2
3 years ago
Admissions Advice

I'm having some course scheduling conflict which I think will negatively affect my college admissions

I'm a rising senior, and just today I checked my planned coursework for next year, and it was completely different from what I had planned originally planned for back in April.

I'm taking a relatively competitive Allied Health Program where students explore health careers through specialized classes and clinical practice throughout the year - which is during the school day, affecting my school coursework.

I was planning on taking 4 AP's senior year, AP Lit, AP Chem, AP Gov, and AP Calc BC, but my counselor just reached out and said that AP Chem conflicts with AP Calc BC and AP Lit conflicts with other advanced sciences. I don't want to give up Chem or Calc BC, should I quit the Allied Health Program so I can take more AP's to show a rigorous coursework? I will only have 7 APs in high school even if I take all 4 this senior year.

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risingsenior
collegeapps
courseselection
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3 answers

3
3 years ago

Ask your counselor if there is another section of calculus or chem you could put on your schedule and if the teacher could just give you the work for the class you want to take. That is how several people at my school have fixed these challenges. If it doesn't work, at least you tried. And you could self-study for those AP tests.

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1
3 years ago

In my opinion, while AP classes are important, if you are looking to have a career in healthcare, sticking with this competitive and more unique healthcare program is the way to go. Colleges, especially the more prestigious colleges, want to see a "spike" in your application - somewhere that you shine. Committing to this program will demonstrate to the college that you are a driven student who knows what you want to do. This hands-on experience will also likely help you more later in life than AP classes and will make your school year much more enjoyable, motivating you to do better in everything else you're working on. Also, being in a better mood is more fun! You could try to self-study some of these APs if you really wanted to, as that would show colleges that you are a self-starter, too.

Go with the program. It will help you stand out in the applicant field, and if it's something you enjoy, it will make your year so much better.

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0
3 years ago

This is a great question. It's a little hard to answer without knowing exactly how competitive this Allied Health Program is. If you're interested in pursuing a career in medicine or in a medicine-adjacent field, this seems like an amazing opportunity, and I probably wouldn't quit it in your final year! There are plenty of ways to communicate to your admissions officers that the reason you weren't able to take more AP courses is because you were in this demanding program. You could have your school guidance counselor explain this in your recommendation letter/school report. You could also explain it yourself in the Additional Information section of the Common App.

If you're worried about your course schedule, you have a few other options. You could self-study and take the AP exams (this looks impressive, but isn't as good as actually having grades in challenging courses factored into your GPA). You could look for a dual enrollment options and try to take equivalent classes at a local community college. Or you could just take other APs if your school offers them.

Of course, if you're not interested in a career in medicine, or if you're just not that into the Allied Health Program, you could definitely drop it to take more APs... But I don't think you necessarily need to.

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Unweighted GPA: 3.7
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SAT: 720 math
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