Hello, I’m currently a high school junior planning my schedule for senior year. However, schedule conflicts have come up between some of the courses that I signed up for, so I’m looking for advice on what to do. This was my initial schedule:
English IV Honors: World Literature
Calculus
Physics
Advanced Biology
French IV
Astronomy/Science teacher’s aide
Western Civilization I/Western Civilization II
Western Civilization I and II both conflicted with Physics, so I had to replace those with American History Through Music and Meteorology. The main conflict is with English IV Honors. It’s only offered two hours at my high school; one of those hours conflicts with Astronomy, and the other conflicts with French IV. Both of these are “essential” classes to me. So, I have the option of taking regular English IV: British Literature or Composition I and II. In the past three years, all of my English courses have been honors, so I’m worried how it will look on my transcript during college admissions if I suddenly go from honors courses to a regular course during senior year. And I’m reluctant to take Composition because I feel like I already have a strong grasp on composing various types of formal essays. I’m just not sure if I would learn much or be challenged. (I know there’s always room for improvement when it comes to writing, of course. I just don’t know which class would be the most beneficial.)
Any advice on the situation would be greatly appreciated. If it helps, I’m planning on majoring in physics as an undergraduate to eventually become an astronomer. Let me know if I can clarify anything. Thanks for taking the time to read through this!
I don’t know how French IV is essential. But based on what I seen in here, taking regular English is fine, especially if you can get your guidance counselor to explain in his/her schedule that there was a schedule conflicting.
Considering you’d be doubling up in science with physics and astronomy, could you switch out advanced bio - would you be able to take either astronomy or French IV in that time period ?
Well, depending upon the colleges targeted, a 4th year of a foreign language might be required/recommended.
Back to the original question. Colleges will recognize that schedule conflicts will occur. You can get your GC to write about it on the Secondary School Report if it remains unresolved. That said, your schedule conflict would be as a result of a conscientious choice you made to triple on sciences, which would be OK, if it did not result in a less-rigors course in another core area. I’d suggest dropping one of the sciences, and my suggestion would be astronomy. Take astro in college; it will be light years (no pun intended) more rigorous than an astro course in HS.
It’s not a required class by any means. I’ve really enjoyed the three years of French that I’ve taken so far though, so I’d like to finish out high school with a fourth year of foreign language. It’s interesting to learn, and going beyond the minimum requirement for most colleges is always a plus.
Unfortunately not. Advanced Biology, Astronomy, and French IV are only offered one hour, and they’re all at different times.
@skieurope I forgot to mention that both Astronomy and Meteorology (fall and spring semester courses, respectively) are offered the same hour, so I’d have to replace both in order to take two semesters of English IV Honors. I’d probably end up replacing them with another history course and Geology. To be fair, however, both English IV courses are weighted at my high school. I’m not sure if there’s a noticeable difference in difficulty or if they simply cover different subject matters. Regardless, I’m planning on talking to the different English teachers to hear their opinions. And I’ll definitely keep the Secondary School Report in mind. Thanks for the suggestion!
And thanks to everyone for the replies! I appreciate the advice.
I think you should take the Composition class instead of English IV- it will help you polish your all important college essays AND wont require a lot of reading. Your college counselor can mention the conflict in his LOR. Trust me- college admission officers know that can happen. Taking a 4th year of French is important so dont drop that.
"It is very doubtful that college will ding me him for missing a possible recommended year of French. "
that is absolute;y not true, especially at elite schools that specifically “recommend”[ which for all intents and purposes MEANS required] 4 years of FR language AND for schools that not not admit by college/ major. Students are more likely than not to change their minds about what they want to study once they are in college, and admissions officers know this. At many colleges an applicants statement about an intended major will hardly be considered a “good” excuse not to take a 4th year of FL ., especially when the college recommends it AND there wasn’t a schedule conflict.
To ignore what a college states on its admissions website is to greatly reduce your chances of admittance there.
There will be hundreds of other equally qualified students also applying who did not ignore that recommendation.
