<p>Ok, so my schedule for next year includes a couple APs (AP Chem, etc) and some honors classes like Hon. English. I’m also taking Spanish IV, but when schedules were made and distributed, mine - like tons of other people’s - had a conflict in it.
Spanish IV part A and Hon. English part B are both only offered in one period, and that being the same period, I obviously couldn’t take both at the same time… so I was given 2 options by my GC:</p>
<li>Drop Hon. English part B (still take Honors for part A) and take regular English so it would be a different period
OR</li>
<li>Move Spanish IV part A to a different period by choosing flex-scheduling. This means the class is pass/fail as I’d have to basically teach it to myself through worksheets.</li>
</ol>
<p>I am leaning toward taking Spanish (only part A) as a pass/fail class. The P or F on my report card doesn’t calculate into my GPA, and this should actually help my GPA more than hurt it because it’s not another 4.0 weighing down 5.0 grades.
**BUT…Does it hurt my chances of admission to the colleges that I’m looking at (mainly top colleges)? I’ve heard that P/F classes send a red flag to adcoms who think that you’re slacking off by taking an easier-graded class, EVEN if you mention that it’s because of a scheduling conflict.</p>
<p>However, I also know that dropping from Hon. English to regular English will also be seen as a bad thing on my transcript.</p>
<p>What should I do??
Thanks for any help on this!</p>
<p>Sorry to post twice in a row, but I just wanted to mention this is pretty <em>urgent</em> because I have to turn in a flex-schedule form TOMORROW if I choose to take Spanish IV part A pass/fail.</p>
<p>Please help if you can. :)</p>
<p>I say it depends on the Spanish factor. How interested are you in Spanish? How good are you in Spanish. If you end up needing to teach yourself Spanish and have trouble with that, and are looking to go to college for Spanish or to particularly look good in your Spanish courses, it'd probably be bad to take Spanish with flex-scheduling. On the other hand, if you're absolutely sure you'd to fine with Spanish on your own (or if you could get a tutor outside of class to help you), and if Spanish isn't meant to be a highlight on your transcript, flex-scheduling might work well. In the second case, I doubt that Spanish would look bad to a college AdCom - it just wouldn't necessarily be a highlight as a pass fail course b/c they couldn't see how well you did in it. So that would depend on who you are, your level of Spanish, and whether you want a foreign language to stand out to colleges.</p>
<p>Dropping to regular English from honors may look negative to colleges. However, they know that not everyone's good at everything, and it can be beneficial to learn about yourself by trying something new such as honors English, even if you have to drop it for regular English. However, this is still a bit risky, and if you went with the first option, I'd definitely let colleges know <em>why</em> you "dropped" to regular English somehow - you could make it a <em>good</em> thing by making it you personal essay topic - maybe something along the lines of really wanting to study Spanish more b/c you've done so much of it, but you also wanted to <em>do well</em> in an <em>honors</em> English course.</p>
<p>I'm currently a junior, I'll be a senior next yr. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>p.s. If learning more about such an option leaves you enough time to consider things, you could investigate taking a similar Spanish level course outside of school - as an independent study with a tutor for a grade, or at a local CC - that would look like a "regular" Spanish course on the transcript but would allow you to keep that school period open for honors English. Talk to your principal about it.</p>
<p>If it were me, I'd go with option 2, since it seems worse to go from an honors english class to a regular. You'd get the impression that one wanted to slack off. </p>
<p>I second taking the spanish course as an independent study or at a CC.</p>
<p>^ agree.</p>
<p>definitely take the english honors, and do spanish online or at CC in addition to flex schedule (unless you are dreadful at spanish or something and need to go to a class in your school)</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, guys! I ended up turning in my flex-schedule form, so I'm locked into Spanish IV part A as a P/F class.
I shouldn't have any problems learning it on my own; there are a handful of other students taking this option. It can't be impossibly difficult. Also, I'm really hoping I get the chance to explain for my transcript that the class was a P/F due to scheduling conflicts and not b/c I wanted to take the easy road.</p>
<p>I looked into this a little, and princetonreview.com advises against taking "solid academic classes" as P/F. I...don't think Spanish is a solid academic course..It is foreign language, and it's pretty important, but I think it seems more like an elective. ..Right? =/</p>