<p>I am choosing classes for senior year and would like to be competitive for BC. I have taken Physics, Chemistry and Biology Honors freshman through junior years. I would like to take AP Econ instead of a 4th year of science (ie either an AP Chem or AP Anatomy which I am not at all interested) or even Oceanaography or Meteorology just to get the fourth year of Science in. </p>
<p>Does BC require that you have four years of Science for admittance?</p>
<p>My senior year schedule will be:</p>
<p>AP Stats
AP Gov Pol
AP Econ
Honors English
Spanish 4</p>
<p>I would be applying to LSA for an Econ degree. Any input would be appreciated.</p>
<p>They definitely want 3 years of a lab science which you have and seeing that your interest is in business it may not be a big deal. I’m curious as to your junior year math schedule – are you taking precalculus now? My impression was that most competitive schools want to see pre-calc if not calc. Also your GPA, class rank, rigor compared to what your school offers will all be big factors.
When my current college freshman was an HS junior – she contacted admissions officers at 4 schools she was seriously interested in and asked their opinion of her proposed senior schedule (she was doubling up sciences), they all responed fairly quickly and gave useful feedback. You may want to try that route as well as asking here.
Good Luck!</p>
<p>yes, you should have the sciences covered since you have taken the big 3. But, second what freecycle has mentioned: what about math? An econ major should be taking Calc if offered at your HS. What about AP Lit or AP Lang? (A 4+ will fulfill BC’s writing requirement.) And personally, I’m not a big fan of Econ in HS - few teachers at that level can teach it well.</p>
<p>Also, just a comment: I don’t know the rigor of your HS, but that schedule would be considered ‘soft’ at our HS. Stats, Econ & Gov are known as ‘AP Lites’ in that they cover less material than other AP courses…</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. My junior class schedule is
AP Calc
AP accounting
AP US History
English Honors
Spanish 3
Biology Honors</p>
<p>As for Senior year schedule, Ap Stat is the next course for me after AP Calc. Econ is considered a good course (good teacher), same with AP Gov Pol. If I took AP English that would be 4 AP’s and I think would put me over the edge since AP English is a ton of work! I think Spanish 4 is a lot of work.</p>
<p>Dear chriscollege : You will want the application readers to be drawn to your academic rigor and collegiate level work at an advanced placement level. To achieve this, an application demonstrating advanced placement success in the five major subject areas (english, history, mathematics, sciences, language) will be seen favorably compared with a Honors Science offering. </p>
<p>Within those categories, Calculus BC is always more rigorous than Calculus AB and both are more respected than Statistics AP. In the sciences, all of the AP courses are seen as equally challenging on the whole.</p>
<p>The advantage to your taking an AP science in High School is to potentially place out of the science requirement, with a sufficient AP score, at Boston College. If your prefer the Economics AP and Government AP curriculums, both are fine and demonstrate rigor but are “less respected” in the pecking order than a hard science AP course. bluebayou’s reference here to the AP-Lite curriculums is well placed.</p>
<p>You have no choioce, you must take a science course. Colleges will look for 4 years of science.</p>
<p>Given that you have to take a science course and you have to take an AP course (since you have taken all honors science courses already), you should take an AP science course.</p>
<p>Courses like oceanology and such do not count as a core science class. Again, you have no choice - you must take AP Bio/Physics or Chem.</p>
<p>Since you are not planning to pursue a science-related career, my suggestion is you take AP Physics because there is some degree of math involvement in it. Physics counts in many people’s mind as a science as well as a quantitative course.</p>
<p>Economics has a quantitative track to it (you will be studying lot of stat and Calculus based quantitative economics courses in a serious economics major - think Econometrics). There again, AP Physics will give confidence to AdComs that you have adequate quantitative background in addition to fulfilling the 4-science-course requirement.</p>
<p>@ rkay123, I have to disagree. It is not NECESSARY that he take science in lieu of pursuing what he is interested in. That being said, to the OP, you should consider taking a science course. It does round you out and make you look more well-facted. ALTHOUGH, you should not sacrifice your GPA for the sake of the fourth year of science. If you understand Biology/Chemistry/Physics (one of them) well but do not particularly like it, consider taking the AP and doing well first semester (essentially all that matters for colleges).</p>
<p>Dear chriscollege : For the sciences, colleges will all weight AP Biology, AP Chemistry, and AP Physics more heavily than AP Environmental. Honestly, challenging yourself with college work now is a better choice than GPA protection.</p>
<p>In general, highly selective colleges prefer to see four years each of the core academic disciplines. While you personally don’t need to take all four years’ worth, many of your competitors (for admissions slots) will do so. </p>
<p>I still recommend AP Eng Lit since a 5 would place you out of both writing & lit requirements, but also shows adcoms that you are willing to challenge yourself in HS.</p>
<p>Enviro is also an AP Lite, and a 4/5 will earn ONE science credit at BC. (In contrast, AP Physics/Bio/Chem earn TWO science credits. Therein lies the reason for the moniker, AP “lite”.) Depending on your HS teacher, AP Enviro can be a rather easy 5 if you already have a strong bio background.</p>
<p>rkay’s statement is a bit dramatic. For my high school, which is well represented at BC, does not even offer 4 years of science except if you are in the accelerated science program.</p>
<p>The AP lite thing is very true. I know for a fact, for example, that I could get at least a 4 on the AP Geography test when I looked at sample questions. I have heard people talk about taking these “easy” APs back home and I was like “wow I kinda wish I took those.” But, looking in hindsight, I am glad I opted for the rigorous core curriculum APs as opposed to the Enviro science, geography, etc. Economics is a legitimate AP in my opinion for a prospective BC student. </p>
<p>Instead of trying to bolster your academic resume with classes beginning with AP, I would advise to take Honors language before an “AP elective.” Carrying out / “climaxing” a core subject is looked favorably upon by admissions folk.</p>
<p>trizz- would you be willing to say what APs you took during high school to give me a perspective. I know everyone is different but I assume you got into BC.</p>
<p>I know they look at the whole package and I am hoping my ECs and ACT scores will round out my package. In the end I guess you just have to do your best…it is just when there is something in your control like what classes to take you want to make the right move…</p>
<p>Well I went to a college-prep jesuit high school so we didn’t have any of the crazy APs. I took 5 APs: US History, European History, Government, Statistics, and Latin.</p>
<p>In retrospect, timing of your APs is very important as well. Admissions probably does not look favorably upon people who take all of their the APs senior year. Taking them as early as sophomore year impresses admissions.</p>
<p>My stats weren’t steller, but I think it was nuances such as this that gave me an edge over others. People look too big picture and miss out on the minor touches that bolster their resume.</p>
<p>For example, I scored a relatively average SAT of 2020 (1340) and an ACT of 30. My ECs were pretty minimal, though the one nuance here is that I had played four years of varsity Division I football. My AP count and scores were average (US: 4, Euro: 5, Gov: 5, Stats: 4, Latin: 3) but the nuance here is that I took US history as a soph and I took an AP language after 3 years of prior study, which many admissions departments admire. </p>
<p>Basically, college applicants often times think they can out-smart the system and look smarter than they are when in reality admissions knows “what’s up” the whole time. Ultimately, follow your passions (not to sound cliche). Don’t spend the latter part of your high school tenure gearing course work to impress colleges. If you have performed well all along you should never feel a need to take things a notch higher than they should be.</p>
<p>trizz- Well said…thank you for that. I think what you said is true. You also have to enjoy the ride. All the ec’s and classes that you take (hopefully some you enjoy - I love my AP US History classs - a ton of work but great subject!) will show in the application. If it doesn’t then…well move on I guess!!</p>