Let’s see what we have here so far
-scheduling conflict which means that even if op decides to take French, he is going from honors English to regular English so there will be a slight change in rigor anyway
-Guidance Counselor can always write about this conflict so hoping college is more lenient on OP
-OP is trying to pursue in physics/astronomy so OP wouldn’t need anything important in French IV for his career goals.
-learning about astronomy for his senior year will do him more good when he take astronomy-related classes in the university
-Recommend is not the same as required. Required means required and any college would use the term “require” rather than recommend if it is mandatory. For example, college may recommend 4 years of foreign language but everyone knows that college “require” students with GED or high school diploma.
-Combination of all these reasons is a good collectiveness on why its a good excuse to not take a 4th year of foreign language. If OP gets denied to a college for his major, it will have very very very very little to do with him not taking 4th year of foreign language.
-Combination of all these reasons is a good collectiveness on why its a good excuse to not take a 4th year of foreign language. "
So your advise is for the OP to IGNORE what the college recommends based on a string of assumptions, made up justifications and out right guesses that are not based on the reality of what college admissions offices are looking for, rather than take the classes that the college states it recommends, i.e. WANTS to see on applicants HS transcript??
right…
OP, I’ve been on CC for 12 years offering students advise. My DS, who did follow the advise given by his HS and the colleges he was applying to, took 4 yrs of FL, E, H, M, and S , even though he intended to major in Geo/Physics, which he did, and which he his now getting his PhD in that field at Caltech.
He was accepted at 12 top colleges including 2 Ivys, Chicago, Wash U, Pomona, Carleton and received a full tuition scholarship at a top 25 U.
OP - I’ve been disagreeing with bvo112 on similar misleading comments from other posts and would caution you about taking their advice. If colleges RECOMMEND 4 years of a language then to make yourself the most competitive applicant you should consider recommendations as more of requirements. Talk to admissions officers if you want another opinion, but generally you should complete all recommendations for more competitive schools. I’ve been told this explicitly by some admissions officers from the most competitive schools in the country. If your school offers a 4th year of language then you should take it if possible. You’ll have plenty of time to do college-level science courses after high school.
I’m planning on signing up for regular English IV. I’ll enjoy the reading, and I don’t think it’s worth it to drop French IV or Astronomy and Meteorology for honors considering both English classes are weighted the same. French is fun to learn, the fourth year looks good, and I’ve been looking forward to Astronomy since my freshman year. I’ve already taken a few physics and astronomy courses through Coursera, and even though college classes will be much more rigorous, I think it’ll still be beneficial to take during senior year. In addition, I know quite a few people who have signed up for Composition I and II, so I can always ask them what they’re learning about for help with polishing scholarship and application essays.
Admission officers, private school college advisers, and independent consultants will all say the same thing : unless you have a darn good excuse or an exceptional profile (international Olympics, Siemens, etc) , that 4th year is expected and not taking it would hurt your application.
Most top colleges do not admit by major or even by college - even your state flagship, that likely admits by major, will appreciate an applicant with 4-5years in a foreign language and math up to calculus, regardless of applying to coe or clas.
Astronomy in high school has the same relation to astronomy in college as physical science in 8th grade has to Physics C. That’s be the easiest class to drop, although it’d have been an easy, fun class for you so I get the dilemma.
Do think about choosing between astronomy/meteorology and biology though.
If English IV is weighted and clearly titled British Literature it shouldn’t hurt you since it does sound rigorous.
Another plug for French IV - regardless of admissions impact, many schools still have language requirements, even for science majors, so taking another year of French in high school improves your chances of placing high or placing out of language in college. So especially if language is NOT a priority for the future, you will want to take that last year in high school! FWIW some PhD programs in science still require a second language as well.
@Evanura I dropped from AP English to CP english 11th to 12th grade and it worked out for me. I had a lot of issues with my schedule 10th-12th grade but I think if you explain it on your apps they’ll take that into account. @bvo112 I’m very lucky @MYOS1634 You’re making me blush brooooo
^congrats, toi deserve it.
Also, it’s true: if you have a good reason but tried to max out your school’s offerings, then you’re good. The problem is when you don’t take advantage of opportunities and seem content with so-so rigor (and you don’t have to go overboard either, as Stanford says it’s not a game of Ho has the most AP 's, wins.)
