<p>Hi! DS is a sophomore, and they are registering for next year's classes. He is trying to decide what science to take his junior year. </p>
<p>He has already had Honors Bio (liked it a lot), and is in Honors Chem. He would like to take AP Bio next year, but his counselor says he should take Honors Physics because it looks better to take 3 different sciences. She says taking a course in the same science is like taking only 2 science courses, not 3. </p>
<p>DS does not like the sound of physics, says it has "too much math". He had been hoping to take the SAT II bio as his 3rd SAT II.</p>
<p>He is basically an arts-oriented kid, who happens to like bio and do well in math, so I don't think it would make sense to take both AP bio and Honors physics junior year.</p>
<p>Another complication is that AP bio takes 2 full periods because of the lab. Honors physics only takes 1 full period plus one extra day per of a 2nd period, which would enable him to take another arts class. (He said to me, "I'm thinking of applying to art school, and I've never taken an art class in high school." )</p>
<p>Right now he is planning on taking two AP classes junior year-- APUSH and AP English. (Is two enough?) At his school they don't allow AP classes before Junior year. He may apply to selective colleges so doesn't want to make mistakes in his high school course selections. </p>
<p>Thanks so, so much for any comments! He is our oldest, and we haven't been through this before.</p>
<p>The counselor isn’t right. Colleges do not consider bio or chem as “the same” as AP Bio and AP Chem. The AP’s are college level classes. Colleges don’t think “he only took 2 science classes.”</p>
<p>He should take either AP bio or AP chem his junior year.</p>
<p>If your son isn’t going to apply to ivies or super elites, I wouldn’t worry about it (and I’m not certain the ivies would care, either. Many kids just take bio, chem, AP Bio, AP Chem.) </p>
<p>However, a concern might be…if your son is going to apply to ivies/top elites and the GC thinks this way, then she might not check the box about taking the most challenging curriculum.</p>
<p>Ahhh, I wish someone would’ve told this to me when I was signing up for junior year classes. I was a star in honors chem and honors bio, and then I ended up struggling in honors physics and getting a B+. However, I got an A first semester in honors physics (and a low B second semester - but my school only reports year end grades) and I convinced myself that my bad grade was a result of tension with my teacher and not a result of my poor physics skills. I was wrong. I signed up for AP Physics C this year and I am barely staying afloat with a low B. Physics is VERY different from bio and chem - if your son has reason to believe that he won’t excel in physics, then he should stick with AP Bio and AP Chem. I wish I had.</p>
<p>If he’s planning on going to art school I doubt the missing physics would be a big deal.</p>
<p>I can tell you with Chem -> AP Chem, it’s not appropriate at all schools to take Chem before AP chem. We just took took one or the other at our school. If they would even let you take AP Chem after it would have still been weird.</p>
<p>commasplice: My school requires one semester of physics - if I could do it over again, I would’ve taken one semester of regular physics and then stuck with bio and chem. I don’t think ivies will really care if you skip out on physics altogether, but I’m not positive.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why they wouldn’t care if you didn’t take Physics? What if you then decided you didn’t like Chem and Bio and you didn’t want to take either of those? At my high school we had to take Bio to graduate, but aside from that, I assume they would have cared about that, so I don’t see why they wouldn’t about Physics.</p>
<p>Why would any school say that you MUST have an interest in physics in order to be considered a competitive applicant? If you have more interest in Bio and Chem and show that through your course selection and maybe state something about it in your app, then your application is not weakened. I believe that some interest in some branch of science is necessary for an applicant to elite colleges, but you certainly don’t have to be interested in every type of science.</p>
<p>The counselor is wrong. 3 years of science is 3 years of science, just as 4 years of English is 4 years of English.</p>
<p>That being said, there are a couple of reasons to take physics. One, as mentioned above, is to assure that the counselor will check the “most rigorous courseload” box.</p>
<p>The other, more important reason, is the value of a basic understanding of physics. It doesn’t need to be heavy on math such as AP Physics B, or calculus based such as AP Physics C, but an introduction to the principles of physics is, in my view, fundamental to a person’s education. Plus, it’s a really fun subject.</p>
<p>He doesn’t need to take Physics just for the sake of having a breadth of course options. In fact, it’s better that he take available AP courses than take an honors level course. So if he has the option of doing AP Bio, he should go for it, especially if he thinks he’ll do well. And with AP US and AP English, that’s gonna be a full schedule. </p>
<p>AP Bio is not counted as the same as regular Bio, especially because high school science curricula can vary a great deal. With the AP class colleges know that the student has advanced prep in the subject area. That being said though, he shouldn’t be afraid of Physics. Unless it’s AP Physics, there’s unlikely to be a lot of very challenging math. It will more likely be Newtonian principles and that sort of thing. I wasn’t a very strong math student in high school, but I loved Physics because it was something I could actually see and understand and feel.</p>
<p>Is your son seriously considering applying to art school? If the answer is yes, he must get some art classes under his belt and begin constructing a portfolio. AP Bio is very time consuming. Taking physics will complete the typical 3 year science sequence. For his junior year, I recommend either regular physics or honors physics, AP US History, AP English, at least one art class, foreign language, and math. He can take AP Bio during his senior year if he is still interested in it.</p>
<p>He doesn’t need to take Physics just for the sake of having a breadth of course options. In fact, it’s better that he take available AP courses than take an honors level course. So if he has the option of doing AP Bio, he should go for it, especially if he thinks he’ll do well. And with AP US and AP English, that’s gonna be a full schedule. </p>
<p>AP Bio is not counted as the same as regular Bio, especially because high school science curricula can vary a great deal. With the AP class colleges know that the student has advanced prep in the subject area. That being said though, he shouldn’t be afraid of Physics. Unless it’s AP Physics, there’s unlikely to be a lot of very challenging math. It will more likely be Newtonian principles and that sort of thing. I wasn’t a very strong math student in high school, but I loved Physics because it was something I could actually see and understand and feel.</p>
<p>Anecdote =/= data, but I got into Stanford without ever having a physics course. I did, however, take AP Environmental Science ( + Honors Bio, Honors Chem, and AP Bio).</p>
<p>D took Earth Science (honors), Bio (honors) and Chem (no honors offered). We debated Physics vs. AP Chem for Senior year, as she is not really a “science person” but she loved Chem.
I ended up calling the top 3 colleges she was looking at and asking.
They all recommended that she take Physics. So she did.</p>
<p>I have taught all three sciences at the high school level. Biology is about vocabulary (more new words in a biology course than in a first year foreign language course); chemistry is about modeling and ratios (think “mole”–the single most difficult concept in the high school curriculum); physics is the application of mathematics to motion. If a student is succeeding in algebra 1 and geometry, physics is not a difficult course. Really. The problem is that a lot of students think they understand algebra but they don’t; when they hit physics, it becomes obvious.</p>
<p>From my perspective, more important than college admissions is the question of a good education. I realize others disagree, but I don’t consider someone to have received a basic education unless they have taken biology, chemistry, and physics at the high school level. </p>
<p>If your son has the time, he could take physics and an AP science.</p>