I’m a freshman in high school… Wow that’s a horrible way to start a post. Regardless, I’m one of few that I have met thus far that actually has been planning ahead and pretty much knows what I want to end up doing. I hope to end up at UC Berkeley double majoring in theoretical physics and finance. I have a 4.0 this year, am taking 3 AP’s next year, and hope to maintain or exceed that for my remaining high school years. However, back to the question at hand. Has anyone here ever taken on such a course load? What are recommendations that you have? What is the course load like?
One does not major in Theoretical Physics. That is usually a PhD. You’d just be majoring in Physics, and most schools have a BA rack or a BS track for people more inclined towards grad school.
As a graduating senior in high school who was formerly 100% sure she wanted to major in physics and enter particle physics research:
I took 4 APs this year and 2 last year (sophomores and freshmen aren’t typically allowed to take AP courses at my school). I honestly found this year ten times more manageable than my junior year with less APs - it honestly depends on which APs they are and other extracurricular activities you will be spending time on.
Definitely talk to other students about the classes you’re going to take - so much of the difficulty of the course depends on the teacher.
I would also caution you - and I really cannot stress this enough - to take a wide variety of courses. As I’ve mentioned on other posts, up until after I applied for college (to mostly tech schools and research universities) this year, I was completely sure I wanted to double major in physics and math. However, because I was open-minded about my courses, I discovered that my true passion lies with English. I would have figured this out earlier if I hadn’t let my focus on science and math distract me from taking a well-balanced courseload. I’m not doubting your wish to pursue physics, but, then again, I didn’t doubt mine at the time. (Don’t worry, I’m not biased against future STEM majors - I say the same thing to people who really want to focus on English or theatre or anything else.) I ended up missing a lot of opportunities because of my close-mindedness.
In short, don’t take <em>only</em> STEM APs - if you take a standard level course in a subject you don’t think you like, you’re bound to be convinced you don’t like it. However, trying higher level courses in all sorts of different subject areas lets you fairly compare each one, plus it looks even better on college apps.
Be open-minded, and be ready to do some hardcore focusing. I wish you the best of luck 