Dear Off Leash,

I know spring is supposed to be a happy time, a reward for dealing with the months of people trying to be funny with seasonal depression jokes, but I’m dealing with a full-blown identity crisis. The start of spring means the approaching end of the school year, and, as a third year, I now realize a cold new reality: I’ll be both a senior and a senior by credits.

Since I’m really smart and incredibly driven, I took a lot of AP classes in high school. I’m talking AP World, AP Biology, AP Home Economics, and every other AP class you can imagine. My high school GPA was a 6.4 (which is also my height by the way) and I got a 3 on the AP Calculus AB exam (which not a lot of people can do). I worked really hard in high school and after being rejected from every single Ivy League school (for political reasons I’m sure) I deserve some type of reward for allowing this lowly public institute to call me an alumnus.

In case you were not aware, when you are a junior by year but senior by credits you get to register for classes when the seniors do. This has always been the agreement between my people and the UW administration. It is what I deserve for taking so many AP classes, which are just as if not harder than real college courses. And now when I go to see when I register for classes for autumn quarter what do I see? That my time of registration is with everyone else? Why am I considered a “senior” and not a “senior by year but a super senior by credits”? My privilege and rights have been stripped right before my eyes by dictator Cauce herself.

I am beside myself after surviving this order of events. I can barely get out of bed in the morning while I am mourning (that’s an example of a homophobe, you learn that in AP English Language). My friends don’t seem to empathize with me at all. My friends just tell me that bringing up my status is “annoying” and to just “go to class for once.” My parents are no help either, my dad dismissed my concerns with “We paid for those AP tests and out-of-state tuition so you would graduate early, why are you taking a fourth year?” Registration is coming up soon, Off Leash, and I don’t know how I'm going to make it.

Sincerely,

Junior by year but a senior by credits