<p>i have a gpa of 3.3 and have taken four out of the six classes offered at my high school in my junior year due to health issues. For my senior year i only need 30 credits to graduate high school so i have decided to take four classes out of the six offered as i want to spend more time studying for my ACT. My question is will it look bad on the college application if i only take four classes out of the six offered. I will still exceed 220 credits needed for graduation by ten additional credits. Please help me out i have to make a decision in one more day.
Thank you</p>
<p>You’ve given too little information for us to really respond fully. I’d say, it depends: On the reason you are taking a lighter schedule, the kind of schools you are applying to, and how your school will treat your schedule. </p>
<p>If you are taking a light schedule just to practice for your ACT, that would definitely looks like you are slacking. If you are applying only to community colleges or to other schools that are not selective, it may not make much difference - but will you be prepared to carry a full academic load at college if you haven’t done it in 11th or 12th grade? Schools will wonder. And if you are applying to even moderately selective schools, they will expect to see some academic rigor. If you had a light program in 11th-even for health reasons- and again in 12th, it still raises questions about your ability to handle a full load of college courses successfully.</p>
<p>When you apply to schools, your guidance counselor has to fill out a form for the colleges comparing you to the other students in your class - describing how rigorous your program was compared to theirs. Will you get a good evaluation from the gc? Does it matter? (Maybe not if you are going to community college). </p>
<p>If you are really committed to taking less than a full course load in your senior year (a risky move since you didn’t take a full course load in junior year either), at least make sure you are doing something more productive with your time than studying for the ACT -which will be done by winter anyway. A job? An internship? Graduate early and take some ‘gap year’ time?</p>
<p>i am planning on applying to the following colleges:
- penn state- harrisburg
- umass- amherst
- ohio state university
- Temple university
- chico state university
- san jose state university</p>
<p>this is the college list for now and as long as i am completing the credit requirement to graduate, does it matter? even after taking 4 courses in my junior year, i am still ahead of all the other kids who require 40-50 credits in their senior year and i require only 30 credits.</p>