Since I stopped lurking and finally created account, I am now going to start asking all of my burning questions! 
My daughter is a junior, and she is now registering for her senior classes. Today she asked me about doing early release one day next year (AB schedule), and my first got reaction was that colleges would not like it.
However, she is doing five APs (Lang, Calc BC, Gov, Env Sc, and French) along with regular physics and band. If she did NOT do early release, she would be doing “study hall,” which is basically a filler class where she says she gets nothing done because all the other kids are talking.
So is there really any harm in doing early release senior year? Have others done early release and been happily admitted to W&M? I searched the W&M blogs and W&M CC and could not find any answers.
Thanks for any insights!
I am not familiar specifically with William and Mary admissions nor do I know what “early release” is, however a senior year with seven classes of which five are AP classes sounds plenty rigorous. But, if in doubt, check with your daughter’s GC. Make sure that they check the “most demanding” box on the common app.
I’m on your daughter’s side. That “study hall” sounds like a nightmare. Why do high schools do that, anyway?
It’s worth asking the guidance department how or whether “early release” appears on the transcripts.
Early release is absolutely ok with such a schedule.
(Yes, colleges don’t like it … when only 3-4 academic classes are taken 
)
Yeah, I like the “idea” of study hall (an hour and a half every other day to do homework at school), but the reality is that it’s in a mixed aged classroom (Freshmen-Seniors) and the kids are just chatty and looking at their phones (including my daughter, I’m sure!) Sometimes she will go to the library, but I think it’s social time in there too.
She meets with her counselor some time this week, so we’ll get that opinion, of course. I just wanted to get some outside opinions from W&M folks to see if early release would be a big no-no. She’ll probably use the early release to come home and take a nap before sports (Cross Country and Track), but that’s okay!
Thanks for the input!
Don’t worry about it. Early release or late arrival would be totally ok in that context.