I am only taking 4 classes my senior year. 3 of them are AP and the other is anatomy. I am also self studying for 2 other AP tests that my school does not provide. The reason I am only taking 4 classes is at the beginning of the school year I had surgery and missed 3 weeks of school, so I decided to drop my electives. Are colleges going to be concerned that I only took 4 classes? Is this a red flag for them? I am applying to some top 50 institutions if that makes any difference.
Does your school have a rule about how many academic classes you need to be enrolled in? 5 is the minimum for most high schools.
If you can get a counselor letter explaining the surgery, do it ASAP.
Does your gc explain the surgery and link it to your having a lighter load.
The gc should also mention you’re studying independently for two other classes not offered by the school.
Check whether she/he did that.
my school does not have a rule about how many classes to take @Hamurtle
My 1st semester grades have not come out yet so I haven’t sent a mid year report to any school and therefore I don’t believe my counselor has said anything about my surgery or the ap classes I’m independently studying for. @MYOS1634
Actually, i remember my principal talking to the senior class and saying that colleges look for at least 4 classes. At that moment, I thought it would be ok to drop my electives because of my surgery. But now I’m worried cause my schedule looks like I completely blew off my senior year
Make an appointment with your GC for tomorrow. no excuses, go, and ask point blank whether s/he wrote that your schedule is lighter because of the surgery.
What do I do if he says he didn’t?
Ask whether he might be willing to write it up in the Midterm Report, like “Nota Bene/NB: this schedule includes 4 classes because Banjoel had surgery had the beginning of the year and it was judged unwise for him to try and take more due to his long hospitalization. However he has since his return started to study two extra classes independently, AP … and AP … for which he is expected to take the exam in May.”
My kids school calls online classes ed release as a class, is your self study abstract or are you actually doing a curse of study with grades etc?
No, don’t say “unwise,” it can lead to speculation about your strengths or lack of them. It must be worded positively. eg, that having missed 3 weeks, you focused your attention on the APs, are doing well, teacher feedback is positive, etc.
^yes, that’s better. 
But basically the GC has to explain the reasoning and the existence of the two other classes you started later on.
Those 2 AP’s that I mentioned are not online classes. I took it upon my self to self study for both AP macroeconomics and World History though prep books at home. However, I feel like I might also have to self study for ap stats because my statistics teacher is not helpful at all.
Does this sound like way too much work?
Also, i just wanted to say that I just set up an interview for tomorrow with my counselor, and also thank all of you for helping me out!
Good job for the appointment :); prepare it well
So I just met with my counselor, and he said he will write whatever I need him to write in the mid year report.
I have come up with this:
“This schedule includes only four courses because Banjoel had a serious surgery at the beginning of the year (September) and was forced to miss 3 weeks of school. Therefore, he decided to drop his electives (finance, bible) to focus on his 3 ap classes and the other core class (anatomy). Banjoel is doing quite well in his classes and all his teachers love him. Also, as Banjoel has recovered well since his surgery, he has decided to also self prep for two more ap tests (macroeconomics and world history) and also take a dual credit calculus course at a local community college during second semester (which I am, I just haven’t mentioned in this thread). All in all, Banjoel is taking 5 AP tests in may (in parentheses are the subjects) and a dual credit calculus course for his senior year”
What do you guys think? @MYOS1634 @lookingforward How does this sound and is this a strong enough curriculum for top 50 colleges?
Change that paragraph to:
Banjoel underwent surgery with a 3-week hospitalization at the beginning of the Fall semester. For this reason his schedule includes 4 classes (…, …, …, …), which were then complemented by two further AP classes (Macroeconomics, World History) that he began outside the school setting once he was recovered. Spring semester, he is fully recovered and is taking dual credit calculus at the local community college in addition to the schedule above. He is scheduled for the 5 AP exams in May.
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What AP classes are you taking?
Either works for me. The first is a bit wordy, but some GCs are like that. Myos offers a tighter version.
Should be no issue dropping those two particular classes.
Now, see how you tackled this? Good.
The AP classes are stats, micro, and lit, which is all my school provides. @MYOS1634