Importance of physics in senior year

Up until today, my senior year schedule was perfect. However, I just found out that I will need to drop IB physics because the teacher is leaving the school and no one else can teach the class (which was just WONDERFUL news to hear only three days before the school year ends)
My issue comes from the fact that I need to fit into my schedule
1) another IB elective class in order to get my IB Diploma
2) a gym class (graduation requirement)
3) Band (something I love and have been a part of since 9th grade and hold an important leadership position in)
4) AND physics
I was planning on taking IB physics and making that my 6th IB elective class for my IB diploma, but I can’t do that anymore. I do understand that physics is an important class to have on my application, but my question is, if it came down to it, how much will not taking physics hurt my application? I do not have the room in my schedule to fit all of this. I COULD possibly take half a year of Band and half a year of gym but I would really rather not unless you guys think it’s really important for me to take physics (either AP or honors is offered at my school). I know that a lot of people would say to drop Band because it’s not important, but it is very important to me and I really don’t want to drop it completely.
Thanks for any advice! I’m just trying to make the best decisions possible.

First advice is to do what you love and have a passion for. When you write your essays or interview that will come across. You only have one life and you need to live it. If you love band and have a leadership position there I would continue that no questions asked.

With that having Physics is obviously better than not having it. If you can find a way to pull it off I would try to do so or at least try to replace it with another challenging STEM class.

Does your school have the option of taking AP Physics online? My DS high school only offered Honors Physics and they approved for him to take an online AP Physics class through the school so it would show on his transcript as if it was a normal class.

I would recommend some out of the box thinking on this one and really trying to fit a physics of some kind in if at all possible.

A couple ideas on how to do that:
1. The easiest is as BBQ-Devil mentioned, find an alternative way to take physics - online, through a local college/community college, over the summer, etc...This has the benefit of showing how committed you are to your studies and band by showing you went the extra mile to solve the problem.
2. This one is a bit odd...but it is what I did in high school to solve all my class conflict dilemmas (I too was in a high-level band all 4 years): Sign up as a homeschool student part-time and homeschool gym by doing whatever athletic activity you normally do (it was tennis for me, gym was messing with my training schedule). If you have other grad requirements that are "throw away" classes you could do this with them as well. Doing an easy class (like health) on your own takes WAY less time.

Good luck and I hope you find a way to stay in band. It was an experience I still frequently miss and I'm glad I made it work all 4 years.

USAFA10s said:

I would recommend some out of the box thinking on this one and really trying to fit a physics of some kind in if at all possible.

A couple ideas on how to do that:
1. The easiest is as BBQ-Devil mentioned, find an alternative way to take physics - online, through a local college/community college, over the summer, etc...This has the benefit of showing how committed you are to your studies and band by showing you went the extra mile to solve the problem.
2. This one is a bit odd...but it is what I did in high school to solve all my class conflict dilemmas (I too was in a high-level band all 4 years): Sign up as a homeschool student part-time and homeschool gym by doing whatever athletic activity you normally do (it was tennis for me, gym was messing with my training schedule). If you have other grad requirements that are "throw away" classes you could do this with them as well. Doing an easy class (like health) on your own takes WAY less time.

Good luck and I hope you find a way to stay in band. It was an experience I still frequently miss and I'm glad I made it work all 4 years.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, I was able to do some “out of the box thinking” as you put it. I talked with my counselor and found a way to take a gym class at my community college in the fall. It would be on Saturdays for 2 and a half hours for a month or two... which isn’t my favorite way to spend my Saturday, but it does solve my problem. This way I will be able to fit in physics (hopefully AP) as well as Band.