Hey everyone, I’m currently a freshman and having some difficulty deciding what classes I should take sophomore year. My freshman year classes are as follows:
Advanced Chemistry
Advanced Algebra 2
Medical Terminology
AP Human Geography
GT Humanities
AP Computer Science Principles
Orchestra
I’m stuck between taking AP Chemistry or AP Bio next year and the only option I see is to take them both in sophomore year. Which I don’t want to do because I enjoy what little free time I have and cherish it. I’m also deciding between taking AP Psychology or AP Physics 1 so insight on that would be helpful.
I also made my school’s science UIL team which competes up to the state level and our material includes AP Chemistry, AP Biology, and up to modern physics so I’d like to keep that in mind as well. (My mind is busting over quantum numbers right now but I find it very fascinating and am grasping it pretty well, send help)
I’m mainly asking because there’s this psychopath in my grade who’s taking AP Bio as a freshman and also taking AP Physics 1 and chemistry (he’s in my chemistry class)
I kinda just feel inferior and I know it’s like a very, very wrong way to feel but I can’t help it.
Is “GT Humanities” an English course? If not, you may have to double up on English courses later to get the usually expected by colleges “4 years of English”.
As a senior, I would strongly recommend against taking AP chem and AP bio next year. But…I get it. I got to a competitive high school with a bunch of kids who do more than I do, take more AP classes than I do etc etc but at the end of the day, you don’t really gain anything by taking harder classes just because other people are. Your schedule looks impressive, especially for a freshman. AP bio and AP chem as a sophomore is just crazy to me, but maybe we come from very different schools. At my school, you take physical science as a freshman, bio I as a sophomore, Chem I as a junior, and a AP science as a senior. I was advanced for taking both honors biology and honors chemistry sophomore year, and I’ve never met anyone who was even allowed to take AP chemistry and AP bio as a sophomore. But even if people at your school do that, free time is really important. One of my biggest regrets as a senior is not having more fun in high school. Trust me, you’re only a high schooler once!! i used to be super happy about that fact, now that I’m thinking about college and leaving home, I’m a little sad. Loading yourself up on AP classes can help with college admissions, but what matters more is your mental health, making memories in high school, and also, remember that your gpa could suffer if you do too much, and the fact that a low grade is in an ap class won’t always make up for the fact that it’s a low grade. When you’re 40, you won’t look back on your teenage years and wish you took one more AP class. Some people on here might have a more competitive, “do everything possible ever to be the best ever” approach, but that’s really not always necessary. You’re doing great!! I can tell you’re super smart based on your classes. You’re right to cherish your free time. Unless there’s a schedule conflict down the road that won’t let you take AP chem or bio later, I’d just take one of them next year. For the science competition, you can always self study stuff for fun! I couldn’t take multivariable calculus this year because I took AP calc BC last year and there just wasn’t a way for me to take multivariable calc without paying thousands for an online class. So, I’m self studying it on khan academy. I’m less consistent than I would be if it was a normal class, but I’m still learning the stuff without the stress of grades. For deciding which one to take if you decide to pick one, I took AP bio last year and it wasn’t bad at all. There were 2-3 harder units and the AP test wasn’t bad at all. I never took AP Chem but everyone complained about how hard it was. Junior year is pretty much universally the roughest year of high school, so it may be a good idea to do whichever you think will be harder next year and leave the easier one for your junior year unless you have a really heavy courseload as a sophomore too.
Ps did you get biology I credit in middle school or something?? I’ve never heard of people doing that.
Hey! Thanks so much for the reply and I really appreciate you typing that much to help me. I have a clearer view of things now and I think I’m leaning towards taking AP Chem and self-studying for AP Bio.
What I did to get into chem as a freshman was to test out of advanced bio which is required at my school. If that answers your question. Thanks so much for this again!
…how??? What are they doing to y’all in middle school to get your prepared for that??
Anyway…that’s not normal. I mean kudos to that kid, but the only reason to be worried about it is a pride thing. Which I get, but I promise you don’t need to be doing all that for any other reason. My high school sent kids to Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale, Boston U, NYU, multiple to Tulane, had a bunch of National merit scholars, etc and not one of them did all that. The most advanced they could possibly be in science as a freshman was honors biology I and maybe, although I don’t think so, also taking honors chemistry I. All those kids went those places without taking AP bio, AP physics I, and advanced chemistry as freshmen. They’re all doing great as far as I know. You’ll be okay!! But I totally understand the competitive thing. It’s hard. Especially being surrounded by brilliant people who, let’s be honest, probably do nothing but school, it can be hard to remember that you’re smart too. But you are!!! This is awful, but If you’re ever feeling bad and need an ego boost you can look up the average act/sat, gpa, and maybe coursework in America. I guarantee it’s nowhere near what you’re doing. You’re doing great and you’ll do great no matter what you decide to do, I’m sure. Just remember that other things are important too. Also nothing wrong with pushing yourself to do the best you can
That sounds like a good plan! Just remember you can only take AP tests once, so if you don’t feel ready to take the AP bio test when it’s time to sign up, there’s no problem with waiting until next year. Good luck!
