Hello! I’m in major need of some guidance here!
About me: I am a rising senior in high school in California. I have a 4.5 GPA in semi-rigorous courses. I currently have a 2170 SAT score (which I am hoping to approve this fall). My dream schools are UCLA and USC, but I will be applying to many UCs.
Into the dilemma:
I volunteered at my local community center this summer. A week ago, my supervisor offered me an internship there for one day a week afterschool there during the fall. On Thursday, I went to talk with my Supervisor’s boss (the manager of the whole community center) about the internship and he asked me to take a job there instead. he basically created a position for me where I will be helping plan city events. I am thrilled and flattered that they liked the work I did there this summer enough to offer me an actual job. I know my boss put a lot of effort into opening this position up for me, as they have to create a work station for me because there are none available and he had to get special permission from city hall to hire someone underage (I’m 16) because they have never had an employee that young. I will be working there part time for about 15 hours per week. I loved what I did this summer and I am genuinely very excited about this opportunity. I think this type of work (Business/marketing) is something I am interested in pursuing in college. I finally feel like I have some direction after having no idea what I wanted to do in college for the past three years. I am very passionate about working to make my community a better place and I know that I could excel at this job and that I would love working there. I also know that if I took this job my boss would likely write me a great recommendation letter for college. Plus, the job experience may make me stand out to colleges and it would make for an interesting personal essay.
However, I don’t think I would be able to manage the (part-time) job and my schedule (as planned) together. My schedule was supposed to be AP Calculus, AP Environmental Science, Econ/Psych (Graduation rec), IB History of the Americas, and IB English 2 (No sixth period because I have to have time to walk to the community center). I have been eagerly waiting to take IB History since sophomore year because I adore history and the teacher, so I don’t want to drop that one. AP environmental interests me even though I’m not big on science, so I don’t want to drop it. I may want to minor in finance, so I cant drop AP calc. From talking to past seniors, I know that IB English has the biggest work load/ most time consuming and English is my least favorite subject, so I thought it may be best for my schedule and my sanity to drop to regular English. I have a few concerns though. First of all, I took freshman and sophomore honors English and Junior IB English 1, so I’m afraid it might raise some course continuity flags and colleges may think I’m slacking off senior year even though I will still have 3 AP/IB courses. Secondly, I adore and admire the teacher (who I had for English my sophomore year as well). She has served as a major guidance counselor for me throughout my high school career and she knows I should be taking her class next year. I don’t want her to think less of me for dropping her class to pursue a job I am passionate about.
On the other hand, I know that if I don’t drop the class that I likely wont be able to keep my grades up while balancing studying for the SATs, applying for scholarships, handling my other extracurriculars (publicity officer for 2 clubs, member of both for 3 years, officer for both for 2 of those years), working at my new job and balancing all of my other classes. I also absolutely do not want to miss out on this amazing job opportunity that has basically been handed to me.
So, I guess my question is: Do you think I am making the wrong decision by taking the job and dropping IB English 2?