<p>I will drop italian class next semester not because I want to, but because it will not fit in my schedule. Should I mention this is in the additional comments section? I don’t want the admissions officers to think I’m being lazy, but at the same time, I do not want to emphasize my dropping the class.</p>
<p>Also, my grades for 2nd semester freshman year are much lower than all my other grades. I did not slack off that semester, I just had way too much on my plate and didn’t have as many time management skills as I do now. Should I mention how I’ve progressed in the additional comments section as well?</p>
<p>I realize that you probably got an answer from college by now…so my response doesn’t really matter at all…heck I’ll still answer in case someone has a similar question later. Don’t worry about the Italian. As long as you don’t fail second semester/significantly have your grades fall…you’re fine. Keep your first semester up. Besides…there’s a like a quarter left after first semester that technically is second semester senior year. After that, you’re off on senior projects. I doubt they’ll care too much.</p>
<p>As far as the second semester freshman year is concerned, it’s a bit of risk really. You don’t want to sound like you’re making up excuses or that you’re blaming other ppl (I’m not accusing you of anything…I’ve just heard other ppl do that and it doesn’t make them look good). If you have a legitimate (and by legitimate I don’t mean that it makes sense to you…but that it doesn’t make you look bad) reason, go ahead (i.e. you had family issues: a relative had health issues…you missed school to visit him/her a lot etc.). The Additional Comments section, otherwise, is meant for putting in little comments about how you’ve improved and to justify the weaknesses in your application. You just want to make sure you are taking responsibility of your own mistakes. Ask your counselor. :)</p>