<p>I had been falsely informed by a teacher that my freshman Computer Science course qualified as a fine arts credit....</p>
<p>As a result, I am now in an uncomfortable situation as I enter senior year. My schedule was already pretty full to begin with, and I will need to make sacrifices if I want to fit in an art...</p>
<p>At this point I could:
-Drop AP Chemistry to take an Art along with another single period AP class (Environmental Science, Stats, etc.). I really don't want to do this because I will want that AP Chem credit for Premed. The Honors art class will also slightly weigh my GPA down.</p>
<p>-Take Art History online during the school year for an art credit. The online program offers CP and AP. I'd obviously want to avoid CP so that my GPA doesn't take a heavy hit; however, I don't know if this online program would be able to teach me AP Art History competently. Furthermore, this online program has some sort of final exam that is required for me to get credit; I don't know if my school would have someone proctor it just for me.</p>
<p>-Ignore the fine arts credit requirement, which will prevent me from entering in-state colleges/universities. This option might be okay because I'm only considering one in-state college as a "safety". However, I'm not sure if I would be faced by a similar fine arts credit requirement when I try to apply out of state. If someone could shed some light on this, it would be great.</p>
<p>What do you guys think is the best choice? Thanks in advance to anyone who gives feedback.</p>
<p>I don’t know what your in-state requirements are, but I can’t think of any college that requires a fine arts class as a prerequisite for applying, so that shouldn’t be a concern. But if you plan to use an in-state college as your safety and you’re sure an art class is a necessity, I think it would be foolish for someone on a pre-med track to skip AP Chem to take art. (At the same time, I find it hard to believe that you took a teacher’s word–as opposed to at last a guidance counselor’s–when you were told something as wacky as a computer class satisfying a fine arts requirement.)</p>
<p>I probably should have confirmed with a guidance counselor, but now I see that it wouldn’t have made much difference; my junior year schedule was even more inflexible than my senior schedule. However, if you’re sure that most colleges don’t have fine arts requirements like the colleges in my state, I think I could do with finding another safety.</p>
<p>I’ve never even seen a fine arts course as a recommendation, much less a requirement–hopefully someone else will jump in if they disagree. Of course, I’m assuming you aren’t planning to major in art, in which case an art course in high school would be a plus.</p>
<p>If I were you, I’d speak to an administrator and ask if you can take an art class online/elsewhere instead. It seems like this is a teacher’s fault, not yours.</p>
<p>Am I right in assuming that the visual/performing art requirement to which you are referring is that of the University of California system? If not please ignore this post.</p>
<p>Your high school cannot override this requirement, so there is no point in “negotiating” with your counselor/school.</p>
<p>It seems unwise to me to preclude the UC system from your college list. So I would advise you to meet the requirement. You can self study for the Art History AP Exam or the Music Theory AP Exam, since the requirement is met with a grade of 3 or higher on either of these exams and no formal coursework. The online course you mention may help you in the self study regiment. The one downside of working to satisfy the requirement in this way is that the AP exam is not until June. You or your counselor may need to explain to UC admissions your plan to take the examp in June. In this case admission decisions to the UCs may be conditional on your potential exam score.</p>
<p>F) Visual and performing arts
UC-approved high school courses</p>
<p>One yearlong course of visual and performing arts chosen from the following: dance, drama/theater, music or visual art
AP or IB Examination</p>
<p>Score of 3, 4 or 5 on the AP History of Art, Studio Art or Music Theory Exam;
score of 5, 6 or 7 on any one IB HL exam in Dance, Film, Music, Theatre Arts or Visual Arts
College courses</p>
<p>Grade of C or better in any transferable course of 3 semester (4 quarter) units that clearly falls within one of four visual/performing arts disciplines: dance, drama/theater, music or visual art</p>