Hello everyone! I am currently a sophomore in high school, and I have been thinking about majoring in chemistry in college. Although I have straight A+'s in Honors Chemistry (and will be taking AP Chemistry next school year), my math grades are eh; in algebra, I ended up with an A, geometry B+, and algebra 2 B (most likely a B, as I have had B+ all year, and my final exam was rough). I was wondering whether my math grades will affect how I may do in college chemistry, even if I have all A+ this year. Thank you all for your time!
See if you can find some recommended academic plans / four-year schedules from schools that offer your major. At my school, chemistry majors take calc 1-3 and several physics classes. All of that would require strong math skills. I also took physical chemistry with a mixture of chem majors and ChemE majors, and it was almost entirely calc 3 material.
But if you work hard to learn the math, don’t slack off, and catch up on any concepts you don’t know, it could be very doable for someone who’s clearly doing pretty well in school already. See how AP Chem and your further math classes go.
Honestly it is way too early to worry about what you major in college will be. You have two full years before you finish high school. And once you are in college, you will have the opportunity to take coursework in chemistry and math as well as numerous other disciplines before you decide on a major. Relax.
I would recommend taking a look at your career interests before deciding. Do you want to work in the field of chemistry? Chemical engineering? A professional program (Medical, Dental, PA, etc)? Think about things like that.
Also, take a look at ChemE as well. It’s commonly considered to be a better and more useful degree.
I agree 1000% with @Mandalorian. Having an idea of what career you want to pursue would be helpful. I know a lot of chemistry majors who go do research or teach after school. If you want to go to medical or dental school, consider maybe a chemistry minor because you will want to protect your GPA at all costs. Not saying you can’t major in chemistry as a pre-med student, but typically you want to make sure you’ll do well in your major. Those upper-level chemistry classes are not for slackers.