<p>Hi :) I'm a junior in high school and I'm thinking about colleges. I know I don't have to choose a major any time soon, but I'd like to get some input about majors I should think about. (Sorry if this is in the wrong forum..??)</p>
<p>My interests:
-Animal rights. I'm vegan and it's a cause I care a lot about. I wouldn't want to be in a field where I had to compromise my values.
-Environmental sustainability. I'm taking APES and I love it.
-LGBT issues. I live in SF and I'm an active member of my school's GSA. Another cause I care a lot about.
-Human behavior. Sociology, psychology, etc. really interest me. I guess I like helping people in general?
-Writing, to an extent. I'm not that good at it, though. What I'm great at (and love) is editing other people's work, haha.</p>
<p>I just can't seem to decide in a direction to go in. Thanks for any help! :)</p>
<p>AP psychology is not generally considered that difficult a course, since it is usually a year long high school course that is equivalent to a semester long college course that is not generally considered difficult.</p>
<p>Do you like math and science? That may be a consideration if you want to go into environmental protection with a science emphasis. For most social studies subjects (including psychology and sociology), you may not need a lot of math, other than a basic understanding of statistics (economics is the exception, requiring more advanced math and statistics).</p>
<p>I do like science, although it can sometimes take me a little while to fully grasp concepts. I’m pretty indifferent regarding math, but it’s surprisingly my best subject.</p>
<p>I.e. it looks like you may not want to be a math major, but would be fine taking math (or statistics) as a supporting subject for whatever major you chose, correct? That gives you more latitude in major choice, since some students limit their choice of majors in order to minimize the amount of math they have to take.</p>
<p>What you may want to do when you go to college is to make a preliminary plan of courses for your first few semesters which will make progress in your possible majors while sampling the introductory courses in each, so that you can decide (and still be on track to graduate on time in whatever major you choose). Also, be sure to complete a well rounded high school set of courses so that you are well prepared for college level work in all subjects.</p>
<p>Yup, I’d be fine with math courses.
Thank you so much for the advice! That sounds like a great plan Regarding senior year schedules, would be looked down upon to take AP Stats instead of AP Calc? I feel like I’m more interested in Statistics, but my school offers AB and BC Calculus, so I don’t know how taking the “easier” class would be viewed by colleges.</p>
<p>If you are considering majors that require calculus (any science major, economics, or business), or any school with calculus as a general education requirement for everyone, it is likely better to take calculus, either to get placement out of an introductory course (so that you have more schedule space for “exploring” courses) if you do well enough on the AP test, or to at least get a preview of the material otherwise. Majors that require both calculus and statistics typically require a calculus-based statistics course, which AP statistics is not.</p>
<p>If you do not foresee ever needing to take calculus, AP statistics is fine, and a basic knowledge of statistics is useful for most students. (In college, a one semester introductory course can be taken, though some majors require more in-depth statistics courses.)</p>
<p>Wow, thanks for all of the information! I guess I’ll just try to figure out if I want to go into science, etc. before I get my senior year course selection sheet (my school makes us choose ridiculously early).</p>
<p>Are you me? Really, are we twins or something?</p>
<p>I’m also a junior btw, and I’m thinking of majoring in political science and international relations- like, they both involve everything you list in some way.</p>
<p>milkyway–Haha, maybe we are! I’ll definitely look into that field; it sounds pretty interesting
beantowngirl–Thanks for the recommendation! That sounds really cool; I’ll check it out next time I’m at the library. That makes me wonder if there’s college major advice based on MBTI personality types, hmm</p>
<p>Yes, I can take both if necessary…do you think it would really be helpful in the long run? Right now for my senior schedule I’m thinking:
AP Stats/(Calc?)
AP English Lit
Democracy & Government/Econ (regular, although APs for both are available…)
AP Biology
AP Psych
…maybe marine bio as a fun/interesting class? I have the teacher for APES right now and love it, but I know it would look pretty “slacker” on applications. I really do need to show an upward trend, though…I had a 2.8 (my parents went through a rough divorce) in freshman year, a 3.5 in sophomore (one honors), and a 3.83 this semester (1 honors, 3 APs). I can’t figure out the best way to show that my freshman year really wasn’t representative of my performance. Granted, I go to a competitive top 50 high school, but still :/</p>
<p>I’m an INFP; maybe I should try looking into careers corresponding to that (if only for fun!)</p>
<p>AP statistics is considered a relatively easy AP course (since you say you are good at math and have an interest in statistics). Why not take AP calculus and AP statistics instead of marine biology and only one of those?</p>
<p>For calculus, you can choose AB for a slower-than-college pace (usually about a semester’s worth of college calculus), or BC for full college pace (usually about a year’s worth of college calculus).</p>
<p>Typical college course equivalencies if accepted (not all colleges accept all, or any, AP scores) for your AP courses would be:</p>
<p>calculus AB = 1 semester
calculus BC = 1 year
statistics = 1 semester
English = 1 year
psychology = 1 semester
biology = 1 year
economics = 1 semester
government = 1 semester</p>
<p>You can consider how difficult the AP courses may be in this context. If your high school covers one of the “semester” AP courses over a year, it is probably a less difficult one. If it covers a “year” AP course over a year, or a “semester” AP course over a semester, it is probably a more difficult one. However, be aware that, in many colleges, the actual college course is more difficult than the AP course; if this is the case, the AP scores may not be accepted in place of the college course.</p>
<p>Wow, thank you so much! That info is really helpful…my school covers all of those over a year; I think the only semester long AP is Human Geo. I’ll definitely look into taking 2 math classes. I would try Gov or Econ, but they’re far too memory (rather than understanding) based for me, and I could see myself really struggling in them. (It’s probably different at other schools, but I’ve talked to students in them, and I was really turned off by the class.)
Also (and I know this is unrelated!) but is it really bad to only take AP English in junior year? I’m only considering dropping to regular because I have a high A in every class but AP English, which I’ve been working my butt off in for a B. I know I would get an A in a regular English class, and my passion is in other subjects, so I’d like to have more of my attention in senior year to focus on other classes.</p>
<p>By the way, thank you so much for your responses; they’ve been really helpful!</p>
<p>Well, it would be unusual to take AP English language junior year and not an available AP literature senior year, though how much that matters may depend on how rigorous the rest of your schedule is. Many schools ask for a counselor’s recommendation; you may want to ask your counselor how your choices would change how rigorous s/he would mark your course selection as.</p>
<p>Yeah, that makes sense. I’ll probably try to get an appointment with my counselor once school starts back up…although there are only 4 or 5 counselors for 700 students, so we’ll see if there’s time…:/</p>
Regarding senior year schedules, would be looked down upon to take AP Stats instead of AP Calc? I feel like I’m more interested in Statistics, but my school offers AB and BC Calculus, so I don’t know how taking the “easier” class would be viewed by colleges.</p>