Will colleges hold it against me for taking a study hall my senior year if I have never taken one before?

Question

I am taking two honors classes this year, and I've taken 3 Honors and 1 AP other years. I've also had 8 courses every other year.

Answer 1

It depends on what school you are applying to. If you are applying to a very competitive school (Harvard, UNC Chapel Hill, SUNY Geneseo), then yes, it matters. If you are applying to a less competitive school (Dickinson, F&M, UCLA) then it may be a deciding factor, but if you are a solid applicant it won't matter. If you are applying to a non-competitive school (like most state schools or colleges below the 3rd tier in US News and World Report's listing), it shouldn't matter at all.

In your interview(s), if you have them, explain why you are taking an easier course load if you have a good reason. I took a much easier course load the second half of my senior year, but I wrote a letter to the schools which I was applying to explaining that due to a family emergency I had to reduce my stress level and take courses that were significantly easier under doctor's orders. It worked (at all but one school) and I got into top tier schools. If you have no good reason (you want to have fun your senior year or the like), don't address it and hope they don't notice.

If you have taken the hardest classes at your school and ran out of any harder ones than that is a good thing for your gudiance counselor to mention in his/her recommendation. College admissions officers are looking for annomilies. You are taking a much easier course load and they will want to know why. If you don't have an excellent reason then you shouldn't apply to top schools. I needed that break my senior year so I could go to college, but without taking the equivilant of 29 college credits my senior year of high school I don't think I would have done as well in college. Taking "crap classes" your senior year gets you out of practice working hard. If you are planning to go into a tough curriculum, I strongly suggest you taking a harder class or a few online college classes.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

How will they know you took study hall? Do you actually get a grade for study hall on your transcripts. All colleges look at are your high school transcripts, and they might not even know you took study hall. So you probably have nothing to worry about anyway. If you have good grades and have taken tough classes, you should not have a problem getting into a college. If you don't get into the college of your choice, you can always transfer there after a year or two from a different college as long as you keep your gpa up.

Answer 3

I just got finished doing the college visit thing with my youngest son (his older brothers are both working on PhDs now). We heard the same thing at Princeton, Duke, Brown, Ciolumbia, NYU, Fordham. etc. The colleges want kids who challenge themselves, who have taken the toughest courses they can find. If you have taken all the APs in your school and gotten decent marks, then probably one study hall wont make a difference. But if you have avoided taking tough classes, and this is one more way of avoiding, then they will pick up on it.

if you aren't interested in going to a top school, then it probably doesnt matter. Remember there are 3000 colleges in the USA and only fewer than 100 reject even half the applicants.

Answer 4

I do not think most colleges will hold it against you, especially if this is the first one you've taken in your high school career. What really counts are the courses you do take, your grades, SATs, extra activities, etc. Schools want a well rounded individual.

Answer 5

Most colleges won't care as long as your GPA or SAT/ACT scores a good enough to get in.

Like stated above if you are trying to get into a Elite School then yes.

Answer 6

No they don't. When they see the classes you've taken, then there wont be a problem.