by Natalie Fishman and Juliana Fullmer
Illustrated by Justina Wilkins
There has been talk around campus of a higher than usual number of students dropping classes. We have seen many of our peers unexpectedly drop out of a class, but apparently, this is not uncommon. Silvia Torres-Garza, head guidance counselor, said, “Taking COVID-19 out of the equation, it seems like a pretty typical year of dropping classes.”
Counselor Karina Escobar-Weaver outlined some reasons that students might be dropping classes. “It could be the level of difficulty, that they are oversubscribed in advanced courses, or they just don’t like their elective.” She said that dropping elective classes is just as common as students dropping advanced courses.
Sophomore Ajax Fu dropped AP European History during the summer, even before the school year started. “It’s not that it didn’t interest me, it just wasn’t worth the time I could have spent on extracurriculars.”
However, Torres-Garza said, “Ninth and tenth graders probably dropped fewer classes than upperclassmen because they are farther from graduation. When you’re a junior or senior, you’ve already met most of your general requirements for graduation.”
Torres-Garza continued, “Sometimes in the first three weeks, we’ll see more students be like, ‘Hey, can I get into this class instead?’ But then after that, it’s like, ‘This isn’t what I thought it was, it’s too hard,’ or ‘I could do it, but I really don’t want to.’ Mostly just the lack of interest or other personal reasons. After a while, the number of students dropping starts dwindling.”
The deadline to drop classes without penalty this year was September 23, giving students about a month and a half to make their decision. After this date, the classes you drop will still show up on your transcript, which colleges will see. So if you’re interested in dropping classes in the future, make sure to do so by the deadline so that it does not affect your post-high school endeavors.
