I am so incredibly busy this year. I am spending the majority of my day participating in meaningful activities. I practice tennis 4ish hours a day and sometimes have to miss school for tournaments around the country (I am not really looking towards getting requited because my win/loss record leaves a lot to be desired) , help my parents with their business and run a non-profit with my brother, so my light schedule isn’t due to a lack of motivation. I usually have a really rigorous schedule (1 AP freshmen year, 4 in soph and 4 in junior) , but this year it’s so light that I worry it will immediately raise red flags to colleges. I want to major in engineering and I am looking into the Ivies and universities of similar caliber.
Senior course load:
AP Chem
AP Calculus BC
Honors Physics
Spanish 4 Honors
Drivers Ed
(I am a virtual school/part-time homeschooler)
I was taking AP Computer Science Online but I had to drop it, because I literally did not have the time. And I am also not taking an English because I have all my credits (English I, English II, AP Lit and AP Lang)
Will this dramatic decrease in course difficulty impact me negatively? (I know it doesn’t look good, but will it be THAT bad?) Or will colleges understand that I was spending my time doing other important things?
Thank you!
I think it will hurt you with schools of that caliber, honestly. Academics are first. Do you have test scores, including SAT II scores yet?
That’s what I thought. I took the act last year and got a 32, and I am waiting for my September scores. Although I’m feeling a 34. I am taking an SAT 2 Test every month, Chemistry, Math 2 and US history. Which is also a reason why I have so little time…
"I practice tennis 4ish hours a day and sometimes have to miss school for tournaments around the country (I am not really looking towards getting requited because my win/loss record leaves a lot to be desired) "
Your only viable option for coming up with the time needed for more academics would be to drop the tennis, or to cut back on it drastically. However, right now tennis is indeed very important to you, and you may prove to be a recruitable candidate somewhere. Unless you feel a particular need to graduate at the end of this academic year, you could consider slowing down the academics, concentrating on your sport, and graduating a year later after you have taken all of the academic coursework that you want to.
Thank you for your reply! I was set to graduate early last year and decided to take an extra year for tennis…which is also why me schedule is so weird. I had all my credits last year, and am running out of classes to take. I have taken all possible english classes 2 of which were AP , I have 7 math credits and 3 were AP, 5 science and 2 were AP and 5 social studies/history 4 were AP…so I mean my schedule had 11 AP’s…so I’m not a slacker but I guess applying with a dramatic decrease in course difficulty is a pretty big risk. Would you say that taking on AP Computer science is enough to fix everything?
It wouldn’t be easy to manage but I could try to figure it out.
Not having any English nor any social science will raise a red flag. It doesn’t have to be AP’s - if your virtual school offers seminars on specific topics, why not take them since you’re covered as far as HS graduation requirements go?