<p>My daughter is partially homeschooled she does the lab-based science subjects at school and all other subjects at home. She is very good at studies, and we believe she has the potential to make it to one of the top 10 universities in the country (of course fathers think of their daughters as the brightest). She is not interested in medical school or bio-engineering or bio-anything. Would it hurt her undergraduate admission prospects if she has absolutely no biology in her transcript (she will have physics, chemistry, math, statistics, and computer science as the science/math courses)?</p>
<p>Apart from admission considerations, might avoiding biology be a bad idea in any other sense (e.g., she might not be eligible for some contests/scholarships)?</p>
<p>I would be grateful for any advice/pointers.</p>
<p>Colleges like to see exposure to the core three sciences: physics, chemistry, and biology. Even if she doesn’t want to do anything in undergrad with it, it’s still a good idea. High school is suppose to make you well rounded. That’s why they have certain requirements for graduation.</p>
<p>It will hurt, yes. Colleges, at least top colleges, like to see at at least a year of Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. Why hasn’t she taken Biology? If she’s a Senior this year, is there some reason she couldn’t take it now?</p>
<p>She should probably take it, however since she does have a fairly strong science/math background, it shouldn’t be too bad for her unless she is applying to a math/science school like MIT or CalTech or something along those lines. If she is shooting for an LAC, then she is perfectly fine.</p>
<p>The only other real disadvantage is that it will be hard if she is forced to take biology in college as she has absolutely no background in the subject. I suggest she try to at least take some type of bio before she graduates.</p>
<p>Thanks to the responders for their comments on my previous question in this thread. It’s a great help.</p>
<p>Now, my daughter is currently enrolled in the Hons Bio course at school, but the teacher openly and repeatedly declares that in his class it is impossible to score an H or an A. She has all A’s and H’s so far and is scared of the possibility of damaging her records with a B or C in Hons Biology. In this situation should she opt out of this teacher’s class (the withdrawal deadline is Sept 15)? That would mean absolutely no biology for 4 years (this is the only honors bio teacher at school). But most people on the thread think it is a bad idea. One way of showing her biology credentials to colleges might be for her to study biology at home and take the Biology SAT Subject test, but even with a perfect score on SAT Subject Biology, she cannot claim the “lab experience”. So the options seem to be:</p>
<ol>
<li>No bio at all in all 4 years (not recommended by most people on this thread)</li>
<li>Bio at school with this “bad” teacher and get a B or worse, a C.</li>
<li>Study bio at home and take SAT Subject test on Bio (no lab experience can be claimed).</li>
<li>Do bio at a local university or community college (lab experience), as long as the teacher does not have an a-priori prejudice against A grades.</li>
</ol>
<p>I suggest studying hardcore from Campbells Biology.</p>
<p>Making USABO finals, and getting nearly 2 weeks of hardcore college junior level lab training in biology.</p>
<p>If that doesn’t work out, do bio at CC. Also take the SAT subject test, score 780+ to prove your basic competence.</p>
<p>Biology is a must lol.
All core classes=must.</p>
<p>I’m going into bio and will still have finished college physics/chem/euro/world history/etc.</p>
<p>What are her stats/ECs etc.?
It is pretty bold for someone to say anyone has a pretty good shot (60%+) at top 10. Especially someone who is taking honors biology (not AP) and is afraid of getting a B or C in that class.</p>
<p>There are two sciences that every student in high school should take… and that is chemistry and biology.</p>
<p>Biology is a standard 9th grade course or a tenth grade course. It’s normally the ‘opening lab’ science in high school.</p>
<p>I would say… don’t worry about the teacher. She will not ‘damage’ her record too badly by getting one B or C in a biology class when she has straight A’s otherwise.</p>
<p>Otherwise… enroll her at the local CC and take it there.</p>
<p>I WOULD NOT worry about the scary teacher. Most teachers, from my experience, in AP and honors classes try to weed out the slackers by saying that at the beginning of the year. She should be fine if she’s gotten straight As until now.</p>
<p>If you really are feeling Ify about it though, go with the CC college course. It looks challenging to colleges and it would look better in some regards to a Honors Bio class.</p>
<ul>
<li>I am a Senior in high school taking AP Biology</li>
</ul>
<p>Thanks to all the respondents for your time and concern.</p>
<p>It looks like the community college route would be the best bet in this case. Following your advice, I have done some searching of local community colleges and universities. In most of these places, lectures and lab are offered as two separate courses, with the lecture-based course generally considered a prerequisite to the corresponding lab course. Do you recommend both courses (lecture + lab), or will the lecture suffice? Also, will a regular one-semester (16-week), 3-credit lecture course at a community college with 2-and-a-half hours of total lecture time per week be considered equivalent to one year (two semesters) of high school work? Please advise.</p>