I’m currently trying to decide what my 2nd science class should be next year (I’m going to be a senior and I’ll be taking AP Computer Science A). I’m a very mathematically-orientated student, so I feel like AP Physics C would be a better fit for my skill set. However, our school’s AP Physics C teacher has a reputation for being unnecessarily harsh, while I had my AP Bio teacher for Honors Bio during sophomore year and absolutely loved her. I am seriously considering the bio teacher for a teacher recommendation, but am unsure about it since, as of now, she was only my sophomore year teacher.
Since I am a more computational person (pure memorization really bores me), I am kind of split on which class I should take next year. What do you guys think? Is a strong teacher recommendation worth going against my strengths?
My senior schedule for reference:
AP Statistics
AP Literature & Composition
AP Computer Science A
AP Macro + Micro
AP Bio/AP Physics C
Did you take AP Calc BC already? I’ll assume you already have, given your proposed senior sched, but just in case, you will need some sort of Calc as a prereq/coreq in order to take AP Physics C.
Assuming you have all the prereqs I would lean towards AP Physics C, assuming it’s the traditional Mech/E&M each semester scheduling. Teacher recommendations are generally speaking done by your 11th grade teachers.
I took AP Calculus BC as a sophomore and Multivariable Calculus as a junior. Due to restrictions in the school, I can’t take any higher levels of math so that’s why I’m taking Stats next year.
I am definitely a STEM person but I have quite honestly no idea what I’m going to major in. I was about equally interested in Honors Bio and AP Physics 1 so that doesn’t really help.
My main concern is that, other than my APUSH teacher, I don’t really feel like any of my junior teachers this year know me as well as they should in order to give me a great teacher rec. I’m still in touch with my bio teacher and I am convinced she would give me a very strong rec, which is the main reason why I am still considering AP Bio.
FWIW I don’t see a major problem with asking your Bio teacher for a recommendation even if you don’t take her AP Bio class next year. I wouldn’t base your class choice on that. I’m sure she’ll still remember you. Sometimes students do have to dip down to their 10th grade teachers for recommendations and I don’t think there’s a hard and fast rule against that.
In retrospect my kid should have asked his 10th grade teachers for recommendations - his 2 preferences - APUSH teacher had too many people ask him for recommendations, and his AP Eng Lang teacher retired. Out of his 2 that he wound up asking, his AP Chem teacher didn’t have good grammar (he sent the rec to my kid later on) and who knows what his AP Calc BC teacher wrote, very nice teacher but he had Bs in that class.
Some colleges don’t want 10th grade recommendations.
When in doubt, take the best teacher. I don’t mean the easiest teacher, but the one who teaches best.
Since you’ve taken AP chem and AP physics 1 it’s truly a matter of preference.
AP Bio for the teacher or AP physics C for the more quantitative content?
Could you replace AP lit with an honest English class and take both AP physics C and AP Bio?
Based on your math progression, it looks like you have high interest in math-heavy things, so possible college majors in that area would be math, statistics, computer science, economics, and various engineering majors. AP physics C may give advanced placement in such majors, but often not due to different topic coverage in college calculus-based physics courses, and more advanced math use in college calculus-based physics courses (E&M in college will often use multivariable calculus).
Biological sciences tend to be less math-heavy, but a good knowledge of statistics (calculus-based) and some other math topics tends to be helpful. AP biology may help your determine how interested you are in biological sciences.