I recently got the opportunity to have e internship at a company in the IT field. It will be a 1 year internship during my senior year. However, I heard UC does not want to you slack off senior year. I’m only going to take 2 AP courses next year so I already looks like I’m slacking since I’m aiming for UCLA. To make matters worse, this internship requires me to start at 1pm. This means I am going to have to drop a class and have 5 periods instead of the regular full day schedule of 6 periods. (I would be leaving at lunch).
This is my senior year schedule. I heard it’s super bad to not have a full day schedule during senior year from my friend whose sister goes to UCLA. If I do this internship, will it affect my chance of admission?
Gov&Economics
AP Calc B/C
AP Psychology
Spanish 3
ERWC (english 4)
It’s true that UC’s don’t want you to slack off during your senior year, especially UCLA. But if you go through with your plan and maintain good grades (solid A’s and B’s, maybe even a C since anything below a C will hurt you), then the admissions will see that you’re a well rounded student who can handle multiple challenges. I say go for it, but time management is key. And heads up: Calc BC is a killer. I’m currently taking it & I devote more than half my study time to that class. But it’s worth it. Good luck!
and what I mean by a C not hurting you is that when you hit senior year, the colleges don’t take into consideration your first and second semester grades unless you get a D or F. So if you happen to fail your semester final and it drops your semester grade down to a C, it most likely won’t affect your admissions decision because they only really focus on your 10-11 grades
Is this internship paid/for school credit? If so, go for it. Your schedule will look more like a college student’s than a high schooler’s because you’ll be learning both academically and professionally. Every major university allows school credit for internships like this, so you basically have a full schedule anyway. It looks much better than taking basket weaving just because it’s a sixth period.
On your UC app, it would be a good idea to mention your internship at least briefly in a personal statement and then more straightforwardly in “additional comments”.
In additional comments, you can talk about the challenge the internship posed (you were unable to take a 6th or 7th period), any training you’ve received (new skills, corporate presentations, etc.), and how you believe it helped to prepare you for life at UCLA.
Also if I do this, I would not be able to take a science class. How badly would that look to college admissioner? I took Physics in my freshman year, AP Bio for sophomore, and currently AP Chem my junior year. I know UC’s only recommend you to take 3 science course but I still wonder if it will look bad.
I’m assuming you want to do CS/Informatics; if so, an intensive internship would replace a science class for you. In many schools, CS is counted as a math or science course.
If you’re really concerned, you can ask your counselor if there’s a way of earning school credit for your internship through independent study or something similar. You probably won’t be able to earn both credit and money at the same time, but if you’re willing to give up the internship for a sixth period I’m guessing money isn’t an issue for you.