<p>Will it be a problem if in high school I only take 3 years of science- honors bio as a frosh, honors chem as a sophomore, and honors physics as a junior? Basically, I am decent at science (A's in honors bio and A- in honors chem), but it simply does not interest me. It is very clear that I am an English/history student, so I am electing to double up on that in my junior year. It is not as though I will have any less of a rigorous courseload- I will be taking 2 APs and 3 honors as a junior and 4 APs and 1 honors as a senior. My GPA is stellar and my SAT scores and extracurriculars are very good as well. Though my high school does not rank I am basically at the top of my class. Will it really be a problem applying to top schools (a few Ivies, top LACs) that I only have 3 years of science if I am demonstrating that I have a clear passion in other areas? Most of these schools require 3 years of science but recommend 4. Opinions please?</p>
<p>I’m going thru the same thing right now. I’m guessing an Ivy is going to want 4 years. I am also not a math/science person and one of the LAC’s i’m looking at has told me that their “most competitive” applicants take pre-calc. I would prefer to take AP stats but it may hurt my chances at admission. So, do I take pre-calc and risk my GPA or take AP stats which may hurt my chances? </p>
<p>I’ve taken 3 labs in science - bio, chem, and earth (no honors/AP) but will graduate with 7 AP’s (all available AP english and history classes as well as AP spanish), around a 3.7-3.8 UW GPA and good EC’s and will have great recs. I think I’m a pretty good canditate for a lot of schools. I’m not looking at ivy’s but schools like Providence, Fordham, Loyola, etc. But, I still may not get in because of this. </p>
<p>This whole “but it looks good for colleges” is really starting to get annoying. If you’re not sure I would just call admissions and ask them.</p>
<p>I only took 3 years of natural sciences, (I took psych this year), and I still got accepted to good schools like Carleton and BC honors.</p>
<p>Good to know. What was your math sequence?</p>
<p>i did the opposite. WHen I was in high school, I took honors earth science as a freshman due to a scheduling error, which put me in honors bio as a soph, and honors chem as a junior. My senior year, I dropped AP history to double up and take honors physics and AP bio so I could have an AP science credit for college. I also dropped my free period to take honors latin so I didn’t have to drop AP spanish.</p>
<p>My high school counselors thought I was crazy, but I could easily explain it in my interviews. </p>
<p>In your situation, I think that if you can make it clear that you aren’t dropping the 4th year of science because it is “too hard,” but rather, you have a passion for english/history and needed to make room for it in your schedule, you’ll be alright. </p>
<p>Regarding skipping precalc, if you ever want to take a math/science in college (or think you may have to), definitely think about getting precalc out of the way in high school. it’s easier.</p>
<p>^^ thanks for the input. I’ve researched the math/science requirements for most of the schools i’m intersted in, and for english majors they all seem pretty benign. some of them even look a bit silly to be honest. </p>
<p>that’s why i’m not sure what the big push is for a non-bio/pre-med/math major to have some of these classes in HS.</p>