I just changed my high school schedule and my forth period class is something classed O-lab. O-lab is a non-credit class where you work on online classes of your choosing.
My schedule:
AP Chemisty
AP U.S Government/AP Macroeco
AP Calulus BC
O-Lab
AP Biology
Off-Period
Off-Period
To be honest I selected O-lab to take AP English 3, AP English 4, and P.E (I know), another reason I selected this class was because this year was horrible. They were offering classes for periods I couldn’t switch because most of my classes only had one period. The only class I could take is AP Spanish 4, but I would have to move biology to fourth, because Spanish is only in fifth period. To get to the end of my ramblings: I would like your opinion, should I stay in O-lab, or change my schedule again to accommodate Spanish?
So the issue you have is that you need English and Spanish. Since taking AP Chem & AP Bio concurrently (which I always advise against anyway) is preventing you from adding English and Spanish, AP Bio needs to go so you can fit in Spanish and keep AP English in the O-lab slot.
@skieurope I am already taking AP English 3 and 4 online, so do you think I should switch biology to fourth period and put AP Spanish as fifth period instead?
The colleges you’re aiming for will expect you to reach level 4 or AP but you may get by with reaching level 3 only if something else offsets it (not sure taking both AP Bio and AP chem would qualify though).
It won’t offset; when a college takes the time to list what it thinks a HS student should have as preparation, it does not do so lightly. There is an expectation that applicants will follow the suggestions unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Extenuating circumstances include :
• Applicant is an international student following a curriculum that does not align with the American standard. (e.g. UK)
• Schedule conflicts preclude the student from achieving the recommendations (in which case, the GC should say so in the GC rec)
Extenuating circumstances do not include:
• The applicant chooses to double up on one core subject at the expense of another core subject
• The applicant does not like a certain subject
• The teacher of a certain subject sucks.
That said, an application without the recommended preparation will not be thrown away automatically. But usually when someone asks the question, the question is along the lines of “Will I be competitive?” And the answer is “no.”
You can ask, but will probably not get far. If the class is full, then the class is full. In the end, you’re probably better off just sticking with AP Chem. Taking AP Chem and AP Bio concurrently is a ton of work.