Hello. I am a Senior in High School and doing Early Release (Seniors have the option to do Early Release if they have enough credits). I am taking 4 classes this year: Hon Government, Hon English 12, AP Calculus, and Hon Java. So my Odd day schedule consists of all these 4 classes, while on Even days, I only have a 1st block, and then Early Release. I am wondering if this will look bad to colleges (not having a full schedule of 7 classes). But I have been a strong academic student in high school with a 4.35 weighted GPA and took challenging courses such as AP Physics 1 Sophomore year, and 3 Dual Enrollment classes my Junior year. I am going to VCU (in-state school for me, since I live in Virginia). Will colleges care about the free periods? Will it affect my college admissions?
No to both questions.
I’m a senior and in a similar situation as you. I think it won’t really matter if your counselor can still check off that you took a rigorous course load. It’s more common for seniors to not have a lot of classes on their schedule due to more scheduling conflicts/already having taken their graduation requirements and desired electives.