Dropping XC/TF?

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

I’m entering my junior year of high school and I am taking these classes.

AP Biology
AP Calculus AB
AP Spanish Language
AP Language/Composition
AP Psychology
AP US History

For the last two years I have been running in the cross country/ track and field as a JV athlete. I also do about 2-3 hours community service a week now. I was curious to know whether or not dropping my sport will hirt my chances of admission to a UC campus. If you can offer your opinion, that would be great. Thank you!

2

I would also like to add that I have an unweighted GPA of 4.00 entering junior year

3

It wouldn’t hurt, but if you enjoy it then you should continue with it. Unless those hours are for NHS or Beta Club, they’re really not that appealing to colleges and could be spent playing your sport or studying. If you aren’t planning to go into the science field I suggest you drop AP Bio to its honors/reg equivalence because it just adds more work for you. Same for AP Psych - if you aren’t interested in this subject or you’re just taking it because it’s another AP class you should drop it.

4

Not true. Colleges place no greater or lesser value on volunteering than on any other EC.

What, pray tell, is the “honors/reg equivalence?” Unless you have the OP’s course catalog in front of you, you really can’t advise on course selection, which BTW, is outside the scope of what s/he asked.

Anyway, back to the OP’s question. If you enjoy the sport, continue it. If you don’t, drop it. However, if you’re simple going to shift EC hours to studying hours, it might not be the best move; some colleges are not interested in academic drones. Whether this would impact you for UC’s is anybody’s guess.

5

I want to enter medicine when I grow up, so I need good grades and the AP Bio class.

6

No. You need to get into college. Once you are in college, you can worry about med school. Med schools will not care about your HS performance.

Additionally, for pre-med, you do not need AP Bio. In fact, you do not need any specific HS classes at all. Which is not saying that you shouldn’t take AP Bio if you want.

7

I’m going to go off on a tangent because you mentioned that AP Biology and good grades are important for going into medicine.

  1. Your undergraduate institution does not matter. I repeat, it does not matter for medical school acceptance. Sure, if two applicants have the same MCAT, GPA, teacher recommendations, research, personal statements, and volunteer work related to medicine, then undergraduate institution may come into consideration, but this is very unlikely. Whether you attend Stanford or UC Merced doesn't matter at all.
  2. In addition, AP Biology and good grades in high school only help you in getting into an undergraduate program, and since I have already covered that undergrad doesn't matter at all, you shouldn't feel obligated to take AP Biology or even to get a 4.5 GPA. What you should be doing is practicing good study skills in high school so that your undergraduate GPA doesn't crash.
  3. Medical schools literally only care about MCAT score and undergraduate GPA. Even if you went to Stanford, did 3000 volunteer hours as an undergraduate student in a hospital, did medical research, had amazing personal statements, and got incredible teacher recommendations, it doesn't matter. MCAT and undergraduate GPA act as a "weeder" to separate the academically ready from the academically struggling, and if you don't meet that standard, your application will be thrown in the trash.
  4. Heck, your major doesn't even matter. Even a major in English could get into medical school. All you need (for standard medical schools) are: 1 year in Physics 1 year in Biology 2 years in Chemistry (orgo, inorganic, biochem) 1 year in Math (calculus) 1 year in English Is AP Biology a requirement? No.

Clearly, you aren’t obligated by ANY institution to take AP Biology in high school unless you seriously want to. Now that I have discussed the field of medicine in relation with your high school schedule/activities, here is my advice.

First of all, how many AP classes have you taken before junior year? Spanish, Biology, and US History are very difficult classes (with only 6% of AP Biology test takers getting a 5 on the AP Exam). Are you willing to juggle 6 APs with a sport and volunteering?

If you love running and can juggle all of these activities, then go ahead; do it. If you aren’t interested in one of these classes and would rather do running, drop it.

In addition, if you do choose to drop XC/Track and Field, what will you do with the rest of your time? What ec’s do you have other than volunteering? Do something to show colleges what you love. I’m a big supporter of doing things you love, so if you don’t enjoy running then drop it and replace it with something that you want to do.

High school is short. Don’t spend it doing something you hate, but at the same time make sure you stay involved in the community. Furthermore, don’t do things simply for colleges. As I mentioned before, undergraduate institutions play a VERY minimal role in medical school admissions, so just enjoy high school and stop worrying about whether colleges will accept you or not. Enjoy the experience.

In summary, do XC/TF if you want to and can juggle everything. If you don’t like XC/TF, then drop it but replace it with something else. Don’t feel obligated to do a course simply for medicine, and reconsider if you really have the capability to take all of these classes. Don’t worry about undergraduate institutions and just enjoy the high school experience by staying involved.

If anyone disagrees with what I’m saying, please tell me. I’m basing this post on what multiple doctors have told me, but if the medical path has changed since they were in college/med school, sorry for the misinformation.