Hello! So I’m in a bind. I am a High School senior ranked 7th in my class currently enrolled in AP Computer Science online through Florida Virtual Schools (FLVS), and I am struggling a ton in that class. The school started us a month late and I’m not even done semester 1 of the class and it’s already March. I’ve been having really bad issues with depression this year, so much that I’ve started going to therapy. After a while I realized that alongside other issues, this class was a major contributor to my feelings of depression. By now I would have dropped the class, but there’s one catch. I need to pass it in order to get my STEM Diploma and Honors Cords at graduation since I’m in my school’s Honors STEM Capstone Program. I’ve already completed my capstone course and I am only taking APCS to fulfill the last science credit (out of 5) needed to get STEM honors. I’ve worked so hard, and cried so many nights trying to finish my project; I can’t afford not to get those Honor Cords. Though each day I stay in the class, I get worse and worse; my mental health is destroyed every hour I’m in the class. I don’t even want to be a computer scientist, I want to be a psychiatrist.
Long story short, is it worth staying in AP Computer Science to get a bad grade just to get an extra diploma and honor cord representing all the struggle of last year at the cost of putting my mental health in jeopardy? Thank you for reading!
No, it is not. The “Honors Chord” and “Stem diploma” are arbitrary “accomplishments” at your school. Most schools don’t have anything like that. Do not get stressed out over this. You don’t need APCS. And some kids are not suited to learning CS online.
Please, don’t continue with this class. You will look back a year from now and realize it does not matter! And 5 years from now it will mean absolutely nothing.
Best of luck. Please do what’s right for your mental health. Remember, this is just a little “title” that you do not need.
Talk to your parents/guidance counselor about this. I assume an online course is harder because you can’t sit down with the teacher and get help.
Some thoughts:
Are you accepted to colleges already?
Know that they care about the grades you got in the classes you already took and your SAT scores. They don’t care that you took 5 sciences.
Will you look back and wish you had stuck it out?
or are you ready to move on to college so it doesn’t matter that you had an honor cord around your neck at graduation?
Can you get a tutor to help you with that class?
Have you seen a doctor about the depression?
Sometimes you have to know how much you can stand…and know when to stop. This could be in a job or whatever…do what you can handle otherwise you will be miserable.
To me it doesn’t seem worth it…get your mental health in check so you will be ready to go to college. Withdraw from the class and see a psychiatrist about depression.
Cords don’t matter.
It’s an arbitrary award your school gives but no one else would even know what they are.
Your mental health does matter.
If you drop this class, you’ll need to tell the colleges that haven’t admitted you yet. You won’t be rescinded since it’s an elective and you already have 4 science credits.