For my senior year schedule, I’m trying to determine if i should take AP comp sci or AP bio. I’ve had a strong interest in the medical field since I was 7 however the long years of medical school and immense amount of debt deter me from going for a biological science major. I’m intrigued by computer science however I have no experience whatsoever. As a female, I also know that chances are better for a computer science major although that’s not a huge factor.
I have the opportunity to take both classes but that would require me to take Econ and Gov over the summer which are not weighted classes. I also want to take AP Econ and AP Gov during the school year because I know I can get A’s in both classes and boost my GPA. Any advice?
if you’re interested in the medical field, why not look into a career as a PA? It’s also growing. For CS, it helps if you’ve started coding on your own, although women’s colleges will have classes designed for students who haven’t coded before but are intrigued (Scripps is the college that pioneered this approach and they’re very successful).
Since you’re interested in CompSci but haven’t ever taken a class, I’d suggest AP CS. Why can’t you take AP Econ and AP Gov during the year if you take AP CS?
In addition, you can absolutely major in CS and apply to med school - all you need for med school is 2 semesters of Biology, 2 semesters of physics, 4 semesters of chemistry (inorganic and organic), 1 semester of biochemistry, 2 semesters of English/Composition/Seminar, 1 semester of psychology, 1 diversity-focused class, 1 semester of sociology, 1 semester of calculus, 1 semester of statistics.
Having no experience with CS doesn’t really matter, since it is taught as an introductory class and you learn the basics. Bio is very time consuming and at some high schools difficult, but is a great core AP to have. If you are sure you don’t want med school, then just take CS.
^an issue is that while CS classes are taught as an introductory class, unless the college offers several different tracks and identifies them clearly, students are mixed - those who have programming experience and those who don’t but find the subject potentially interesting. The latter tend to be discouraged by the former if the class is “mixed”. So OP would need to check each college to see whether they offer different types of 1st year CS classes depending on outlook and experience.
@MYOS1634 I’ve never heard of a PA until now but I looked it up and that’s a great suggestion! I can’t take AP Econ and AP Gov during the year if i take BOTH AP Bio and AP CS because i don’t have enough space in my schedule. My school only allows me to take 6 classes. I’ve decided to take econ and gov over the summer however so I can take both AP Bio and AP Compsci.