I self-studied for it! And thank you so much for this I really appreciate the kind-words and they made my day, you’re an amazing person Have a good night!
My son didn’t take AP Bio at all. Why? He didn’t want to. He took math through BC, Physics C, Organic Chem and BioChem, and a bunch of humanities classes. He got into a good school, graduated with a BS/MS, and has had several great engineering jobs.
That’s a long winded way to say do what YOU want to do. Don’t let what others around you are doing influence your happiness. There will always be someone who is doing more, who jumps higher, who runs faster. Be who you are and you’ll be fine!
Thank you so much! Do you think that from a medical-standpoint of things not taking AP Bio could affect me in any way? I’m between medicine and engineering right now but engineering seems more interesting haha.
It’s early. Take what works now, and fit it in later if you decide you want it. It’s important that you enjoy the journey. Take a rigorous schedule, but don’t over do it. There are LOTS of great engineering programs, and medical schools literally do not care where you do your undergrad. They will care about your GPA, MCATs and a host of other things. Best of luck!
Take AP Chem next year, because Bio requires some Chem, while Chem doesn’t require Bio.
I suggest that you take AP Bio as a class in 11th, and Physics C in 12th. There is no need to take Physics 1 before Physics C.
You don’t need to take high school levels of science before AP. At my kids’ district, there is no acceleration offered in sciences in middle school (unfortunately), and then the kids jump straight into AP sciences without having ever taken high school science in Bio, Chem, or Physics, and the bright kids do just fine with that.
Medical terminology is not a core course.
You’re not taking a foreign language and to be competitive need to reach level 4 by the end of HS. If you didn’t take it in MS schedule it for all 3y of HS.
Chemistry is a senior level class. Taking it junior year is already advanced. Colleges will NOT think you’re extraordinary for taking it even earlier. In fact, they may think “hubris”.
How are your activities outside of school? This will matter much more than if you took AP chem jr or sr year.
Now, wrt your course progression for a highly selective college:
-Advanced Chemistry → AP bio → AP chem → AP physics 1 or AP bio-> Ap physics 1-> AP Chem
-Advanced Algebra 2 → Precalculus Honors-> Calculus 1 (AB or BC) → Calculus 2 (BC or MVC)
Medical Terminology-> X
-AP Human Geography → AP World, Euro, or African American History → APUSH-> honors social science
-GT Humanities → GT English-> AP Lang → Senior Honors English
-AP Computer Science Principles → other electives
-Orchestra → orchestra
-Xxx-> Spanish or another FL through the highest you can go (if taken in Middle School, level 2, 3, 4; if not, level 1, 2, 3).
Agree about foreign language. Many colleges recommend or require 3 - 4 years of foreign language at the HS level. High school is generally viewed as a time students should get a well rounded education.
One science is enough and no reason to self study. Take classes. A zillion kids are going to schools at every level without doubling up on science and without self tasking AP classes which for many top schools will get you absolutely nothing.
I would not self-study AP Bio. In general, admissions officers want to see students succeed in the classroom, not just cram for and do well in an exam. I recommend you take AP Bio the following year.
As noted above, college admissions is not a race to see who can take the most APs.
You will want to take bio, chemistry, and physics in HS – not all need to be at the AP level.
Cosigning that missing foreign language will be noticed by competitive schools, and few if any schools will be impressed by doubling or tripling up on science-related courses, certainly not at the expense of any of the other of the 5 core courses.
So your HS does not require any pre-AP bio course, but did for Chemistry? In any event, colleges are generally not impressed with self-studying in lieu of courses for AP’s unless there’s a specific reason, like the course not being available to you and they generally would prefer to see you take at least one each of the three core sciences during HS, Bio, Chemistry and Physics. So if you didn’t take Bio freshman year and self-study for AP Bio and then skip taking any Bio as a class, that won’t look as good as taking an actual Bio course. Whereas you already have at least one Chem course under your belt. (Whatever you took in middle school won’t matter, unless you’re a CA student only applying to CA colleges.)
Have a good night!