I am planning to apply to be a government major. Therefore, I feel like taking 4 years of natural science is a waste of time considering it clogs up my schedule and I could take AP Euro instead. Currently, I am a Junior but i’m just thinking for the year ahead. I understand the government major is extremely competitive but is it even possible to get in with only 3 years of Science?
Harvard recommends 4 years of science per the common data set https://oir.harvard.edu/files/huoir/files/harvard_cds_2017-18.pdf Harvard has an acceptance rate of under 6% and has many more well qualified applicants than there is room to accept. Not meeting the schools recommended HS coursework will put your application at a disadvantage. I’d suggest you take 4 years of science.
And going forward you can easily find the common data set for most any college (google “common data set XYZ university”), look at section C and see the schools recommended HS coursework.
Do you think Harvard would consider AP Computer Science A to be a science?
Most students regard Gov to be one of the easiest concentrations at Harvard just FYI. It’s somewhat viewed as fluffy.
I think most tend to view AP CS as a possible substitute for math if anything, but less so a substitute for a science class.
Computer Science is not a science course.
Don’t you want to give yourself the best chance to get into Harvard? The best chance comes with taking the recommended classes and not asking for exceptions for sciences, foreign language, ECs or drawing attention to things you don’t have on your application. Has anyone without 4 years of science ever gotten into Harvard? I’m sure there have been some, but there are many many many students with perfect records and 4 years of sciences, 2 foreign languages, 4 or more years of math who don’t get in.
https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/preparing-college/choosing-courses recommends “The study of science for four years: physics, chemistry, and biology, and preferably one of these at an advanced level”, among other things, for high school students who want to apply to Harvard.
OP, you should know what H asks for. And understand the nature of the competition. Take a good look at the H webpages. Be the sort who explores. H won’t agree with an attitude that some subject is “a waste of time.” Not the mindset.
Let’s see what Harvard says:
https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/preparing-college/choosing-courses
So, no.
Now, back to the original question. Harvard’s recommendation is not meant to be taken as Gospel. They would expect you to follow those “suggestions” unless you have extenuating circumstances.
Extenuating circumstances include :
• Applicant is an international student following a curriculum that does not align with the American standard. (e.g. UK)
• Schedule conflicts preclude the student from achieving the recommendations (in which case, the GC should say so in the GC rec)
Extenuating circumstances do not include:
• The applicant chooses to double up on one core subject at the expense of another core subject
• The applicant does not like a certain subject
• The teacher of a certain subject sucks.
What’s your junior year schedule?
What’s your proposed senior year schedule?
Although I generally agree with what @skieurope says above, years of observation tell me that exceptions to Harvard’s suggestions are not exactly rare. There is a certain natural irony built into Harvard’s recommendations: The people at Harvard are certainly aware that their curricular recommendations will be considered and taken seriously by tens of thousands of high school counselors and hundreds of thousands of students, students who for the most part will not be attending Harvard. If Harvard said, “Screw it! If we like you enough we’ll accept you no matter what you’ve taken in high school,” that would risk a negative effect on American secondary education, without any meaningful increase in the number of applicants Harvard wants to accept. Meanwhile, a big part of the admissions staff’s job as gatekeepers is to look for applicants who are exceptional enough to be exceptions to many broad generalizations, including Harvard’s recommendations. I believe an exceptional student’s thoughtful, intellectually-based curriculum will be respected, even if it is not balanced quite the way Harvard recommends as a general matter.
That said,
comes across as almost disqualifying. Could you possibly defend the idea that science competency is a “waste of time” for someone involved in politics, law, policy, or government? If you want to go to Harvard, start being a lot more thoughtful about how you present your case!
Also:
Actually, I think the last one ought to qualify as an extenuating circumstance. In my experience, the study of anything with a great teacher, no matter how trivial, has been more valuable than the study of anything, no matter how important, with a terrible teacher.
While that may be true from a learning standpoint, college admission readers would not be able to tell if “bad teacher” were really the case or if it were merely an overused excuse when reading an individual student’s application that mentioned that.
The more accepted exceptions would be those that are more verifiable, such as the recommended course not being offered at the applicant’s high school.
" is to look for applicants who are exceptional enough to be exceptions to many broad generalizations…"
Fewer than you might think. Far fewer than applicants think.
While true, this is not always an option for HS students. It may be, as @ucbalumnus says, simply an excuse. Alternatively, it might be true. But sometimes students need to deal with teachers who are less than effective. Some students rise to the challenge, and others opt for avoidance. I wonder which Harvard will prefer? 
One thing about Harvard that the OP may not realize is that for almost all courses, there is only one lecture section offered. And not every professor is a brilliant teacher. There may be instances that a student is unable to avoid a crappy professor in order to complete graduation requirements.
And to be clear, as I have stated numerous times on this site, many applicants, have been admitted to Harvard without following its HS curriculum recommendations. But the reason was not “taking [pick a course] is a waste of time considering it clogs up my schedule”
And how would Harvard know that the student chose to study with a good teacher rather than take that fourth science course? “I took music theory because Mozart was guest teaching and everyone knows that Mr. Bates, the physics teacher, sucks.” I don’t think there is a place for that on the application.
I do think there might be a way to explain that the student took 10 music classes because he loved music and these were great opportunities as a way to explain there just wasn’t room for one more science course. The GC better be on board for that explanation too.
Actually, I think in most cases, the GC is the one that needs to provide the explanation. It is the rare 17 year old that can pull off a credible explanation without coming across as whining/providing excuses/patronizing.
That’s what I meant, the GC has to be on board to do the explaining of why a science course wasn’t a good choice. “Everyone” can think the math teacher or the science teacher is mean or hard or not worth it, but if the GC doesn’t think that, it is going to be a hard sell to the college.
My DD’s AP chem teacher was HORRIBLE. Didn’t matter a hill of beans. Can’t imagine the GC would have even considered that as an excuse. The prospective chem e needed AP chem on her high school transcript. It was a learning opportunity on how to find information and help outside of the classroom. It’s already serving her well in college.
In which case the GC would have to put a different spin on it, because it is unlikely s/he would throw a teacher under the bus.
If you want to run with the Harvard crowd, you have to think at the Harvard level.
40k apps. 0 excuses.
If you don’t do what they expect, it’s lovely to think the wheels will stop turning while they make an exception just for you. Dream on. Instead, they’ll probably pick from the hordes who do match. Think you get a top notch job by saying, “I didn’t learn X because I didn’t want to.” Or, I didn’t like that teacher."
The GC role isn’t to explain your shortcomings. Rather, show how you triumphed despite.