<p>How important it is to colleges whether or not one took advanced math/science courses and excelled in them in order to be considered for a Science major? I am interested in Science (and engineering) but I am shying away from the possibility due to my not so excellent grades, and I know that there are many more qualified people out there. I am about to be a senior and I will be taking Chem II AP and Calc AB. As a junior I got a 70 in Pre-Cal PAP (1st semester) and 90 in regular Pre-Cal (2nd semester). As a sophomore I got an 83 in Chem PAP (1st sem) and 79 (2nd). As a junior I got 79's for both semesters in Physics PAP.
My SAT is a 1900 (620 critical reading, 660 math, 620 writing)
My ACT was a 25 but I'm going to retake it...
I'm looking at schools such as UT Austin, Texas A&M, Baylor... just wondering so I know what path to choose when picking my major choices...
My school doesn't rank but my GPA is about a 3.88/5
Thanks.</p>
<p>If you are struggling now in High school with your science and math classes, it will only get worse in college. Many of the lower division Chemistry, Biology and Calculus classes in college are “weed out” classes and many students will changes majors after their first year. My older son had planned to major in Environmental Engineering but after taking AP Calculus AB his senior year in high school, he knew that an engineering major with a heavy Math emphasis was not for him. He decided on a science major (Environmental Science) which is less math intensive and seems very happy with his choice. Many, many students will change their majors in the first 2 years of college, so you should be open to many possibilities. Since STEM majors are very competitive in most colleges, if you are leaning toward that type of major you should go ahead and apply. It is always easier to change from an Engineering major to a non-Engineering major than visa versa.</p>
<p>Very important. Most stem majors, at the usually atleast finish Calc I, Inorganic Chem and a year of physics. So colleges want their freshmen to be prepared to take the intro courses without remedial. </p>
<p>For schools, if you don’t want to do the cc route, realistically see which colleges you can get into with your current stats. You can generally find this out by viewing the freshman profile of the appropriate school. Specfically look for the major you’re interested in, because stem majors usually are higher than the averages. </p>
<p>Taking a rigorous science and math curriculum in high school is important, but not absolutely necessary. The idea is that if you have a struggle in high school, you have a second chance at the material in college and having seen it previously, you will have a better chance to “get” it.</p>
<p>Yes, engineering programs are very competitive, I know students that had almost all A’s and at the top of their class yet still got rejected from good schools, not even great schools. I suggest you find an internship or read books about engineering and other sciences that interest you on your own time so you can base your major off a narrower collection of personal interest pertaining to science. I find a lot of incoming college students and high schoolers don’t even know what their interested in until there forced to choose, which leads to them changing majors once they discover their interests. </p>
<p>Bottom line, if your passionate and willing to put in the effort, even if your not at the top of your class, you have a advantage over students that go engineering just because of the prestige attached to the major. Keep in mind Engineering majors are notorious for being extremely difficult and you generally find the students that excelled in math and physics pursuing an engineering major. </p>
<p>I took AP chem, yes it’s difficult and very broad, I received an A both semesters but didn’t pass the AP exam. </p>