Dropping from Honors to CP Class mid-year?

Applying to College
1

How bad is it to drop from an honors class to a college prep class mid year?
For example, if you are taking English Honors, but you decide to drop to Regular English second semester?

Would it be looked upon negatively by college admissions?

I got an A first semester in English Honors, but it really took me like 10 all nighters and sacrificing studying time and socializing time for me. In my free time, I can actually spend time to grasp concepts in my other classes better.

It will just show I took honors on my transcript first semester, but reg english during second.

2

If you are aiming for the top schools it won’t look great IMO.

3

If you can’t get an A in Honors English without pulling 10 all nighters then you shouldn’t be aiming for top schools. I hope OP isn’t aiming that high.

4

@me29034 if you click on the OP’s name you will see he has started several threads in the UPenn forum.

5

If the OP is aiming for Penn then it would be a misstate to drop down in English IMO.

6

Thanks guys. I have decided to drop down to CP English. I know that it is a bad idea if I am aiming for UPenn, but in my situation, it is the best I can make out of a bad situation because then I would have more time to maintain an A in my STEM related honors/ AP (Precalculus Honors <-- brutally hard, Chemistry Honors, AP Computer Science)

PS. Part of the problem is that I am not being prepared for APENG that well at all. My teacher doesn’t teacher well, but is brutally hard :\

How would it look if I jumped back to APENG in 11 and 12th grade?
I’m thinking of not doing that, because I actually like to spend my time learning French w/ my French teacher. He is known for writing amazing, AMAZING, letters of rec and bragging about the rigorous curriculum, extracurriculars, and stuff. Even if he doesn’t know you that well he writes it AMAZINGLY, and it is even more awesome if you know him and talk to him outside of class regularly. In fact, he’s the reason I have fallen in love with French. In the past 5 years, he has written letters of rec for 2 people who got into Harvard, 2 into Cornell, 10 into UCLA, 8 into UC Berkeley, 1 into MIT, 4 into Dartmouth. Keep in mind that he only writes 20 letters of rec every year.

Any feed back is appreciated you guys! I just don’t want to waste 2 hours everyday on an extra AP, if I can spend time doing something I like, and end up getting an amazing letter of rec along the way.

7

@mikemac yeah i know. i get a little overboard sometimes posting on C ;-;

8

What makes his influence even more amazing is UCLA and Cal did not even accept letters of rec until the current year (for which results have not yet been announced) :wink:

9

@mikemac
I think maybe the UC schools requested the letters later in the year? Maybe something that is individual or supplemental. Then I guess your right. If they don’t require letters of rec, and they got into those schools with my teacher’s letters of rec, then I guess his recs truly must be amazing. that is good newws for me lol!!! XD

10

Your threads have mainly been about taking the less rigorous choice. That may be the best path for you (I don’t agree that AP.Bio is useless) but understand and accept the impact of taking that path on applications to schools like Penn.

Receiving an A in Honors English first semester and then dropping down to CP English second semester will be a red flag to the admissions office. What kind of student does this? I would read this student as someone who voluntarily stepped away from rigor

11

Nope (10 char)