HS course selection impact question

Colleges and Universities A-Z College of William and Mary
1

Hi All, My son is finalizing his course selections for his senior year of high school. He is interested in applying to W&M and intends to study international relations.

My questions:

  1. Should he take dual enrollment English via a community college (Northern Virginia) or AP Language and Composition. We are getting conflicting advice on both.
  1. His science options are Physics (AP or non-AP), Astronomy, Biology 2, Chemistry 2, and Oceanography. He wants to take Oceanography as he is isn't a big fan of science courses and is concerned that Physics and Chem 2 will be soul-crushing. . Will taking Oceanography versus a more advanced science course negatively impact his application chances?

His other courses are Spanish 5 (non-AP), AP History, AP Calculus, and AF JROTC. He has a 3.9 GPA (unweighted), we’re still waiting for SAT #1 results but he was averaging low 1300s in his PSATs. (~700 verbal / ~600 math)

2

I can’t speak to W&M specifically, but my HS Senior had a similar dilemma as your second question. We had him talk to his HS Counselor who recommended he take Physics based on the colleges he was applying to including W&M. This was even though he’s not pursuing a hard core STEM major in college. He decided to take AP Physics based on the intel he gathered from the current year seniors that the teachers were better and the level of difficulty between regular and AP was not all that great. He actually seems to have enjoyed the class as well which is a bonus.

3

  1. Honestly I doubt this will make too much of a difference. Pick the one that fits his academic interests, they are both rigorous English courses in their own right – you may want to check if the credits will transfer over and count for the courses that you will want them to.

  2. It is generally recommended that students take each of the three core sciences (Biology, Physics, and Chemistry) when you apply to W&M, and generally rigorous versions of those courses that he can handle, but I have known students from my high school that have substituted it with something else like APES (AP Environmental Science) and have gotten in (also international relations majors). I myself opted for taking honors physics and APES instead of AP Physics like some of my peers and was able to get in. I was genuinely interested in environmental science and was less interested in advanced physics. There may be a difference in rigor for something like Oceanography though. You can always check with Admissions. They write about a lot of this stuff on their blog Admit it! that tends to provide a comprehensive view of what they are looking for in terms of admissions.