My son is currently a sophomore, and we are planning his 11th grade schedule. He is interested in becoming a doctor. He is a good student, but he doesn’t have anything special that would make him special to a college admissions officer. He is pretty good at art and is in art honor society. He is not good enough to do AP studio art, but the school offers other art electives. Would it make sense for him to continue doing an art elective to remain in art honor society or should he accelerate himself by taking AP Biology in 11th grade?
At the minimum, he should consider completion of high school course work in biology, chemistry, and physics, since these may be recommended prerequisites for college course work in those subjects. Advanced or AP level is optional, though may be advisable in biology or chemistry for a pre-med. A year of art in high school is also required or recommended by some colleges (e.g. California and South Dakota publics). Additional art can be taken in any remaining elective space.
What college types will your son apply to? If competitive ones, you want him to take a challenging course load. This is actually a question the GC will need to answer.
That being said…I’m a big fan of pursuing the arts.
He has already completed 2 years of art, so the art requirement shouldn’t be a problem. I can’t decide if he should end art, and no longer be in art honor society. There are very few boys in art honor society, so I thought it would be nice.
Does his school have an art club or something similar that he can continue to participate in, even if he ends his formal coursework in art? This has been an ongoing dilemma for my science minded daughter as well - maintaining the continuity of a major extracurricular interest vs. spending the most coursework time in the most ‘rigorous’ courses.
@thermom Unfortunately, our school does not offer any other art extracurricular options.
Are you looking for the choice that would look most favorable to a college?
Yes @thumper1
I’m not sure art honors club will be an admission hook…if that’s what you are asking.
OTOH…if he loves his art (like my kids loved instrumental music), he should continue it.
Is there a place where he could continue taking art classes outside of school?
What science is he already planning on taking in 11th and 12th grades? Which has he already taken in 9th and 11th?
Honestly, whichever route he takes should be his decision. Researching options and telling him your opinion is fair but if he gives up something he wants for something you tell him he has to take instead, IMO that’s a mistake. That might not be the scenario but I couldn’t tell and I do know some parents do that.
Perhaps he could look into starting up an art club at his school, if none currently exists? There might be other kids in his boat who could benefit from it. Worth asking a teacher/advisor about at any rate. Also, is continued membership in art honor society entirely contingent upon taking current classes even if he continues to produce art on his own? While that might not in and of itself be a big deal - having an EC that has stayed a consistent thing over his whole HS career still has meaning even if it’s not of true ‘hook’ stature.
Could he do both if he dropped his foreign language?
How far is he in foreign language, anyway? Only a few colleges require/recommend 4 years (meaning foreign language through level 4 – levels completed in middle school count). If he’s willing to cross those few schools off his list, he could drop foreign language after level 3 and perhaps have room in his schedule for both art and AP Bio.
"My son is currently a sophomore, and we are planning his 11th grade schedule. He is interested in becoming a doctor. He is a good student, but he doesn’t have anything special that would make him special to a college admissions officer. "
-He does not have to be “special”. Being himself is good enough. He should pursue whatever he wants and needs to have enough to graduated from HS. However, whatever he choose to do even if later it become obvious that he does not like it or not good at it, he needs to develop an attitude to work as hard as possible and to do his best in absolutely every class if he wants to go to medical school. Another note, he could attend at absolutely ANY college and have any combo of major(s) / minor(s). The name of his college and his combo of major(s) / minor(s) is irrelevant when applying to medical schools. What is relevant? The “best effort” attitude is, meaning that he will have to do his best in everything that he will pursue at college. How is it done? He will have to have a goal of having an A in every class. So, he better start having this goal now (maybe he has it already, maybe he is a straight A student?). Not much more is relevant. Self-reliance is the key here. Well, how do I know this? I personally do not, but my D. is a first year resident, I know what it took her and those around her who attended at different colleges, in-state publics, privates, elites, Ivy’s and ended up at various medical schools. They are now either in a first year of residency or the last year of medical school. This road is torturous, the medical students / residents are all heroes in my eyes, the job is very rewarding, as it looks to me as a mother of the first year resident.
Best wishes to your S.!
