Please help! Overwhelmed DD and transcript

[yvonne]

All,

I'm not sure what to do to help my dd. She's a senior, just turned 17, and in the midst of college app season. She's taking 5 courses -- Eng, PreCalc, Great Books (for history), AP Bio, AP French-- and she does debate, which also takes a big chunk of time. She's overwhelmed and can't keep all the balls in the air. She's starting to miss assignments and she still hasn't finished the essays for the ONE college she wants to attend. We'd like to get that app in by this Friday, 11/15, so she'll find out by mid-Dec. if she's accepted. If she's accepted there, she won't have to write any more applications and that would reduce the load.

Ideally, she would drop AP Biology. She already has Bio, Chem, and Physics (algebra-based) on her transcript, so a fourth science isn't absolutely critical.

However, I have already submitted my part of the Common App, which includes the transcript with her current courses and course descriptions.

Is there any way to pull that transcript (and course description document) off the Common App, remove AP Bio, and put up a transcript without the AP Bio?

If not, is there any possible way to drop AP Bio without affecting her chance for admission to colleges?

Could I just list a "W" on the midyear report when I submit it with the 1st semester grades? I suppose I'd have to explain why she withdrew when I submit the mid-year report.

Should we let the one college she wants to attend know that she dropped the class just after I submitted the transcript?

Help! What can I do?

Thank you for any ideas/suggestions!


 

[mom2scouts]

I'm not sure how to help you with the Common App, but since the AP Bio is probably listed as in progress, you can probably just show it as a withdrawal. It's probably more common on transcripts than you think and a W is better than poor grades.

As for being overwhelmed, I would drop any other writing you're doing for English and use the essay for that right now. Since it's short term, you could probably put off all other English assignments until it's done.

[yvonne]

Thank you for your suggestions.

I think a W is probably the way to go.

I wonder if I should let the colleges know now?  Or wait until the mid-year report?  The MY report won't be ready until end of January because two of her classes don't finish the first semester until mid-Jan. Will the colleges think I "hid" the W until after she'd applied? What's the most honest way to go about telling them?

She can't drop her other Eng assignments, because it's an online class. 😞

[daijobu]

Did you already his the final, final Submit button?  The one that takes multiple steps and acknowledgements to fully execute?  

If you haven't (and you'd know if you have...it takes several steps to make happen), then you can delete any files you've uploaded and replace them with other files, as often as you like.  But I believe once everything has been Submit-ted, then that might be it.

You can also contact the help desk at CA.  I find they are very responsive, replying same day a lot of the time.  

[Farrar]

Presumably she's already done a decent chunk of the AP Bio. I'd drop it, do as Daijobu suggested and change it so that it was never there unless you've already hit submit, and then replace it with a home grown low key biology elective that can incorporate the bio she did already and that she can really focus on wrapping up once college app season is over. Maybe something like genetics? Maybe even just a half credit course.

[Clear Creek]

The Common App will allow you to submit one optional report, which is the spot for a corrected transcript. They will ask for your reason for changing or correcting the transcript.

I know this because I had to do this a couple of weeks ago. I had a mistake on the transcript and my daughter added another class a month into the school year.

[Momto6inIN]

My kids do debate and it is i.n.t.e.n.s.e. I usually do not assign any English whatsoever during debate season because they are already researching and writing a ton for that. Maybe that would help lighten the load? Our debate season lets up after November and they do more traditional lit after that.

[RootAnn]

Another idea:  could she ask to switch to auditing AP Bio? Assuming she's interested in continuing it, that is. She could attend, keep up with whatever homework she can fit in (assuming none right now but maybe more once debate season is over?), and then see if she wants to take the AP test in the Spring. 

That would require you to grade her stuff & determine final class grade but she could keep it on the transcript. Another option.

[AngieW in Texas]

I teach at a public high school. Kids switch out of AP into preAP or on-level all the time. It is very common for this happen during senior year at the end of the quarter or at the end of the semester.

[Lanny]

yvonne:   I am not going to respond to the issue of that one course or the transcript. I am going to respond to the fact that she is applying ED or EA and only to one school. I understand, completely, about overwhelmed. A lot of things happened, much faster than we had anticipated and DD was extremely busy. She did all of the applications and essays and other things that came up (Scholarship applications, applications to special programs, etc.).

Understanding that your DD is, at this time, dedicated to that one school, and is perhaps applying ED, what if she isn't accepted there, or, for some other reason becomes interested in one or more additional schools?  If she doesn't apply soon, there is less $ in the budget the schools have, for Financial and Merit Aid.

I would prefer that she somehow improves her Time Management skills, which she is probably doing to the best of her ability, so this is easier for me to suggest than for her to implement, and Prioritize the tasks she needs to do.

