<p>Full disclosure; I am parent, but my D called this AM, asking for my thoughts. </p>
<p>Seems to want to know if she should "drop" a QA class, or one/some of her EC's. Last year she got through one QA class, but just barely. She seems to think this one is going down the same path.</p>
<p>She is seriously involved in four EC'S, which to be honest, is probably why she is at Duke, and why I am paying for a private instead of a UC. H would DEFINITELY disagree, and say he is sacrificing for the academics. </p>
<p>I think she wants to drop the class. Apparently too late for a drop, but not W. It would be her first W, and she is a sophomore. She is hoping to do Duke in New York next fall, and if that happened, and she dropped soon(withdrew from the QA class), could try again as a second semester junior.</p>
<p>I want her to believe she CAN do the QA, if she's willing to sacrifice the EC's, and put the time in. Any thoughts about now vs later, and if later when?</p>
<p>Any other thoughts?</p>
<p>PS; maybe SHE should be posting this,but she is NOT a CC kind of kid....</p>
<p>At this point, it’s already too late to drop and add another course. The withdraw deadline however, is still quite a long time from now (relatively speaking). </p>
<p>So looking at this from an academic perspective, there’s really no harm in taking this for just a bit longer to see whether it can be salvaged (plus to get to know the class in case your D wants to take another shot at it later). That’s what I would do personally, since it really makes no difference at all. </p>
<p>But, on the other hand, if she withdraws now, she’d have more free time in which to pursue her interests which from what you described is a rather significant part of her life. </p>
<p>As for when to take it later, if it’s not a critical pre-requisite and assuming it’s offered on a frequent enough basis (eg not every 2 years or something), then any time is fine. </p>
<p>On a slightly unrelated note (and I really don’t mean to offend by questioning either her decisions or yours), the ECs at Duke is very nice and all, but it has to be said that academics is very important also, especially if any kind of professional/graduate schooling is planned in the future. Employers might not care about it as much, but who knows in this competitive job market (which many expect to remain so in the near future). I’m sure this is sounding very cliche, but as a senior going through the med school application process right now and whose friends are pursuing every option under the sun, I have seen many of them (and myself) regret some of their decisions in the past (and desperately coming up with way to remedy them). That’s why I feel very strongly about it.</p>
<p>I’m just very focused on that stuff at the moment because I’m in the middle of it. With the current job market, I’ve seen some people decide to apply to grad school instead of jobs and find that all of a sudden, there are many like-minded seniors this/last year and graduate schools have become a lot more competitive. </p>
<p>But, I’m sure there are many other perspectives and I only represent a very narrow one.</p>
<p>ok wait I’m confused… maybe its the abbreviation, haha but I can’t tell if this is about a current Duke student or someone who was recently accepter. Anyway, I think I have a similar question.</p>
<p>I was recently accepted ed to Duke and have made some changes to my schedule. My school has trimesters instead of semesters so I switched a class during my third trimester. This is different from dropping a class right? Do I need to notify my admissions officer? What happens if I don’t?</p>
<p>Yes, the OP was talking about a current Duke student. </p>
<p>In your case Dookie2014, it depends on the nature of the class. If the class is a year-long class and you switched in the middle and had told Duke that you were taking it, then you could send a small update. If not, then don’t worry about it. At this point, Duke really doesn’t care about your senior year grades/classes unless you get a D or something.</p>
<p>Shrinkrap: my apologies, I never saw your edits. </p>
<p>If your D was carrying 5 credits, then I would say dropping something is advised unless she absolutely must take those classes. Overloading is really not that fun, especially if you have an active life outside the classroom. </p>
<p>Something else that might be worth considering (though I’m not sure it applies here since your D was overloading) is that sometimes it’s worth it to cut back a little, focus on academics, and pursue those career interests in the context of an internship. A good GPA with summer internship experiences usually stands out more than a low GPA with lots of ECs since with ECs employers/schools might also consider time management as a factor and poor grades generally reflect badly in that regard. </p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, is your D planning to go straight into journalism after school or grad school?</p>
<p>PS: thanks for the kind wishes, I’m almost done with interviews so I’m just sitting on my behind and waiting for those decisions that will (hopefully) start rolling in soon. It’s never wracking. :/</p>