<p>i just spoke to my counselor regarding taking chemistry over the summer so I can take AP Biology when I am a sophomore next year. She told me to take it at a community college, but it was full. I asked her any other options, and she had no idea. Thats when I asked her if I can self-study Chemistry over the summer, and take the test to test out of Chemistry, and into AP Biology. She said that Chemistry will not be on my transcript.</p>
<p>For elite schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and other ivies, will they like that I was the only sophomore to take AP Bio (which if i succeed in, will raise my class rank), or will they turn away?</p>
<p>i will be doing business/finance or engineering in college</p>
<p>If you believe that you can do well in AP bio by all means pass out of chem and take AP bio. I, personally, believe that you would be better off taking chem and physics (assuming you took bio freshman year) next fall and having a firm base in all of the sciences before going on to the AP levels. However, if you know you can get an A and get a 5, go for it. I am positive that taking AP Bio next year will have a minimal, if any, affect on your admissions chances. It might make you look a little better, but you are better off doing stuff outside of school to separate yourself from the pack.</p>
<p>thnx for the reply,
the thing is that i bombed freshman year, and really need to catch up. I honestly did not try my hardest, so I thought that this is the best way for me to get up, and get going. I am EXTREMELY motivated to do well next year, so their should hopefully be an upward trend from my 3.67 freshman GPA.</p>
<p>so you guys don't think that colleges will mind chemistry not be shown on my transcript?</p>
<p>3.67 isn't bombing freshman year.... lots of colleges don't look at freshman year or openly say that they weigh sophomore and junior year a lot more... </p>
<p>if you feel that your grades from freshman year are somewhat low, you should probably not take AP bio in case you fall into your same lazy habits.</p>
<p>colleges won't care if you do not have chemistry on your transcript. it only hurts you if you apply to a bio, chem, or engineering program and have ho background in chemistry. if you take AP chem later in high school it won't matter at all.</p>
<p>of course if you want to avoid the problem you could self-study for the AP chemistry test and try and get a 5. then i'm sure the colleges will understand :)</p>
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For elite schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and other ivies, will they like that I was the only sophomore to take AP Bio (which if i succeed in, will raise my class rank), or will they turn away?
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<p>recognition for that will probably come in the form of a checkbox on the guidance counselor's recommendation form that says "rohin took the hardest courseload available." or if you're lucky he'll mention it in the letter itself. or it'll boost your reputation among the teachers at your school, and you'll get better recs from them. other than that they have no way of knowing who's allowed to take AP Bio and who isn't. (unless you mention it in your essay, but that's probably not a good idea)</p>
<p>^ Bio is wayyyyy too different from Chem. I wouldn't worry about it. Although my teacher says that the students who take AP Chem do the best in her class, it's mainly because they're motivated senior who aren't afraid of "math."</p>
<p>Lots of engineering programs require a semester or year of chemistry in college, depending on the school or the concentration. At my school MechE, EE, BioE, Materials, and ChemE all require a semester or more of chemistry (1, 1, 2, 2, and a lot, respectively). You really don't want to go into a top engineering program without at least some foundation in chemistry. You really won't have a foundation in chemistry if you teach yourself the summer between freshman and sophomore year of high school.</p>
<p>CTYOnline</a> - Honors Chemistry
That's an online course from CTY. Personally, I've never done their courses online, but I've gone to a couple of their summer sessions (including fast-paced high school chem). I was actually in the same situation as you last year, and having completed AP Bio as a sophomore, I think I can safely say that there is really not much chemistry in AP Bio. As long as you know your basic chem concepts (you can learn these if you get an intro chem textbook), you'll be all set.</p>
<p>thanks plumdum229,
i am actually a member of CTY, and knew about this course. The thing is that it says its typically a 6 month course, but i need to be done with it during my summer break. thanks though!!</p>
<p>usually people drop out of community college classes. so i guess you should just go to class on the first day it starts and then ask the teacher if you can add this class. at least, that's how it works at the community college i always take. they can accomodate at least 50 people.</p>