So, a tiny bit of senioritis has kicked in, and I really want to drop APES. Here’s my other classes for this semester:
AP Psych, AP Micro, AP English Lit, AP Stat, Dual Enrollment Anthropology, dual enrollment Italian 1
I’ve already taken all of the tougher APs (Physics 1 + 2, Chem, Calc AB/BC, US History, Lang, etc). By graduation, I’d have 15 APs and 3 dual enrollment classes, not counting APES. So will dropping it really make a difference? I already would feel overloaded with all the other classes I have. The one other issue is that environmental science is my second choice of major (econ is my first) and primary career interest on most of my college apps. I would drop one of the others, but they are all required for me to graduate.
hmmm… i don’t know. personally, i would tough it out. however, if you really want to drop it, it’s up to you. if you do, make sure you notify your colleges about changing your schedule.
Well, do you have any college acceptances yet? To what schools have you applied?
Dropping a course at this point means your guidance counselor needs to indicate on your mid-year reports to colleges that there has a been a change to your academic schedule. So…it won’t go unnoticed by admissions offices.
I think if you had dropped it before it would show up on your mid-year report the effect would be very small. You don’t need to have more than 6 courses, with 4 APs, and it’s not a core subject.
The problem is how it looks to competitive schools to drop an AP class in January. I’d talk with your counselor about how it would appear on your report and how it might affect the schools you’ve applied to. It probably would be best to tough it out if you can get at least a B- for the semester, and at least a C by the end of the year.
Unless you are failing or the workload is beyond stressful for you, if I were you, I would stay in the class. It looks better than dropping a class. But if you are failing or miserable, drop it, and you certainly still will look like you have taken a rigorous schedule.
Nobody has a crystal ball to know how any admissions officer will react to your choice. But they are likely to notice, as noted above.
@TheGreyKing Thanks! I just want to enjoy a little bit of the last semester of HS…with ECs and seven college level classes I’d only be doing homework in my free time.
You could also stay in the class but choose socialization above homework a few times second semester, and maybe get a B+ instead of an A in one or two courses. Your admission is extremely unlikely to be rescinded for some B’s— although suddenly dropping from A’s to getting straight C’s (and certainly failing multiple classes) might be a problem.
I think, for top students, it is hard to even imagine not putting your best effort into everything you do. But based on your description of yourself, you probably will still get pretty good grades if you allow yourself the luxury of occasionally choosing a social event above more hours of studying.
(I have been hoping my son would relax a little more since he got into his top choice early decision, but he still seems to be working pretty hard! His schedule is like yours— all AP classes. He does, however, spend some time with friends on the weekends and enjoy his extracurricular activities, and he really enjoys what he is learning in school and in his readings, so I think he is having a happy senior year!)
@TheGreyKing@Wilson98@kalons So my RD schools would only see the change in the mid year report… they would see that I dropped an AP and also would see an addition of two dual enrollment courses (the ones I mentioned above). Would this “even it out”? Especially if the norm in my school is for students to take four classes per semester?
I applied to all my reaches RD so I don’t want a change like this to ruin my chances.
We’re all just speculating, but it does seem that if your school typically has four classes per semester and you show a mid-year report with four APs, two dual enrollments, and a dropped class it won’t look that bad if all your grades are really good.
Still, for reaches you want to look better than just typical, so sticking it out even if your final grades slip a bit could be better for you.
@ga1130, you didn’t apply early to any of your reaches? If you were one of my students, I’d advise you to just stick it out. @TheGreyKing gave you very good advice- you don’t need an A+, you can still socialize.
I wouldn’t take the chance, and I wouldn’t advise one of my students to take the chance.
@STF4717@Wilson98 So I decided to self study for APES instead, because I really am interested but the actual course is very work-heavy and I wouldn’t be able to handle it with 4 other APs. Should I inform colleges about self studying the course?
