At the beginning of High School balancing new courses can be stressful and an issue that does not help is an incorrect schedule. Often when picking a schedule, students don’t get the exact classes they anticipated they would receive. There are plenty of students in the school that need to be in certain classes that fill up quickly because many classes are often overcrowded.
Picking classes is sometimes very stressful because many only have a couple required classes and then students are required to fill the spots with electives or more AP classes, which are both in high demand by many students. It is hard to pick between classes because students pick extra AP classes to get an AP credit, but then the class ends up being a lot more challenging than expected and students wonder if they should have taken an easier class to take off some of the workload. Once this problem is figured out usually the student does not have time to make a schedule change and they are stuck with an overwhelming class.
When students come into school the first day of a new semester they go into their homeroom and get their schedule. Most of the time many students are disappointed and ask to go to Student Services to change their classes. Students go into Student Service they are put in the back of a line and wait only to be told to come back at lunch or after school or to schedule a meeting with their counselor. Changing classes in Student Services is a big struggle for seniors because they have to email the colleges they have applied to so they can make sure they are allowed to switch classes. Most of the time when a student emails or calls the colleges they wonder why you are calling or say that changing classes does not change your application status.
The previous problems referenced all can be very stressful for the students, teachers and the people working in the office. None of the wrong schedules are anyone’s fault, but sometimes the blame is put on counselors and students services. The best way to deal with these problems is to stay calm when going to talk to the office, being loud and assertive will not help with schedule changes. If a schedule change is needed, try to make a meeting with the counselor and come to a happy medium that will be beneficial academically. Overall, the beginning of a semester is often a stressful time, and it may take weeks to change classes, but like in life being positive, respectful and meeting the counselors in the middle will help get what classes are wanted or needed.
