Hi everyone,
I’m a rising junior, and I recently found out I will need spinal fusion surgery for scoliosis this school year (probably December). I’m trying to figure out how to plan for academics, ECs, and college admissions with this new conflict.
The situation:
Timing: Surgery will be in December, which means I’ll miss about 3 weeks of school plus winter break. I would return in January, so almost a month away from in-person classes. These 3 weeks also mark the start of trimester 2.
Schedule: My classes include AP Lang, AP Stats, AP Gov, AP Macro, Symphony Orchestra, and some electives across 3 trimesters.
Concerns:
Junior year is already brutal enough, so I’m worried about how to handle this on top of everything.
- How should I manage missing so much school during junior year, especially with multiple AP classes?
- Will this affect my recommendation letters if teachers don’t see me as much? Any tips for building strong relationships in the first trimester?
- Should I try to self-study some class content before surgery to stay on track?
- How do I explain this on my college applications (additional info or essay) without sounding like a sob story? I’d like to frame it as growth or resilience.
- Any advice from people who’ve gone through long medical absences during high school and still managed APs and ECs?
Thanks!
Have you talked to people that have had this surgery and do they see that as a reasonable timeline? There is being able to attend school physically, and then there is being fully functional. Something like Symphony Orchestra might be really tough.
Anyway to put it off until the summer?
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You need to speak to your school. If you have health issues that prevent you from attending school, they should be able to draw up a health plan including how your instruction will be provided while you can’t attend in person.
Please speak to your school counselor to start.
This falls under 504 accommodations…I think.
We had the meetings, and a nurse always attended. Medical documentation needed to be provided. A plan was drawn up, with personnel assigned to carry it out. Sometimes, this involved home instruction if the student could handle that.
The teachers were also given information and guidance in terms of how to address the material and test the student.
Please see the folks at your school and inquire.
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Agree with talk to the school. Take care of you. And don’t worry about ECs. I don’t know your prospective list but most colleges don’t consider them.
No way to put off the surgery til Summer ?
In the end, hopefully your teachers work with you. In essence, you might get better recommendations - showing your ability to fly in the face of adversity.
But just like ECs, most schools don’t require LORs either.
Best of luck and hope you get better.
I completely agree how to handle your school work is something you should work out with your school.
I am posting just to address the issue of recommendations. I can assure you this will not be a problem. As long as this is all worked out with the school, they will understand what is happening and will not find it hard to write just as strong of a recommendation as they would without an excused absence.
In terms of getting strong recommendations, the biggest thing is just to take a real interest in the class. Be curious, ask questions, help others when you can . . . just be an active, engaged student.
If you want to also wave and say hi or so on when you see them around, that does not hurt. You do NOT need to put on some elaborate show. Just a basic acknowledgement that your teacher exists outside of class and you see them as a friendly face goes a very long way.
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I agree with asking whether this can wait until school ends next summer. Is that an option?
I’m so sorry that you need to have this surgery, especially during such a busy and complicated time in your life.
My son had foot surgery during high school which required extended time in bed with his legs elevated in order to recover. We did schedule it in the summer. Even then, he was frustrated that it restricted the summer activities he could participate in (he tried an online class but it didn’t work out as he was kind of out of it from the pain meds etc), and then the full recovery took long enough that he was still having some trouble in the early part of the fall semester hobbling around and needing rest during the day and foot elevation time. So I understand how such surgeries can interfere with school, even if scheduled during a break.
I agree with others that it might be good to try to schedule in the summer if you can; it was definitely easier that way. And in the end my son was really happy that the surgery was done, since it helped him tremendously.
Edited to add: My son was in orchestra also. Even though violinists get to sit while performing, he found he had to skip some of the first part of the semester because playing an instrument is just a little more physically demanding for your body posture than just sitting in class. I don’t know what instrument you play, but I expect probably playing any instrument might be uncomfortable shortly after spinal surgery.
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First off, I’m sorry that you need this surgery and that you are stressed about it.
I have a couple of thoughts. One, make sure your guidance counselor and your teachers know that you are going out for surgery. Your guidance counselor will be able to address that in their LOR to colleges next year. IMO, I think it looks better coming from the GC than you.
Yes, to trying to get ahead. Talk to your teacher ahead of time and get a good understanding of what will be covered and what will be due. But, remember that in this digital age, you will be able to accomplish a lot online.
I myself missed 2 1/2 months of my senior year of HS because of illness. I was taking all AP and honors classes. My teachers were really understanding, assigned reasonable work, and gave me extensions. And this was in the stone ages. I think educators are even more understanding today.
Try not to stress too much about this and focus on healing!
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Don’t worry too much about school. Your focus should be on the plan that your doctors recommend, and taking care of your health.
If that means surgery in December, that’s what you do.
My son had a big surgery in high school, and although it was in the summer, he wasn’t able to participate in most of his extracurriculars (including band) the following year. He also had an emergency hospitalization during school that year.
His teachers and the school nurse were all amazing throughout everything. It wasn’t hard for him to catch up. In his college app, he decided not to mention anything about his health except in the “additional information” section. He just wrote one sentence saying that health issues requiring surgery/hospitalization prevented him from doing his extracurriculars that year. It was all no big deal in the long run. Your situation might require more explanation, but your guidance counselor can do that on your behalf.
My niece has just missed more than half of her junior year due to a transplant and other issues. Her school and teachers have been amazing. I’m sure there are some schools/teachers that aren’t, but I think most of them are very sympathetic to students facing these sorts of things.
Junior year is a good time to do college visits, so you could try to squeeze some in before the surgery. Best of luck to you, and take care of yourself, above all. Whenever you do the surgery, you’ll get through it and hopefully be in a much better position to take on your upcoming studies in good health.
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