My older two kids both sacrificed more advanced foreign language to stay in the arts. And they took lots of arts classes (one had 4yrs music and 3yrs art, the other had 2yrs music and 4yrs theatre). A lot depends on the schedule flexibility or lack thereof at your son’s school. My kids also used A-hour classes where available, and online or summer school classes to take care of PE and a required computer class so they could fit in the classes they wanted and still take a solid college prep curriculum. Check the course requirements and recommendations for the colleges he may consider. For pre-med he probably shouldn’t skimp on science, but he doesn’t need more than one science each year either.
The other option is outside art classes or activities.
“For pre-med he probably shouldn’t skimp on science” – They all get very basic and pretty low level of any science in the American HS. It will be a huge gap between HS and college no matter what school they went to and what level they took during HS and even if they had straight As. Pre-meds have to greatly adjust their academic efforts in college in comparison to HS and that includes valedictorians from the best HS’s. Those who do not realize that, simply fall off from the pre-med tracks, and unfortunately about 85% fall off, only about 15% of initial pre-meds eventually apply to medical schools and only about 40% of those who applied get accepted.
Agreeing with @ucbalumnus above about taking completing some level of bio, physics, chem course work (preferably AP) while still in hs. College premed reqs, in part, require 2 years chem and 1 year of both physics and bio, and taking these courses for the first time as a college student could easily result in someone changing career plans from medicine to something else. Also note that when med schools calculate GPAs, besides an overall GPA, they calculate a separate science GPA which includes all bio, chem, physics and math college courses. So if S wasn’t doing well in college sciences courses he couldn’t say take a bunch of art or other courses, get As, raise his overall GPA and think med schools wouldn’t notice how he did in his science courses. It may be better for S to find out in hs about his interest in science courses as opposed to when they cost tens or hundreds of dollars per unit in college
Remember for pre-med, you can major in anything you want. And you can go to any school…preferably one that he can get a good GPA, will prepare him for MCATs and is affordable.
What is he thinking of majoring in? If Biology, he should take AP Bio before the end of HS. He should have taken Chem, Bio, Physics at some level and then at least one of those at an AP level.
I agree it is best for him to take an AP science now to see how he likes science…because no matter what he majors in, he has to take Bio/Chem/Physics/Org Chem etc.
Change that “I” to HE needs to decide which courses to take. By now your son should be taking charge of his education with you merely giving advice. For medical school just about any college will do, as will any major. His college courses will include math, physics, biology and chemistry. I assume he likes most of those (I hated physics- was a chemistry major who went on to become a physician and needed a lot). At this point he wants to get into a college that suits his academic and social needs. He needs to consider the number of years of HS foreign language he will have- four is best for getting into top tier schools (it may depend on your state for your flagship’s recommendations). Having a strong science background will help him be most prepared for his college science courses.
Post #16 has good ideas.
It is okay for your son to choose a fun class instead of all the available science classes. Now is a good time for him to plot out courses for both remaining HS years. He may want to delay some until senior year so he can take the art class. Remember he is a multifaceted person, not just a potential physician. HS is a time to indulge in more than just courses for the college resume. Colleges may or may not count art in their calculation of his academic gpa.
Be aware he could change his mind about medical school while in college, or won’t get in. I would have him make his HS course selections based on what he wants to learn along with being prepared for science in college. Will he have regrets if he doesn’t keep taking an art class? Having a class like this can be a great stress reliever in the midst of a heavy academic load. I presume he won’t have a study hall- if so, drop that and take both biology and art. The type of student who can handle the work of a premedical college and medical school curriculum should be able to handle a heavier load in HS.
Lots of sophomores in high school want to be doctors. At that age, kids don’t know that much about the complex work world. I wouldn’t make plans that are too dependent on that ambition, and besides, as others have said, you can major in anything in college and then go to med school (some take prerequisites between college and med school). Physicians assistants and nurse practitioners do a lot of medical care too, and both can be pursued after college as other options in the field.
I also wouldn’t plan things too much around college admissions. Make the college choices revolve around what he enjoys doing rather than the other way around 
That said, if he is conflicted about choices, it is true, as someone above said, that you can use summer classes or online classes to free up blocks of time in the high school schedule so that both biology and art can be taken.
But otherwise, if he loves art, I hope he continues! In or out of school…