<p>For starters, the University of California system requires 4 years of English. Additionally, the University of Texas, Penn State, and Rutgers all requires 4 years of English. The Harvard, Princeton, Notre Dame, and the University of North Carolina websites all recommend 4 years of English.</p>
<p>University of Maryland requires 4 years of English as does RIT, I believe. </p>
<p>I am willing to bet that a LOT of college require 4 years of english. </p>
<p>Bottom Line: I would NOT advise a high school kid to drop english in their senior year. This would be a horrible mistake in my opinion.</p>
<p>I have been talking to “people” at the state education level,( including university profs) and they are saying even when students have taken AP calc in high school- but don’t continue through all 4 years, they are seeing significant disadvantage.</p>
<p>I imagine that this would be even more true for English.
I think that colleges would consider less than 4 years of any subject but I don’t think that is the point- my concern would be- would dropping English for the last term of the year, serve the student?</p>
<p>I’m not going to pick all of those “requirements” apart. But I looked at the UC system, and if you pay attention you’ll notice that the subject-matter “requirements” don’t matter if you have high enough SAT or ACT scores.</p>
<p>I think JHS is correct that many “requirements” (not to mention “recommendations”) can be waived if an applicant has a strong enough total package. For example, my state university requires (or, until recently, required) a high school geography course. But it admits people all the time who have no such course on their transcript. If the OP’s child is at a strong prep school (as I seem to recall), then three years of English there is like four years of English elsewhere, and no college admission officer who knows what high schools are like will have any qualms about admitting the child.</p>
<p>But why take the chance?</p>
<p>I think the safest thing to do is just call the colleges to which one has applied. I’m guessing they won’t consider it a problem - although I am still surprised the school is considering allowing it.</p>
<p>Here is what is requred for Maryland state universities:</p>
<p>"As prescribed by the Board of Regents, the university expects all applicants, at a minimum, to have completed by graduation the following course work:</p>
<p>Four years of English
Three years of mathematics, including algebra I or applied math I & II, formal logic or geometry
Three years of history or social science
Three years of science in at least two different areas, with at least two lab experiences
Two years of a foreign language
The above criteria represent the minimum requirements for admission"</p>
<p>Notice: there are NO exceptions for certain applicants. Why someone would take a chance and not take 4 years of english in the hope that this requirement would be waived, is beyond my understanding. It would be an insane risk to drop english in the last semester.</p>
<p>Well, I still don’t understand. Is the fourth year of english being completed? Just a trimester early? As long as it’s actually completed then none of this is relevant. If only half of it is being done, that’s probably going to be a problem. </p>
<p>If any changes are made to the transcript after applying you’ll have to notify the schools, well your child’s school will probably notify them anyway. Has the high school agreed to this? I doubt they’d agree to something that doesn’t meet state graduation requirements. If you haven’t asked the school and are just wondering at this point, chances are fair that this is not even an option. I know in my school you can’t drop/change/switch after a certain point…2/3 through the year is too late. If that’s the case and he still wants to pursue this he could enroll in a community college class maybe.</p>
<p>I vote with the “check with the individual colleges” group. I know my son wanted to drop an AP class the second semester senior year. He had already been accepted. When the GC called the college the reply was if his final transcript does not match what he turned in as proposed schedule on application, his acceptance may be rescinded. They did say that he could ask for approval for an alternate class (ie switch one AP for another). Too much headache, so he just stayed in original class.</p>
<p>Our local high school has a trimester system and English is only required (or in fact available) for two tris of the year. So in our case 2 tris is a year of English. If this school requires 3 tris to complete a ‘year’ then dropping a tri could certainly be a problem. In fact I am surprised the school would let the child graduate if this were the case. Don’t most states have a minimum requirement for graduation? I would err on the side of caution and stick with the class.</p>
<p>I think the situation here is private school student applying to privately operated colleges. Most state curricular requirements don’t (and shouldn’t) apply to such a case.</p>
<p>But the statement “GC has told him that kid must have a convincing reason to drop English” - tells me the school does generally expect students to complete a full year. Find out if dropping it is even a realistic option - i.e. would the school consider his reasons to be ‘convincing’. And to really be on the safe side definitely talk to the college to see what their reaction would be. If there is even a small risk that dropping the English class could cause problems - why take it?</p>
<p>Thanks for your comments and I apprecaite them.</p>