<p>I know that Caltech has a very strong core curriculum which covers a wide range of topics. One thing I am worrying about is whether or not if my application will be hurt if I only have a honors Chemistry and a honors Biology course when applying. I have, however, taken AP Physics B and will take C next year. Should I mabye also choose to take AP Chemistry when that may require me to drop other courses like AP English Lit?</p>
<p>I took the exact same science track. Bio H in 9th, Chem H in 10th, Physics B in 11th, and Physics C in 12th. It's not as strong as a complete AP track, but you should be fine if you show passion for science some other way. I was never really interested in bio, but I purposely decided not to take AP chem with my friends in 10th, since I wanted to have time to do Comp Sci AB. I also did some work at a robotics lab for two summers. </p>
<p>-Oren</p>
<p>For Caltech, you will be better served by AP Chem than AP English Lit, so if you have to choose, choose AP Chem. It will also make core easier if your AP course is any good.</p>
<p>Thanks for your quick responses!</p>
<p>Ben, regarding the choice between AP Chem/AP Lit, do you think that choosing English Lit over Chem will affect my chances on getting into Caltech?</p>
<p>Though I feel that Chem would be much easier than Lit (I'm a science type of guy), I am worried that if I were to choose a less rigorous English course after taking AP Lang (which I got A's in), I would be seen as less "well rounded," especially to colleges other than Caltech.</p>
<p>What do you think?</p>
<p>Edit:
I'm not sure if this would help but my other courses are:
AP Calc BC/Multivariable Calc
AP Physics C
Quantum Mechanics (Semester elective)
AP Macro/Micro Econ
AP French
Independent Study Computer Science (AI in robots)
AP English Lit or AP Chem</p>
<p>Choosing Lit certainly wouldn't hurt.</p>
<p>You should be aware, though, that "well-roundedness" is a virtue that was in vogue maybe 15 years ago, but now, essentially no (excellent) college puts great emphasis on it. A huge number of people are well-rounded, and for that reason this quality doesn't help set you apart from the rest of the pool -- any pool. </p>
<p>Even a well-rounded place like Harvard prefers to assemble a well-rounded class which consists of people who tend to be exceptional and focused in a certain discipline</p>
<p>So don't choose coursework to be "well-rounded". Choose it, instead, to pursue your interests and passions (whether they be Lit or Chem at the moment), and then you will do well.</p>
<p>
[quote]
So don't choose coursework to be "well-rounded". Choose it, instead, to pursue your interests and passions (whether they be Lit or Chem at the moment), and then you will do well.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Took the words right out of my mouth.</p>
<p>I took AP English Lit my junior year and got a 5, and took debate and portfolio writing (both slacker classes) my senior year, because they couldn't schedule me into anything else and my school doesn't even offer AP English Lang. It didn't seem to present any problem when I applied to colleges.</p>
<p>That you've gotten As in AP English Lang, along with your SAT scores and essays, is likely enough to demonstrate that you have sufficient talent in English to function in the world. For now, just have fun. You can spend the beginning of next school year worrying about college.</p>
<p>Yeah well rounded is boring. Well lopsided is much more fun. </p>
<p>-Oren</p>
<p>I think there's some analogy involving pears and hourglasses. </p>
<p>Or was that with women's figures? I can never remember.</p>
<p>Somewhat OT note: I took both AP Eng Lang and AP Eng Lit this year, and the Lang test is significantly easier than the Lit one.</p>
<p>Now I have asked around and it seems that the people from our school going to the top colleges (Stanford, MIT, etc (no caltech from our school for over 7 years)) all are taking AP English Lit. I honestly want to take AP Chem and I know that I should not be basing my decisions on what colleges think but I don't want this decision to hurt me.... What do you guys think? </p>
<p>Btw, thank you all for your help again!</p>
<p>Take AP Chem; you obviously want to. I took zero ap humanities courses, getting B's in several of the honors level, required humanities. I instead of taking the humanities, focused on what I was interested in. With this 'unbalanced' course load, I still managed to get accepted off the waitlist. (I don't think my being on the waitlist originally had anything to do with that previous stuff anyway, I had low SAT's and very low AP's).</p>
<p>Plus, chem = much more fun!</p>
<p>Thanks for all your help everyone!!!</p>
<p>After some thought, I decided to follow your advice and switch AP Lit for AP Chem :). It's gonna be great having Physics C, Calc II, and Chem all on the same day!</p>