Hi everyone, this is my first post on the forum (I’ve lurked around here a few times throughout my time in high school).
Here’s my dilemma. Currently I’m enrolled in 5 AP classes. I am a second semester senior, and I’ve finished submitting all my college apps. I’ve been thinking about dropping AP Computer Science lately because I have a C in the class and there is a real possibility that it can slip even farther. I have not succumbed to senioritis, but my teacher in AP CS has crammed the year long content into first semester. So now, we are learning things that will not be covered on the AP test. We’re also learning some advanced topics that I am struggling to understand. I know dropping this class will look bad when I send out transcripts, but I literally cannot deal with the stress from this class. I’ve been moody, anxious, and extremely stressed due to AP CS. Imagine receiving mostly A’s and a few B’s, and now being confronted with a low C/D+. Should I call ALL of the colleges I applied to and ask what would happen if I dropped the class? I want to make it clear to them that I have technically learned everything this class is supposed to cover (got a B first semester). Another thing is that I applied as an engineering major, so this could look bad as well…
You NEED to tell all the colleges you applied to - if you actually drop the class (especially b/c it's an AP class).
Have you actually dropped the class (yet) or are you planning on doing so?
If I understand this correctly, you learned all (or most) of the AP material needed for the test and now your teacher is teaching you overly challenging (and unnecessary) information (causing a drop in grades) - is this right?
Either way, be careful about how you word this email - you don’t want to come across as making excuses or blaming your teacher. Keep it short and to the point. Good luck
I haven’t dropped the class yet, so I haven’t emailed any colleges
AP CS A, which is a year long course, was taught all within one semester. The teacher is now teaching us extraneous topics that are challenging and severely hurting my grade.
How do colleges respond to these types of situations? Its only the beginning of second semester, so I can probably drag my grade up to a C but the thought of stressing out for 3 more months is painful.
I’d say that part of it really depends on what schools you’re applying to (ex. Ivy League may be problematic).
For the most part for schools you were accepted to, I think that you aren’t in danger of being rescinded if you drop AP CS - although I’ve heard extreme cases before. But for colleges that you haven’t been accepted to, you would risk possible admissions.
There’s no harm in contacting colleges and asking what would happen if you drop courses. I had to drop a course (but it was an elective) and just contacted the universities that I applied to/was waiting on - most replied within 5 days or so and all were okay with it.
Personally, I’m not sure if you should stick with it for 3 more months. You wouldn’t want to risk your grades in your other classes and it’s not worth risking your well being, either.
@ratherbesleeping In the short term, you should check with the colleges and see what impact this has. Many colleges (such as the entire UC system) require you to notify them if you change your senior schedule from what you told them you planned to take,and they use rigor of schedule as well as relevance to your major in making admission decisions.
Longer term, you are fortunate to be taking this class. Let me explain. You write “my teacher in AP CS has crammed the year long content into first semester.” Has he? Here is what the AP class description says
In other words the way your teacher is running the class is at a pace that is nothing more than what is routinely expected from freshman CS and engineering students (all of whom are going to take at least an introductory programming class). You plan to be one of these students in a few months. And this is just one of the classes of this rigor that engineers take each semester.
You write
My advice to you is to think carefully about whether engineering is right for you. What you are doing in this one class is in fact perfectly ordinary for college. But as someone smart enough to be an engineer you should know better than to just take my word for it. Read thru some blogs online talking about the workload such as http://getacollegelife.■■■■■■■■■■/ or, even better, talk to the older siblings of some of your friends who are currently studying CS/engineering.
Note that I am not advising you to change majors. What I am saying is think carefully about the future if you continue down this path. Nationally between one-half and two-thirds of engineering majors end up dropping out of the program. Its hard to get accepted as an engineering major, so just about all of them were smart enough to do the work. My guess is the workload came as a shock to them and they decided it wasn’t worth it.
So that is why I wrote earlier that you are fortunate to take this class. It’s one thing to have someone tell you its tough, you are getting to actually experience it. In fact this is a growing trend in the job market as discussed in the excellent book “Decisive”, an approach called realistic job preview. Its been shown to reduce turnover in stressful jobs; not, as you might think by scaring people away, but by letting them understand in advance what they are getting into so when it happens they aren’t surprised.
Use this class as your chance to understand what 4 years as an engineering major will be like. You won’t be taking just this class, you’ll have 2-3 like it every semester. You’ll spend long nites working out solution sets, weekends studying, you’ll miss parties in order to do homework. If you are willing to do more of what you’re going thru now then its right for you. If it is then I bet you’ll be writing a thank-you letter to this teacher 2 years down the road for letting you know what to expect in college!
I don’t think you should drop the class. As long as you stay at a C, you’ll be fine. But the added knowledge will help you greatly in future engineering classes. Even if you don’t understand it now, it will help you understand it the second time you have to learn it.
For example, I struggled in multivariable calc in high school (barely got a B- ). However, we covered twice what is normally covered in multivar (and in one semester too). Because of this, I have a better understanding of multivar than some of the students at my college that got an A in the class here. The extensions my high school did in math in precalc (which I struggled with greatly) allowed me to ace linear algebra last semester, since I had already seen about 1/2 of the material from precalc and another 1/4 from multivar (multivar is not a prereq here).
I don’t agree with keeping the class. This is an elective and you don’t want to do it. As long as your schedule remains in ‘the most rigorous’ category (per your GC’s rating), then you just need to notify the schools that you have dropped the class in order to have more time to pursue X (which can be an internship, a job, another class , whatever). Check in with your guidance counselor just to be sure that if any school raises questions, that it wouldn’t change his/her rating on the rigor of your transcript - given the number of APs you are already taking, it sounds like it wouldn’t be an issue.
Whether or not you would enjoy pursuing a career in engineering is something to give serious thought to, however. I’m not saying you have to change your application to reflect a different major or undecided. Just be clear if this lack of interest in computer science is consistent with your stated goals.