<p>Hi, I'm a rising senior from a competitive pulbic school in MA. I plan on applying EA to Stanford and RD to many of these east coast schools (MIT, Brown, Columbia, BU), planning to go into biology or one of the life sciences. Now at our school, we take 7 classes. Hence, my senior year schedule is shaping up to be </p>
<p>P.E. (full-yr (needed for graduation))
AP English
AP Calculus
AP Spanish
Band</p>
<p>and I'm deciding the the last two spots between AP Euro History, Physics Honors, and AP Chemistry. </p>
<p>I haven't taken physics before, but I feel that it's probably necessary to have a good background in it before going into a science in college. Then again, I don't want to compromise my GPA by taking an percieved "easier" class (as it is honors) even though it is actually a pretty tough class. Will colleges look badlly upon this or is it really insignificant? And how does is it if i decide to take AP Euro instead of Chem, because the Euro class does actually look interesting, even though the chem will probably be of more use to me in college?</p>
<p>What science courses have you taken thus far? You'd basically have no chance of getting into MIT if you took AP Euro (and thus didn't have AP chem or AP physics on your transcript). Could you take AP Physics instead of honors?</p>
<p>hey japanmedlover
physics honors is the highest taught class that is offered. there is AP Physics available on VHS (virtual high school), but it's not available if you haven't taken the honors class as a prerequisite. ok so euro? all right</p>
<p>weasel,
i've taken honors bio (9th), honors chem (10th), AP Bio (11th) and Honors anatomy (11th). so hmm mit isn't possible without ap physics or ap chem? the thing is, many people take the physics AP exam with just taking the honors course at our school, just because it's so rigorous. does that make a difference?</p>
<p>Nice resume! Check out the MIT</a> Admissions page on recommended high school preparation. You're supposed to have taken physics. This is an easy call. If you are serious about going to MIT, take a physics class, and somehow let adcoms know you plan to take the AP at the end of the year.</p>
<p>Also, it's worth noting that science APs tend to be much more useful than humanities APs. Science courses are generally taken in sequence (i.e. general chem then organic chem, then biochem, etc.) while humanities courses are not. So taking AP physics would allow you to take a more advanced physics course your first year of college. Taking AP Euro, on the other hand, would not allow you to take any history courses in college that you would otherwise be unable to take. Ditto for English. Even if you get a 5 on AP English, you'll still probably have to take an introductory writing course your freshman year.</p>
<p>hmm ok, i see the point. but i feel like sometimes these intro courses at college might prepare me better. like the chem 101 or whatever at mit might be a better preparation for the subsequent courses? i really have no idea. so humanities AP courses basically aren't that useful in terms of college, because u cant place out of stuff. i get it hmmm.
that does make sense, chem though just seems terrible, i hated taking the honors course. i dunno, i guess i should suck it up though if i really wanna go there. but physics is a definite huh?</p>