Course-related questions (applying to top schools)

Applying to College
1

<p>Will any of the following hurt my chances at top schools, especially MIT or Caltech, if I'm probably going to major in math/CS/physics? (I'm a current junior.)</p>

<p>1) Not taking a physics class when offered. I self-studied AP Physics B last year with a 5 and self-studying AP Physics C this year. I have also been offered a place at a program doing 6 weeks of research at (hopefully) a university's physics/astronomy lab.</p>

<p>2) Not taking a precalculus or single-variable calculus class. (I took an online precalculus class and am self-studying AP Calc BC) I'll be taking my school's multivariable calculus class next year.</p>

<p>3) Not taking four years of science. I don't want to take my school's physics classes, I will have taken all our chemistry classes, and AP Biology at my school is far too much work/memorization for me to be able to maintain sanity in my senior year when combined with my lukewarm interest in biology. (I'm taking AP World History instead of a science course.)</p>

<p>It is probably not too late to request placement in AP Biology or one of my school's AP Physics courses, and I could take a physics class at my community college in the fall (which has a reputation of being very difficult). However, I'm not sure if those options would be worth the workload/time commitment/stress.</p>

<p>Advice, suggestions, etc.?</p>

2

<p>Not being a science person myself, take this with a grain of salt, but I imagine not taking four years of science would indeed hurt you at a tech school.</p>

3

<p>If you took it but just not in school I think you’d be fine? Not too sure though…</p>

4

<p>If they are offered and you do not take them, you are toast at MIT and Cal Tech. They all want you to take the most challenging schedule offered.</p>

5

<p>So, your hs transcript will show chem as your only hs science or did you take a lower level bio class? And, it’ll show some level of algebra, trig, geometry and then mv calc?</p>

<p>The answer is complicated. The number of self-studies will be impressive- but most kids who self-study either do it as an enhancement to their hs curriculum or when it’s the only way to cover a subject that’s in conflict with a more desirable class, on your schedule. </p>

<p>How do you explain these choices? What’s the rationale? What did you take in place of the classes you self-studied? An Adcom is going to have these sorts of questions. </p>

<p>Who will write your recs? If you apply as a potential math-physics major, who will tell what a fabulous, motivated, creative and dogged math-physics kid you are? Do you know the mv calc teacher well enough already that he/she can produce a great LoR? Or, will it be based on roughly half a semester of working together? Is your GC in your corner? Will he/she back up your rationale?</p>

<p>These are some of the notions to be considered. And, remember, you will compete against kids who didn’t play quite this fast and loose.</p>

6

<p>(I took honors biology freshman year.) My transcript (from 10th to 12th grade) will look like this:</p>

<p>10th:</p>

<p>English H
Algebra 2/Trig H
Chemistry H
World History
PE
Japanese</p>

<p>11th</p>

<p>English H
AP Statistics
AP Chemistry
AP US History
Japanese
AP Music Theory</p>

<p>12th</p>

<p>AP English
Multivariable Calculus/Linear Algebra
Finite/Discrete Math
Government/Economics (required)
AP World History (may decide to switch to AP Biology)
AP Japanese</p>

<p>As you might guess, we’re limited to six classes a year.</p>

<p>1) I decided not to take precalculus or AP calculus classes in school because my school would not let me skip grades in math (with the exception of going into multivariable calculus with a 3+ on the AP Calc BC exam). I already knew most of the Algebra 2 class material going into sophomore year, and by the end of 10th grade, I was starting on calculus, so I didn’t see any point in taking precalculus. Luckily, AP statistics could substitute for it in my junior year schedule.</p>

<p>2) I wanted to take all of AP Physics B, AP Physics C, and AP Chemistry at first, but after looking ahead, this appeared to be pretty much impossible while taking a language for four years and fulfilling the UCs’ art requirement, along with taking two math courses in senior year. So I made the questionable decision of self-studying for both AP Physics exams. (If I could turn back time, I probably would have self-studied AP Chemistry instead or not self-studied any of the sciences.)</p>

<p>3) My recs will indeed not be particularly good; my AP chemistry teacher is retiring (and doesn’t want to write recs for our class), and my AP statistics teacher doesn’t seem to like me for some reason. So that leaves me with teachers in less advanced courses to write my math/science teacher rec, which is not going to be good, or one of my math teachers in senior year, who most likely won’t know me very well. So even though I will almost certainly get a research mentor to write a supplementary rec, I don’t think my recs will help me much if at all.</p>

<p>I will either a) attempt to switch AP World to AP Bio, b) take physics at the community college, or c) keep my schedule as it is and not take any extra classes. I’m leaning more towards switching to AP Bio right now. Any constructive advice or comments are welcome.</p>