Trying to help D register for senior classes next year with the expectation of applying to nursing schools.
What sciences and math classes should she be taking next year?
Her required math class will be pre-calc.
She has completed Chemistry and Biology. Should she take AP Bio or Physics?
Should she also add an Anatomy/Physiology class or maybe a statistics class?
AP Bio, A & P, AP Chem, Stats/AP Stats, AP Psych (Physics ok choice but most nursing programs don’t include it.)
It depends on the college and their AP credit policy/BSN curriculum, but my son has found that for him at least AP Bio is the least transferable for AP credit directly to nursing program bio courses. But I personally think that it’s an important one to take if available, regardless of transferability, as the bio courses are numerous in nursing, and it can only be a positive to have a good knowledge base. AP Chem seems to be hit or miss for AP credit transfer in nursing. AP Stats and AP Psych seem to be the most likely for AP credit transfer since they tend to be one-shot, general courses.
If your daughter knows which schools she will be applying to next year (or just do a sample), you can easily look up the nursing curriculum for the different schools. That way you will know how best to structure senior classes, and if by chance one of her choices is the rare one that includes physics then I would definitely take that in HS.
My daughter had chosen to take AP Stats and Anatomy and Physiology for her senior year. She is hoping that A & P will help her next year. However, I feel that perhaps an honors or AP Science class may have helped her GPA more and may have looked better to colleges. Please do check on all the possible nursing programs that your D is interested in. One program my D was looking at (UConn) DID require physics, so she was unable to apply.
I would worry less about AP credit and more about what classes will help in college.
Since you’ve already done a bio and a chem class, I would do A&P and Stats. Both are in every nursing curriculum we’ve seen. My daughter took both, to get a basis for her nursing classes. She took honors bio and honors chem, but not the AP versions.
She was also an oddball and took dual enrollment physics this year along with AP calc. I think it set her apart, personally, because every admission officer commented on the fact that she was taking it.
In looking at her schema for where she is going (her first choice), the only math class is statistics. But it’s heavy on bio, chem and A&P.
She is also still possibly interested in an education major so we are trying to work in all her classes. Since this will be her 4th year of child development she can do an internship next year, which is a double period. She came up with this schedule. What do you think?
1-English
2-Pre-Calc
3-Physics
4-Anatomy and Physiology
5-Statistics and Modeling
6-Internship
7-Internship
Looks okay to me!
You could even parlay the child development into a useful thing should she decide to do nursing.
Has she done any kind of nursing or hospital-related volunteer work, to see if she likes the atmosphere or the work involved?
Not yet but she just completed the volunteer application forms for a nearby hospital. Hoping to get started next month.
Check the colleges she’s interested in and see if she needs physics to apply. In most cases she won’t and then AP Bio would be a better choice.
The problem is that AP Bio is a double period so would be difficult to fit into schedule.
That is very math/science heavy. It is hard to give an opinion without knowing what other classes she has taken previously. Language ? Social Sciences? Computers? AP Bio is a bear and not necessary. If she was looking into education, elementary or HS? Certain states require another major along with education, even for elementary. If you have the time, it is really advisable to look at some college websites that she may be thinking about applying to for both majors.
AP bio is a good test for whether a student has the aptitude to make it through nursing school. As noted above, it is more important to get a head start on the material than to get AP credit for it. For some critical classes that are building blocks for future classes, some students choose to retake the class in college even if they could get AP credit.