I am planning my senior year classes at the moment and am debating on whether or not I should take Microbiology at a community college.
Junior year course load: (4.59 GPA)
AP Statistics
AP Calculus BC
Honors Physics
Honors British & World Literature
Archaeology (Elective)
Agriscience (Elective)
Environmental Science (Elective)
Community College classes: (received an A in both)
Anatomy & Physiology I
Anatomy & Physiology II
Senior year course load:
AP Biology
AP Chemistry
AP Calculus BC
AP Physics (self-studying, school doesn’t offer it)
Either one or both: AP Lang, AP Lit
Spanish III
Would colleges think it odd that I do not take another community college course in my senior year, considering I took two my Junior year? They say they want to see an upward trend in courses taken, so would it be a downward trend if I don’t take Microbiology Senior year?
I wouldn’t want to shake my Senior year GPA by overloading myself, but I also don’t want to seem like I took a step back.
I would skip the self-study AP Physics – 2 AP science classes is already a lot. Do you need a social studies course (be sure you check graduation requirements as well as recommendations/requirements of colleges you plan to apply to)?
I’m interested in becoming a Biology/Pre-Med major, so I’m trying to stock up on science courses. Also, I might go to Sweden for college and they require AP Physics for their Pre-Med programs.
My social studies courses are set for graduation (Honors World, Honors US, and AP Psychology) But, I’m researching to see if some of the colleges that require 3 social studies classes will accept AP Psych. If not, I might take AP World History, and then only one AP English.
Thank you for your response, I appreciate the help!
I’d also suggest that you speak with your guidance counselor about your schedule…make sure you are not too overloaded (it is hard to opine on it as the workload varies from school to school even for APs).
I’ve talked about my schedule with my GC and she didn’t have any comments on overloading, so I am suspecting she thinks it will be manageable. Also, with not having to go to the community college two times a week for a 3 hour lab/lecture, I will be saving a lot of time.
The good thing is, if I end up thinking halfway through the year that I would like to take Microbiology, I can always take it during the second semester (and that way I will hopefully know what college I will be attending (or at least which I have applied to) and if they accept the credit!).
Haha, it really helps me to write things down, so this forum is a great place for me!
Make sure you take Spanish III as you’ll be barred from many good college’s if you don’t.
Taking both AP bio and AP chemistry the same year is a bad idea. I would recommend taking AP chemistry and microbiology at the cc instead. AP physics 1would be okay to add, not applying physics C.
Your schedule is very unbalanced - selective colleges want to see 4years each of English, social science, science (bio, chem, physics +1 AP from those), math up to calculus and foreign language up to level 4 or AP (pre-calculus or level 3 would be acceptable if offset by something else.) An art class is well regarded, and is mandatory for California universities.
What percentage students at your hs attend your state’s flagship? Selective universities or oos universities? I’m shocked your gc didn’t mention how unbalanced your schedule is and how that would affect you in selective college admissions. Being well-lopsided is one thing, but you’re missing some core classes admissions - 12/15 of your classes these past two years were in stem, when the expected balance would be less than half (6 to 7 stem classes over two years or 30-40% is okay to give a stem flavor to your curriculum without affecting balance.)
Yes, I will be taking Spanish III. (I should have continued Junior year, but that is too late now.)
If I take AP World History in senior year, then I would have 4 social studies classes (Honors World, Honors US, AP Psychology, AP World)
I’ll be taking an AP English senior year, so I will have 4 years of English.
Math and science are above requirements. Why do you say I shouldn’t take both AP Chem and AP Bio; and not AP Physics C?
If I would like to go into a stem field (Biology), why would having a stem heavy course load be a bad thing? I already have the standard amount of classes in the other subject (other than pushing Spanish III to senior).
I am at a cyber-charter school, so the majority of the students either go into the workforce, CCs, or lower tier schools. Some are admitted into Penn State, Lehigh, or Temple, but I do not know the exact percentages.
AP Chem and AP Bio are among the most time-intensive AP’s. Taking them together is madness, especially considering the rest of your schedule. AP Lang, AP Calc, AP Phys 1 + either AP Bio or AP Chem would already be a very rigorous schedule.
Physics C is the second level of AP Physics (o 3rd if you take 1&2), it is very hard and should replace any other science AP.
It’s possible your GC doesn’t have many students who apply to highly selective colleges, or may not know students who try to balance such a schedule as yours.
Penn State and Temple will score your curriculum rigor depending on having 4+ years in each subject, having all three of phys/chem/bio+ one more year of science, how many Honors/AP’s combined (maximum 20 combined), if you reached level 4 or 5 in a foreign language, and calculus or precalculus for math.
Remember that on top of everything, you’ll have an extra, hidden, written-intensive class called “college applications”.
Why are you taking AP calculus BC twice (in both junior and senior years)?
For pre-med purposes, note that college courses taken while in high school and their grades do count when calculating GPA for medical school applications.