***Dropping an Arts class - Will it hurt me?***

Applying to College
1

So, I am currently taking 5 major AP courses at my school. In addition to that, last semester, my 2 electives were Religion and a course on jobsearching and interviewing. This second semester (which just began this week), I will have completed all required courses to graduate and I am actually overcredited at my school ( I have taken almost all the electives we have to offer.) I signed up for dance but I’ve had a change of heart.

Anyway, as my fine arts elective, I have been taking Dance for the past 3 years. Dance was required for 1.5 academic years only, and I took it for 3 years. However, I hate dancing. A lot.

My GC wants me to stick it out for the 2nd semester, so that my transcript will say I’m in enrolled in a fine arts course. She wants me to seem well-rounded, like I need an art form. But really, with college decisions rolling around next month (and likely letters hopefully in a few weeks), will taking 1 more month of dance really impact my admissions outcome? The college will never see my next batch of grades (including dance), as they’re coming out mid-April.

2

@Sally_Rubenstone What do you think, since you were an admission officer?

3

Probably not, but since you have to notify colleges of changes in your schedule, why not ask them directly?

4

@skieurope‌ I was just going to drop it because the admissions officers don’t even know my 2nd semester courses. They’re just going to get the final transcript at the end of the year.

5

If you applied with the common app, you listed your 2nd semester courses there.

6

@skieurope Oh, I forgot about that. I guess I would have to email the colleges. But I don’t want to do it anymore. Don’t care for it.

7

I think it’s fine to drop your dance class.

But, yes, you definitely must notify the colleges of this change. You can do this in a funny way. I laughed when I read, “I hate dancing. A lot” up above. So perhaps you can embellish this into an amusing brief “mini-essay” (and I mean REALLY brief … maybe three sentences … admission folks don’t need any extra essays to read).

Break a leg!