<p>I took Honors Bio, Honors Chem, and AP Chem, and I'm signed up for AP Physics next year. I'm basically being forced to take it because my guidance office argues that colleges like to see all three sciences. Is this true? I would have rather taken AP Bio, but everyone seems to say that Physics is absolutely necessary. Is this true?
Just to give you some perspective, I'm currently leaning towards a double major in Bio and Public Policy/Foreign Affairs, and afterwards its either Med school or grad school for public health.
What do you think?</p>
<p>Yes, take Physics, but since you already have a background in somewhat rigorous Bio, self study for the AP Bio exam.</p>
<p>I was considering doing that with the SAT II which I plan to take this October. I just want to justify my interest in Bio to colleges, even though I haven’t officially taken the most advanced class in it. I did Stem Cell research last summer and will continue to do Biology research this summer. I took AP Chem my junior year because I wanted to take the challenge and I recognized the challenges my older, pre-med brother faced in college because of skipping an advanced gen chem class in high school. I just hate the idea of taking physics 
At least I’ll show that I’m still challenging myself as a senior, because boy is AP Physics going to be hard! </p>
<p>Depends on the colleges. How competitive? Why couldn’t you take AP bio? Some limit or restriction at your hs?</p>
<p>If you want to go to med school you should take AP Bio not AP Physics. If It’s AP Physics B or whatever it’s completely useless anyway. Honors bio covers a fraction of what AP Bio covers so self studying for the exam isn’t exactly plausible unless you literally teach yourself the entire course.</p>
<p>My parents also forced me to take Physics with the same argument. That was in junior year, and I was considering a Biology major, so I wanted to take AP Bio and maybe do physics as an afterthought senior year. I ended up enjoying physics so much that I decided to major in Engineering, and took AP Physics as well as AP Bio senior year. (At my school, regular physics is a prerequisite for AP Physics.) But on the other hand, if you’re considering a Bio major and med school, AP Bio will be very important as well.</p>
<p>So, I can’t answer your question on what colleges want, but I think you should consider your interests carefully before skipping an opportunity to learn physics <em>or</em> bio. Whether or not colleges require the classes, both will be super useful in bio, med school, and life in general.</p>
<p>Maybe see if you can take Bio and Physics at the same time, if you think you can handle that. Or take non-AP physics, or a physics or bio class at a local community college. </p>
<p>Personally, I wouldn’t sacrifice a major subject like History to double up on science, but I appreciate the answers! How valuable is self-studying an AP as a senior? I know you can get credit, but you can’t put it on your college app…</p>
<p>
As valuable as it is any other year. Which is to say, not very valuable. Last month I went to an Exploring College Options event, which had reps from Harvard, Stanford, Penn, Duke, and Georgetown. During the Q&A, someone asked, “What do you think of applicants who self-study for additional AP’s over and above the AP classes they take?” One rep responded, “Please don’t do that. We’re not impressed by that.” The other reps all nodded.</p>
<p>As a side note, many med schools won’t let you use AP credit for the science prerequisites.</p>
<p>
They do, but in most cases physics isn’t actually required like biology and chemistry.
I would recommend taking AP Bio and some kind of physics class, even if it’s just regular.
It’s valuable if your college will give you credit for it, but not for admissions.</p>
<p>You pretty much have to take physics in order to get into a top college, unless your HS doesn’t offer it.</p>
<p>You don’t have to have AP physics. For colleges that ask for three lab sci, that usually means bio, chem, phys.</p>
<p>But for a highly competitive college, your course selection needs to make sense. As a possible bio major with pre-med interests, that points to AP bio. (When did you take regular bio?) Sounds like you have some limits at your hs- work with this as best you can.</p>
<p>Something else here: do you know about how some top colleges will “weed out” pre-meds? The classes can be exceptionally difficult, on purpose. All the more reason to have AP bio behind you. Not for any college credit, but for the experience. And/or find colleges were early bio, chem and calc are more cooperative than competitive. OP, maybe you want to post this sort of question on a CC pre-med forum.</p>
<p>Ski, glad someone finally played the music about self-studying for AP tests.</p>