It’s possibly harder than making the varsity football team, getting a driver’s license or even finding a date for homecoming.
The challenge: finding a spot in Cal High’s honors chemistry, AP Computer Science A (CSA), or accelerated algebra classes.
AP and honors classes are in such high demand that students are being waitlisted or denied a desk despite jumping through many hoops. Waitlisted students have to wait for a spot to open in order to join a class.
“I feel like there has to be enough space for all students to get in their preferred classes,” junior Zach Kuruvilla said. “Having five or more periods of a class and not getting into that class is absurd.”
Some students, such as sophomore Logan Ramey, believe there is a pretty simple solution to this problem.
“I think maybe a solution could be to add more periods or classes to these higher demand classes so students can get in with or without experience,” Ramey said.
Although this sounds reasonable, California’s teacher shortage is making it much more difficult for school districts to fill jobs, especially in certain subject areas.
A Learning Policy Institute study of more than 200 California school districts this school year found that 75 percent of schools reported a shortage of qualified teachers, particularly in the areas of math, science, art, and special and bilingual education.
Cal has been affected by this issue the past two years. This year, an Algebra 2 class went without a teacher the first month of the school year. The school also lost its AP Physics program last year because a qualified teacher was never hired.
Another problem Cal has experienced when it comes to high-demand classes is an increased number of student applications to transfer classes, many of which are into accelerated courses.
“We had 2,200 schedule request forms this year and we have to prioritize the upperclassmen as they have less time to complete their classes,” Cal counselor Kelly Falcone said.
Many people believe college interest is the reason for increased applications to AP and honors classes.
“I think that AP and honors classes are sort of needed to get into a good UC or a good college in general, since the SAT isn’t as important now,” Ramey said.
But Principal Demetrius Ball said the belief that taking higher-level courses to get into a good college is false.
“There is no magic formula,” Ball said. “You don’t have to take the whole biomed pathway in order to go to your dream school and major in pre-med.”
Although students may believe transferring into their preferred and waitlisted class will only benefit them, those who are switched later in the year may need to catch up to the academic pace of that class.
“It’s quite a challenge if a student were to join late because we start from day one and most classes are very fast-paced, so we would have to catch the students up,” chemistry teacher Jack Sarkany said.
But some students believe it is worth it to join late and do extra work to catch up in their preferred class rather than staying in a class they do not enjoy as much.
“I don’t care how hard it is, I’ll do the work and put the effort in to catch up if I join a class late,” Ramey said.
Some students think that it’s unfair that they have to wait until their senior year of highschool to get their preferred classes.
Senior Arman Martin did not get into AP Biology or AP CSA until his senior year. He thinks it’s more stressful to take the harder classes during his last year of high school than before because of college applications.
“I honestly would rather have my AP classes before senior year,” Martin said. “I also feel like your last year of high school is to enjoy it, but instead now I have to work extra hard to pass these AP classes.”
Kuruvilla did not get into AP Computer Science Principles (CSP) last year or AP Psychology this year. He thinks that it’s also unfair that students who have a passion for these classes have to wait a whole year to try to get in the class and sometimes still don’t get them.
“I was excited for the class but when I found out that I have to wait another year, [it] was pretty disappointing,” Kuruvilla said.
The issue of waitlists affects teachers as well because waitlisted classes mean the class is filled with a maximum number of students.
And like most teachers, honors physics teacher Fredrick Wafula prefers having fewer students.
“As a teacher, I need to be able to reach every student,” Wafula said. “So if I have too many students in my classroom, I wouldn’t be able to be an effective teacher.”
Ball said not getting into preferred classes is not the end of the world.
“I think one of the most important life lessons is that you don’t always get what you want,” Ball said.
Sarkany suggests that different criteria should be used to determine who gets priority for these classes.
“We have many students who advanced over the summer through online programs who want to get into these APs and honors classes,” Sarkany said. “They’re most of the time unready for it. So I think sometimes we need to look at what experiences they have.”
For students stressing about not getting into their preferred classes, Falcone said they should not let their anxiety control them from doing their best.
“Colleges know that not every student can get every class they want,” Falcone said. “This will never be held against the student.”
Cal counselor Rebecca Bellini also had some advice to students when completing their class selections in the spring.
“Students think that they don’t need to worry about their alternative classes because it’s not their first choice.” Bellini said. “It doesn’t matter, sometimes you get your second or third choice, so it’s important to make your alternative choice be a satisfying class that you would like, so you don’t feel disappointed if you did not get into the class you wanted.”
