AP Chem online or IB Bio in school? Help! Senior year schedule!

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm trying to set up my schedule for senior year, but am running into some problems. My school has mostly IB classes, with some AP thrown in. I'm not doing the IB diploma.</p>

<p>So far:</p>

<p>Science Research (with state university credit)
Orchestra
IB English HL
IB History HL
IB Spanish HL
AP Calculus AB</p>

<p>I am currently taking IB Physics SL, and was planning on taking IB Chemistry next year. However, IB Chem was canceled due to budget cuts. Now my choices are to take IB Biology SL in school, or to take AP Chemistry through a school-affiliated online program. I'm not really interested in Medicine, and think that chemistry would be a better fit for college. I took Honors Earth Science, Biology, and Chemistry before.</p>

<p>In terms of college admissions as well as college preparedness, what would be better? Is an online course looked down upon?</p>

2

<p>If you want a really good online AP Chem class, I’d recommend ChemAdvantage. It’s mostly for homeschoolers, but a lot of kids who can’t take AP Chem at school use it, too. I don’t know if your school will accept it for credit, but it’s very good prep for the exam.
I’ve been homeschooled for all of high school, so all of my AP’s/honors courses are online. ChemAdvantage is a tough course, and as long as you get a good exam score, I don’t see why it would matter. As long as you make a note on your transcript that chemistry wasn’t offered at your school senior year, and that’s your reason for taking it online, I’m sure it’d be fine.</p>

3

<p>bump bump bumpity bump bumpity bump bu-bu bump</p>

4

<p>If you decide to go the online chemistry route, I second BonjourGinny’s endorsement for ChemAdvantage. My son is taking their Honors Chemistry this year, and he will be taking the AP course next year.</p>

5

<p>Go IB Bio in school.</p>

6

<p>I agree with the above poster; take IB Bio.</p>

7

<p>Online lab science courses make sense if they’re used to review a subject or to prepare for an exam in a subject that you’ve taken before. But for a first time course – such as AP Chemistry – the lab component is critical to any deep/intuitive understanding of the subject and of the practice of chemistry.</p>

8

<p>The online chemistry course taken from ChemAdvantage has a hands-on lab component.</p>

9

<p>ChemAdvantage has a very thorough lab component. They send you all of the materials, and the labs are easy enough to do in your kitchen, yet still thorough enough to count as actual labs.</p>