My school is on a block schedule so we have 4 classes from August to December and then another 4 from January to May after winter break. We can alter our classes at the beginning of each new semester and so hypothetically speaking, if I were to be admitted to my ED school, would it look bad if I dropped some of my spring semester AP courses for a lighter course load? I am currently scheduled to take AP French, AP Stats, health, and AP Gov/econ but would really want to drop AP French for a free period and AP Gov/econ for regular gov/econ. This change would have to be reported to the school, of course, but would there be harsh consequences for doing so? I may very well likely be not even admitted to my ED school so this post may become highly irrelevant very soon and I would just keep my current course load since it will be considered for regular decisions but I was still wondering… any input is greatly appreciated!
You had to put courses you were planning on taking this year on your application, right? So you would have to notify them of that change at your ED school. I don’t know how much it hurts you; that probably depends on the school. Dropping for a free period probably does not look good, unless you have a decent reason for doing so.
Read the conditions of your admission letter. It probably says that you have to complete you in progress and planned courses with sufficiently high grades.
So changing your schedule without telling the college about it (and getting approval if that is done after admission) risks rescission when they find out next summer on your final high school transcript.
Last year, D19 was accepted to a school with rolling admission in September. After her acceptance, she decided to change her spring semester schedule - dropping a full year honors course for a different half year honors course. The dropped class went on her transcript as WP (withdraw passing). She simply emailed her AO prior to the change and he replied - “no problem”.
Depending on the school, not only do you need to notify the ED school of a second semester change, you may need their explicit approval…which was D19’s case last year.
D19 dropped an AP course at the semester (not a core AP), going to a non-AP class in the same subject area that was at the SAME level (high honors) on the HS class weighting system, and getting approval for that change from her ED school was an Ordeal, with a capital ‘O’.
Tread lightly. What does your acceptance letter say? Last year, D19 was accepted via ED to her college and her acceptance letter stated any changes to the level of her classes (i.e. dropping an AP class for a regular class) had to be approved by admissions. Had she sought a schedule change, she would have been required to submit her proposed changes to admissions with an explanation for the change. Rescission was a consequence if she changed her schedule without approval.
“would it look bad if I dropped some of my spring semester AP courses for a lighter course load?”
Yes.