<p>My d has involved with performance arts since 5th grade. She took Drama class last yr (freshmen) and did lots shows. She also wants to be a jounalism in college. I told her to show her “passion” in one or the other area, either continue taking Drama or start taking Journal class in Sophmore. This way, it will at least show on her resume 3 yrs of Journal course. There is just not enough classes to fit in, Is it a good idea to postpone the PE until Sr? </p>
<p>right now her sophmore schedule is</p>
<p>language
Algebra II
Spanish
World HIstory
Chemistry
PE ?? Drama ?? Journal ??</p>
<p>Your post implies that one year of PE is required for graduation.</p>
<p>Is there a risk involved in postponing PE to senior year? What happens if, say, she waits until then and then breaks her arm and cannot participate for many weeks? She would have no opportunity to make up the PE she has missed. Would this prevent her from graduating with her class?</p>
<p>You might want to raise this issue with the guidance counselor before advising your daughter to postpone PE until the last possible year.</p>
<p>my daughters situation is similar. they are req to have 2 years…she took one freshman year and took one semester over summer school…will take on more summer school to get it done. is summer school an option at all?</p>
<p>some high schools (reluctantly) give credit for independent PE if you’re willing to jump through hoops and fill out paperwork – as a performer (dancer?), your D might be able to fulfill her PE requirement without actually losing class time. It worked for us.</p>
<p>While I’m at it, I’d like to mention that journalism classes are often viewed with suspicion by many top colleges (though editor is a good EC, so go figure). There seems to be a status question at issue, with journalism as a respectable major at a few schools but not at most.</p>
<p>I agree with ebeeeee about original credit summer school courses in PE. I got mine out of the way by doing that, since I couldn’t get a job yet (no car/too young) and my parents weren’t going to pay for me to do music festivals and camps all summer.</p>
<p>I left two other easy, required classes (health and speech, each a semester) for senior year, and I don’t feel as though it was bad from an admissions standpoint. It was annoying to be in a class with mostly freshmen, but that’s what worked for me.</p>
<p>Is she really limited to six courses? That’s sad. I’d go with journalism instead of PE, personally, and start writing editorials for the school paper suggesting that limiting students to six courses reduces their flexibility and their likelihood of graduating (as was shown in a study done here in Washington).</p>
<p>She should also see if she can do an independent PE to get it out of the way.</p>
<p>Just another POV…
My son plans to major in journalism when he starts college in the fall. Because he was going for the full IB diploma, he only had one elective available in his jr and sr years (after he completed the mandatory PE requirement in 9th and 10th) and he used his for concert/symphonic bands and wind ensemble. </p>
<p>Also, students who work on the school newspaper are required to be enrolled in the journalism course. </p>
<p>Since he never took a journalism course or worked on the school paper, S was wondered how that might impact how his application was viewed, especially at Syracuse’s Newhouse School. He explained the situation in one of the essays and I guess it wasn’t a problem because Newhouse admitted him.</p>
<p>Also, more than one college admissions officer who spoke to our IB students and parents over the years stressed that the time to take electives is once you are in college. Your hs transcript should be as challenging as possible, and classes like photography and weightlifting (which can be taken as an elective in our hs) aren’t that impressive at some of the more selective schools (and, honestly, mosts schools position themselves as selective these days.)</p>
<p>My S did flirt with the idea of dropping Wind Ensemble in his sr. year so that he could take journalism, but in the end he heeded the advice of his guidance counselor and stayed with band. I also think it helped to have a solid four-year commitment to his hs performance and marching bands.</p>
<p>My S did a lot of online reporting and writing for one or two sports websites and was able to send clips and links along with his application. That was a good way to demonstrate a passion for journalism and writing.</p>
<p>Another thought…could your D fulfill the PE requirement in summer school? Our school district allows it, and a lot of kids take advantage of it so that they can double up on more academically rigorous classes, or music and drama classes, during the school year. One girl I know took PE during the summer between 9th and 10th grade so that she could take classes in BOTH concert choir and vocal ensemble in 10th grade. This approach has the added advantage of condensing a nine-month PE class into a five-day/week six-week summer class calendar.</p>
<p>At my school, a year is required and you can get it done in summer school, which many students choose to do. If that’s an option, I would recommend it to your daughter. If it’s not, though, then I recommend having her just take the PE her sophomore year. In doing so, she’ll get it out of the way and will have room for her drama or journalism classes when she’s older (and when she’ll probably appreciate them more). If she goes to a school in anyway like mine, she’ll be the only junior/senior taking PE, and it might make her slightly uncomfortable. Plus, she’s going to have to take it some time, so taking it her senior year is just going to rob her of that potential elective.</p>
<p>You guys are wonderful…, thank you so much for all the suggestions. Her HS summer programs just for the ones need to make up, no summer PE or other classes to take ahead. I will chk the summer options again. Also appreicated the Jounalism class info…, since I have no idea about journal career.</p>
<p>Wow, I am soooo jealous. In NJ you are required to have a year of gym for every year of HS. It is very rare to have any kind of option–a very few schools will give credit for being on a sports team, but most schools will accept nothing but the kid running around in shorts one period per day.</p>
<p>There are a lot of schools in the US on 6 period days. My sons school is but it also has a zero hour option. This is an early morning class that starts an hour before the rest of the students show up. They took their PE/health requirements and a required US history class early morning.</p>
<p>Not a great option but they liked it better than a sumer school.</p>
<p>It is to bad your school only has six periods! At my school you can take 8 and you get credit if you do sports. I really like having 8 classes, this year my schedule should be:</p>
<p>Spanish II
French I
Chemistry
Math
History
English
Orchestra
Tennis</p>
<p>Most schools will let you write papers about sports and just do what you can (pick up balls, time runs, etc) in place of actually playing sports in PE, so if you get hurt right before you graduate, you’ll still be able to fufill your gym requirements.</p>