Aspiring Independent Study and Mentorship students are running out of time to apply for next year’s class as teacher evaluations are due Friday with final applications due March 2.

“ISM is one of the best experiential learning opportunities that we provide advanced, high achieving juniors and seniors,” ISM teacher Karene Goff said. “Students must go through an application process so it is very competitive and we are limited to the amount of students we can take, with only 52 students being accepted at each high school. “If students are accepted into the second round after being evaluated by the application, teacher recommendations and essay. They have the opportunity to have an interview, then off that final decisions will be made.”

Designated for juniors and seniors, those who are accepted into the program, choose a topic to study and work with professionals in the students chosen field.

“Getting to be in the field is a great takeaway from this program, getting to work with a professional who is actually in the field and getting to see first hand what goes on,” Goff said. “What they do and how they do it. It’s different working with a physician and watching open heart surgery and getting that experience, rather than watching Grey’s Anatomy.”

Although the class isn’t AP, ISM does receive weighted credit (5.5 points) as the workload can be more than many other classes.

“It requires you to reach out to professionals for interviews and mentor visits, which means not only spending time meeting with them but also driving the way to wherever the company is, be that Dallas, Richardson, or anywhere else,” senior Ellie Chen said. “However, it’s still manageable to take on ISM along with challenging courses and extracurriculars.”

Senior Shreya Balamurali joined the ISM program in hopes of pursuing her passion and branching out of her comfort zone.

“ISM is a time commitment, but I know a lot of students who do ISM along with other extra curricular activities such as band, orchestra, etc,” Balamurali said. “Honestly the workload is rather heavy but it won’t seem like a lot if you truly love your field. My confidence level improved so much from where it was last year. This is because we do a lot of public speaking and professional interviews in ISM that require you to become more articulate and a better speaker in general.”