The Essays and all of the other things are very time consuming, but that's part of the process.

Good luck to her on getting into her #1 choice!  Take it one day at a time and one task at a time. Try to see that she fits time into her very busy schedule for Physical exercise, which helps a lot with the stress and mental health.

[madteaparty]

i don;t know anything about transcripts, but that great books class is worth 2.5 credits at least. i would email mrs T. and ask for an extension of the Rosseau or whatever super long impossible read they have going next. here, that would lighten the load some. the study questions alone this week were more than 7 pages (and i have o idea on the quality...)

[yvonne]

Thank you, all, so very much for taking the time to offer suggestions!  💜

The more I think about it, the right thing to do is drop AP Bio. My dd is simply impossibly over-booked between her academic classes and debate and at the very edge, emotionally.

The obstacle, for me, is the potential impact on college admissions to dropping it at this point. 😞

Lanny, you are right about needing to work on time-management. It should have been clear early on that there was an issue, but she's been used to being able to pull out all the stops and get assignments done if necessary. Obviously that sort of approach is only good for occasional use, not on a constant basis.  I do think that this is a situation where there is objectively too much work to do in the time available and the longer it's gone on, the more backlogged she's gotten. 😞 I should have seen it. (Also, she's applying EA, not ED, bec. we're hoping for merit aid. And there is one college that she's wanted to attend since she sat in on classes there during a 10th grade visit, but she's applying to two others, EA, just in case. If none come through, she'll be scrambling over Christmas break to do other apps.)

MadTeaParty, thank you, thank you, 💜 for pointing out that the GB class is, indeed, worth more than one credit because it is SO time intensive, with all the heavy reading and all the writing. I've only ever listed my kids' GB classes as one credit because I think that's probably how a private school would do it, but I should have been more careful about factoring that in to her load this year. And my DD actually enjoys the GB class & doesn't want to drop it.

Regarding dropping to a regular bio class.... She's already taken the lower level bio at the CC. Hm. That's another idea..... drop AP Bio (which she's doing at the hybrid & which is a tough class) and take whatever the next level Bio class is at the CC. We've found that the CC courses are much easier than the hybrid's courses, so, theoretically, that would reduce the workload, but allow her to keep a Bio class on her transcript. I'll have to look into that.


Regarding the transcript... I have already submitted it, so no way to pull it back and delete the course. 😞 

So the question becomes.... IIRC, there is both an "optional report" and a "final report" upload option. Should I upload a modified transcript with a "W" instead of "IP" for AP Bio NOW, so colleges don't think we tried to hide dropping the course?   And then the 1st semester grades as the "final report"? 

And my second question:  The college that she really wants to attend accepts either the Common App or their own App process. Theoretically, I could change  AP Bio from "IP" to "W" on the transcript and she could submit that transcript through the college's own app process. Would that be better?

 

Edited November 13, 2019 by yvonne

[madteaparty]

i was not suggesting dropping just asking for an extension for a week or two. 

re bio, here unless you take the 'bio for non majors' it is a two semester sequence and with lab so be careful you don't jump from frying pan to fire, time wise...without knowing anything, my strong preference would be anything legitimate that avoids a W on the transcript.

Edited November 13, 2019 by madteaparty

[Mom0012]

Yvonne, what about dropping the English class? If she is taking GB, it is actually suggested to give one history credit, an English lit credit and a composition credit for that course. So, you could just shift the credit for the English class to the GB class, couldn’t you? If not, my second choice would be to switch the AP Bio to auditing AP Bio and assign your own grade, having her finish over the summer if necessary.

If it is just a matter of making time for the application essays, I would sit down with her and have her write out a schedule of what she needs to get done each day (with time!) and carve out a spot for essays and then set a deadline. My dd got really bogged down with the essay process, both putting some off and then dragging others out by trying to make them perfect. I finally said “enough!”. This application is going in on this day no matter what. I cut her slack on whatever I could and offered support, but, in the end, she really just needed a solid deadline. Your dd writes beautifully and it really should not take her very long to knock out those essays.

 

[Mom0012]

I wouldn’t send a modified transcript with a W.  I would shift to doing AP Bio at home, using Khan Academy and setting my own pace, even if it meant finishing over the summer and skipping the exam. This wouldn’t require a change on your transcript.

Or, I like your idea of taking bio at the cc. So, in that case, I would switch the label on my transcript and just explain on my mid-year report that we chose to complete the sequence at the cc rather than going the AP route after factoring in the pros and cons of each. Or because the bio teacher at the CC looks great? Or because your dd wants the opportunity to do the labs in an actual lab?

Edited November 13, 2019 by Mom0012