Starting in Junior High, I began taking an accelerated course load I kind of formed for myself. It is very unusual for individuals at my school to do this, and I was and still am the only person in my grade to do this. So on top of taking all the advanced or AP versions of classes available, I was up a grade level as well. So when all advanced students during sophomore year would take advanced Algebra II, I was taking pre-calculus (which all advanced juniors take) with students in the grade above me. This was the same with Spanish and Sciences as well. It caused me to be a sophomore having a majority of my classes with Juniors and Seniors.
This year, since I have essentially ‘ran out’ of above me courses, I am taking an online statistics course through a regional college portal. How do I express this in my applications? I placed a short summary of it in my special skills section of my resume, but I’m not sure how to really highlight this part of my academics.
It is important to me because I took the initiation to push myself academically on a whole other level by deviating from the usual curriculum. My guidance counselor says he did mention this in his rec letter, and that adcoms should pick up on it based on the School summary, but this is my big hook.
It would just be very frustrating for me if I put in quite a bit of extra work in this course load and it didn’t serve to my advantage or even got recognized. Could I maybe write about my experience adapting to the students above me and becoming very close with them as peers? Any advice would be amazing!
It’ll get recognized. College admissions officers are knowledgeable about what’s “typical,” so if you’re taking precalc in sophomore year, they’ll see that, and it will help you. Don’t stress about it, and don’t feel the need to write about it. Unless it’s an actually moving story, it may just come off as a humblebrag.
@BabylonBabylon I was considering writing about how it was difficult for me to really find my place, because I was halfway between one group of individuals and another, not entirely a part of either. I do not want to come off as braggy or show offy in my applications. Could this prompt be good or do you think that maybe it would show potential ‘social’ weakness. I have other potential prompts as well so this isn’t my only idea.
Hmm… It could come off as cringey, honestly. Or it could be really profound, but I’m leaning more toward the idea that it may end up as “I was always more advanced than my peers…” etc., which sounds like a brag.
I think you should write it, show it to friends/family, get opinions, and then maybe write a second essay too, then see which one you like better. No point trying to debate if the idea is worth it when you can just write out the essay in a couple hours.
Don’t highlight it. Let others do that for you. One of the cardinal rules of social grace is that when something is blatantly obvious in your application, like top test scores or excellent grades or an accelerated program, you talk about other things: like what matter to you (hopefully something other than grades, test scores or acceleration), challenges faced and overcome (besides being accelerated), experiences that shaped you (again, not just acceleration.) You don’t want to come off as overly impressed with your academic ability - as if that were your only selling point. The bottom line is that there are many students out there who were accelerated and used that opportunity to do unique and interesting things with their time. You want to be one of those kids.
My kid’s guidance counselor talked about this in her recommendation. I thinks/he’d do that in yours as well, particularly if she is aware of it (or you make her aware of it).
Actually I’d absolutely include the “only student to initiated a special academic path at school, taking …” on the resume.
Will you be taking online college courses in the Spring?
However I would recommend you NOT write your essay about this, but focus on some unique qualities you have, and tell stories that show how those have come to represent who you are.
@MYOS1634 Yes I will be! See I’m just unsure how this would come off. I know my counselor mentions it and it should be noticeable to adcoms but I don’t want to be pushy about it or come off as “braggy”.
I absolutely do think it would come off as braggy as an essay. It sounds like it was unique in your school but it’s not so in other areas. 1/3 of my daughters BC Calc class is juniors as is she. We are lucky though that because it’s somewhat routinely allowed in our area due to a magnet program they have in ES that grade accelerates students that there are lots of classes offered including dual enrollment multivar/linear algebra plus AP Stats for math. 5-6 years of 4 foreign languages. Many AP Science options. My son will graduate with all 4 AP Physics classes plus a year of actual college math beyond BC Calc. It’s great that you were able to create a fulfilling schedule but I would concentrate on maintaining that level of challenge this year and highlighting that. If you don’t have access to classes–real or virtual then do something like research, write a novel, start a business–whatever gets you excited so you can write a passionate essay about something amazing you are doing and want to learn more about in the future. Leave the past and the ehh social stuff behind in my opinion. Though I do agree it’s hard being in all accelerated classes and my daughter is very young for her grade barely making the cutoff here which made it all the more of a difference it’s not all that bad.
I expect your GC will point out to colleges that you took more advanced courses than is usual at your school. But you should be aware that taking classes with older students isn’t particularly unusual. In our high school, math, science, and foreign language classes are all mixed grade levels. It is also sadly not that unusual for the most advanced students in many school systems to have to press or fight to get into appropriate classes, often without success, so you are fortunate that your school system was supportive. I am sure it required some adjustment, especially in middle school when the age differences are more significant, but I don’t think an essay about some minor experiences in middle school is going to wow colleges. I’m not sure I envision a good essay coming out of this–but maybe you have something particularly compelling to say about it?
@dcplanner@mathyone I will definitely not be writing about it. The only interesting part about the situation would be the trouble I had making friends in highschool and the depression that resulted but I hate sob stories. I think they are cliched no matter how unique they may seem so I definitely will take your advice.
This is a very common problem for gifted students. Either they are bored in grade level classes or they are grade-accelerated, and this can be socially isolating although some kids get along just fine with the older crowd, sometimes better than with kids their own age. Little kids make a big deal of age and grade differences (I’m 6 and you’re only 5!) but by the time you get to high school it really shouldn’t be a big deal, unless you make it so. My kids have friends from all the grades near them.