Kristen Bishop

My name is Kristen Bishop, and in 2018 I graduated from the University of Delaware with a degree in Animal Science and a minor in Wildlife Conservation. I am currently enrolled in a 1 year MS program in Conservation Medicine at Tufts University Cummings school of Veterinary Medicine. After completing my degree, I will be working as the clinic manager of Avian Haven, which is a wildlife rehabilitation center in Freedom, Maine.

I know many people assume that taking as many AP classes as possible is very important, but in my opinion that is not always true. I found that some of the classes that I learned the most in were actually not AP level. For example, to this day I still remember so much about the honors anatomy and physiology class that I took as a junior (shoutout to the wonderful Ms Beatty!). That class helped me get through my freshman year anatomy course, even though my college course was about animals! I only took 2 AP classes in high school, biology and psychology. Yes, those classes prepared me well for college, but I found that the honors courses I took were also very helpful. The stress of loading your schedule with AP classes may look good on your college applications, but there are other things that are just as impressive and provide you with more valuable learning opportunities. I believe that playing a sport (I swam in both high school and college) and having a job (I was a lifeguard) taught me more meaningful life skills than any of my academic classes ever could. Extracurriculars are also extremely important for college applications, and also for job applications later on. So, in my opinion, don’t stress about the level of classes that you are taking. Yes, it is important to push yourself and learn as much as you can, but in the long run the lessons that you learn matter more than the class designation on your transcripts. Take the classes whose subjects interest you, and don’t spend so much time agonizing over which level to take.