Short version:
Is being a 5th year senior really that bad for your transcript? Could it be worth it?
Long version:
Some background:
Long story short, I was in the hospital for a school year and could not attend, but somehow have a credit of classes from that time period due to a transcript error. My school counts this as a year of high school, and broke the news to me recently that I have to graduate this spring as a 16 year old. They refuse to back down on this, or look into the error.
I’m too late to apply to most of the colleges I wanted to apply to. I rushed and took the most recent SAT, but haven’t gotten results back yet. I’m graduating by the skin of my teeth with a 3.5 unweighted GPA as of last year, one AP class credit, and not much else.
Now for what I want help with:
My school offers a fifth-year senior program. I’m thinking of doing this so that I can raise my GPA, take more AP classes, and perhaps raise my SAT score. I wouldn’t hesitate, but my counselor says colleges hate fifth year seniors and that it would kill my chances.
When you were in the hospital, you should have been provided a home/hospital teacher by your local school district who would have had the responsibility of supervising your studies. Did that happen? If so, you could well have earned enough credits. If you had no teacher whatsoever, then perhaps there is an error in your transcript that the school administration should look into.
Did you do any school work while you were in the hospital? If so, the school would count that for you. When you entered this high school after leaving the hospital, what grade did they put you in? That would’ve been the time to object to the placement. If you started this year as a senior, I don’t really understand why you’d be surprised that they expect you to graduate in June.
As long as you have enough credits to graduate and all the high school courses required by colleges, I’d graduate and apply to colleges this fall. How many years of English, history, science, and foreign language is the GC saying you have? I don’t think colleges are going to expect them all to be AP if you spent an entire year in the hospital, but if you completed 3 years of high school on the campus I do think that they’ll expect you to have completed 3 years in all of the core subjects.
I think in your case it is easy to explain why you would opt to do a fifth year and you can include that in the additional information section of the common application – you can point to your age as well as a desire to have a four year HS experience.
You would not be counted as a 5th year senior per se by adcoms and you’d explain you spent a year in hospital in the additional information box - and your high school may well be considered strangely if there is negative noise made against a kid who spent a year in hospital.
kafkaian high school rules vs. kid who spent a year in hospital , can you see how it’d play out in the papers? Not that it’ll go there but the high school really doesn’t have a leg to stand on. They can’t force you to graduate after a year in hospital, especially if you’re only 16.
I have signed up for the 5th year senior program. I will use this to take a bunch of AP, language certification (HSK, JLPT), and SAT subject tests. I think it’ll be worth it. I’ll still be graduating at 17 anyway. Thank you for your input everyone!
happy1:
Thank you. This is what I wanted to be sure of.
happymomof1:
Yes, they provided a teacher, but after a month in the program my condition progressed to where I could not work, and I could not finish it. This is supposedly where the credit comes from.
austinmshari:
If this happened, I would call it justified. However, my transcript listed me at 10th grade when I transferred, and they are now calling that my 11th grade year. They told me I was a junior at the beginning of this school year, changed it, and told me I’m a senior rather recently. I had no warning.
Also, I would just graduate, but I’m not satisfied with what I have done so far, and I want to apply to better colleges than would probably take me with what I have right now. I meet my school’s graduation requirements, but those are already rather low where I live.
MYOS1634:
I wish my school district and community were that caring, but I think there’s nothing I can do except make the best of my current situation. Welcome to the ghetto, it’s all fun and games…
thanksagain:
MIT, Oregon SU, Reed, and a few others I’m as yet undecided about.
Then yes, you made the right call. Be sure to include “year in hospital, condition too deteriorated to receive in-hospital tutoring” on your brag sheet for the guidance counselor. Considering how caring that school is, I bet that if you don’t include it on your bagsheet, the GC won’t think of writing it.
I suppose they’re trying to “process” kids as fast they can to get them out of the system and save money…
I’m honestly shocked they’d do that to a kid who was hospitalized for a year and is 16. (You honestly could have a case that a lawyer could take probono, but I don’t think it’d do any good. But just saying, if your parents made 300k and had a lawyer, this wouldn’t have happened or if someone had brought it up, it’d have been quashed very quickly.)
However, you can’t really have received credits for that year, right? So colleges would see a year with no classes and no credit on your transcript - can you ask for an unofficial transcript to see how it’d be presented to colleges?
If you’re aiming for Reed and MIT, you should think of HarveyMudd and other top tech colleges; not just OSU but University of Oregon (check out deadlines and requirements for Honors Colleges),
" However, my transcript listed me at 10th grade when I transferred, and they are now calling that my 11th grade year."
Transferring is probably the root of the problem. The guidance office at your current school has re-interpreted your original transcript. It would be helpful for you if you could find out why and how that happened. It could be an unintentional clerical error, which would mean you are facing a regular senior year, rather than an extra one.
It sounds like you should be entering your regular senior year, not a special 5th senior year. What state are you in? I’d suggest your parents take a look at your state education regulations. States are required to provide an education to minors and I don’t think they can leap frog students over grades to graduate them early. Your family may want to contact a representative in your state education department and ask their opinion about that.
^I second the idea of contacting a representative in your state education department.
(is your school graded D or F on the “schools report card” and “making” you graduate might help with their graduation goals or something?)
There seems to be some confusion. I am in my regular senior year this year, and have arranged to take a fifth year next year.
I have also gotten more information: the primary cause appears to be that my school assigns high school progress by start date. They disregarded that I spent a year in the hospital, and decided that I’m a senior based on the year I started high school. They have decided I can be a “fifth-year senior” next year, however, so my college prospects aren’t totally doomed.
MYOS1634: I saw my unofficial transcript. I have one credit for that year for a class I didn’t take. I’m not sure how to get this fixed, but advice would be appreciated.
happymomof1: It apparently shows it on the transcript my old school sent. My new school doesn’t want to deal with it, however.
lookingforward: I was jumped ahead, yes. Not by my current school, but by my elementary school. I don’t know why they did it.
austinmshauri: Thank you for the suggestion. I will look into it.
MYOS1634: It is ranked below average on the ODE report card. I’m guessing nobody wants to take the time to clear the issue with the other school.
