is tough because you won’t get the daily experience and critiques from peers or your a teacher. The discipline has to be there, every day.
You may want to consider going to a CC first because getting into a UC or CSU requires strong English skills in grammar, essays, interpretation, etc. How can an Honors English class be more difficult than an AP English course? That doesn’t make sense unless it is a senior level course. When you avoid those courses, in order to try to get a better GPA, it will be very noticeable on your transcript.
Taking self study AP tests will likely do you no good. For one, you would need to take the test this year for the score to be available when you apply. What will show from this schedule change is that you are not taking the most challenging courses.
All the more reason to work on it in HS before you get to college. My writing was atrocious when I went off to college and my grades suffered for it.
@aunt bea I’m meeting my A-G requirements, I’m taking a third year of French this year and I’ve completed my performing arts requirement in sophomore year.
The only class that I’m avoiding in AP Eng Lang because I know my capabilities in English; I had originally wanted to go to AP Eng Lang, but my 2H teacher was a bit bias and I didn’t get the recommendation needed to get into the class. The teacher demands her students to be able write an essay in about 30 minutes, I know that I can’t do that, I could only probably finish 2 paragraphs with that time limit. I’m capable of writing a good essay, but with at least a week on my side.
The Eng 3H is known to have a harder teacher, the class’ rigor should be a bit below an AP class, but she pushes her students even more than the AP Eng teacher does and is known to be an extremely difficult teacher even to other teachers; she also known to be bias and like only certain students.
I’m not trying to get a better GPA I’d like to take other AP classes other than AP Bio, but my schedule is rigid:
Eng 3P
US History P
French 3P
Pre-Calculus
AP Bio
ROP Criminal Justice (I’d like to drop this class though…)
I can’t ask for another sixth period because the class I’m in is a semester class. I know I won’t do well in either AP Eng and 3H if there are timed writes and such. And, I’d like to get into AP US, but the class is full and the counselor can’t fix that.