Is 3 years of science in high school enough?

<p>Common App requires you to list your final year classes and so do most college apps.</p>

<p>I only took 3 years of science in high school (did not take physics). 3 years is absolutely fine for Michigan State. </p>

<p>Ironically, I have gone on to get my BS and I’m going to grad school for biosecurity. It just took me a while to rediscover science. </p>

<p>For J-School at MSU, you only need ISB and ISP. No calculus- only the basic math. The ISB and ISP classes can be fulfilled with some pretty easy and interesting classes that don’t require a chem background. Environmental Science and Astronomy are very popular courses for those. </p>

<p>Also, as an aside, one of my best friends is in the J-School here at MSU (she’s a senior). She has lived in Germany for a few years too (study abroad in both high school and college interning for a German magazine- I just saw your D is in AP German). If your D has any questions for her, she’d be more than happy to help. PM me.</p>

<p>Romangypsyeyes: </p>

<p>What does ISB and ISP stand for? Thanks so much for offering to help connect my daughter with your friend. My daughter is dead set against attending school in Michigan (now that she has seen Alabama - where her brother attends) but MSU has a great journalism program. I continue to encourage her to keep it on her list. Maybe connecting her with your friend in Germany will help. I’ll pass the word on to her and be back in touch with you on that. Thank you!</p>

<p>Sorry about that lol. ISB and ISP are the core science courses. ISB = Integrated Science Biological and ISP = same but Physical. There are a dozen or so different courses you can take to fulfill each requirement. </p>

<p>And not a problem! Happy to help. She also did a summer internship in the UK interning for a newspaper there. She’s focusing on international journalism so she’s traveled quite extensively. </p>

<p>Best of luck :). MSU really has a wonderful program- especially if she wants to do any kind of study abroad. We have the largest study abroad program in the country.</p>

<p>“might be considered fluff classes by colleges”</p>

<p>Yes, they might, and that would matter if this student were interested in reachy liberal arts colleges. She isn’t. She’s interested in large state universities that admit primarily based on numbers, and the family seems to be enthusiastic about those options. Yes, people do change majors, but someone who doesn’t like science and math switching into engineering is not likely. If she has to take calculus someday, taking anatomy or statistics senior year is not going to help.</p>

<p>RTRmom, if you are sure that your daughter is sticking with the big-state-school route, this really isn’t something to worry about. There’s an intellectual-development argument in favor of the student continuing to challenge herself, but not an admissions argument.</p>

<p>Romani - you are speaking of classes at MSU when you say ISB and ISP (sounds like those I listed in post 10)?</p>

<p>Hanna - she will still need lots of math in several areas of business.</p>

<p>As I listed for MSU, business schools have several Math classes as requirement.</p>

<p>I also dont believe MSU, Alabama, Mizzou accept every applicant. The ranges may vary but every college has standards. Otherwise you will see 100% admit rate at these schools.</p>

<p>texas… yes. I said “at MSU” right before I listed those courses.</p>

<p>Interesting. So even journalism majors have to take those? :D</p>

<p>They are core courses… I’m confused as to what you’re getting at. The university has core courses (ISP, ISB, ISS social studies, WRA English, and math) that everyone has to take. Why would J students be exempt?</p>

<p>Mizzou and Alabama DO accept every applicant who meets certain standards and doesn’t have an arrest record or other impediment. The OP’s D is well above the standards for the schools she’s interested in – she’s even guaranteed automatic merit aid at Alabama. At MSU, her admission won’t be automatic, but she’s very, very likely to get in as an in-state applicant with a 30 ACT and her other qualifications even without 4 years of science and hard math. If she decides she wants to go to UVA, etc., that’s a different story.</p>

<p>OP, does she have a class rank? Is the 3.7 weighted or unweighted?</p>

<p>Were this my kid, I’d encourage her to take Statistics instead of business math because she has to take math anyway, and she may as well take something more substantive, and that will give her a leg up if/when she has to retake it in college. (Many, many majors require statistics, including pretty much everything in social sciences.) But I don’t think she needs to drop something that interests her more, or add a 7th class, in order to squeeze in a science class she doesn’t actually care about.</p>

<p>Two national championships in a row.</p>

<p>“she’s even guaranteed automatic merit aid at Alabama.” </p>

<p>This WILL change. There will be no auto admissions for OOS.</p>

<p>Speaking from my own experience at flagship university back in the “dark ages”, I would say she should take regular calculus, rather than business math. I opted for the business math route, then switched to business major (before I even arrived on campus) and had to take a remedial math course in order to take the calc required for a business major. And the remedial class was NO joke… my roommate swore it was harder than her calc class! My D will be a music major, but she will definitely still be taking calc next year as a senior.!</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Sorry but I don’t see this at all. Most school require 4 years of English, and 4 years of Social studies, whereas not as many require 4 years of Math and most only require 3 years of Science. As a math and science kid, I took 4 years of English and of Social Studies, and struggled more than I would have liked to, but those were the requirements and I couldn’t have taken any less if I wanted to. I’m sure your daughter will be perfectly fine with her schedule college admissions, but it just kind of bothers me when people make taking a 4th year of Math or Science seem like such a hassle, when I had to do the same for English and Social Studies.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Well, not really much more than other subjects for high school college-prep purposes (e.g. it is desirable to have 4 years of English, 3-4 years of history and social studies, and level 4 of foreign language). The most selective colleges prefer students to get a well rounded base in high school (although they may have extra-advanced course work in their favorite subjects).</p>

<p>DD just graduated from a large business school in the Midwest. Statistics and Calculus were required of all business majors.</p>

<p>Michigan State requires the same (according to their website). Business Core requirements include:</p>

<p>MTH 103 (College Algebra): 3 credits
MTH 124 (Survey of Calculus): 3 credits
STT 315 (Introduction to Probability & Statistics for Business): 3 credits</p>

<p>yeah, not STEM-level calculus - but it’s still calculus.</p>

<p>The OP said her D is NOT interested in going in to the business college. See post 20.</p>

<p>I was buzzing to the end of the thread to commend on just what warbrain and ucb have pointed out. STEM kids are required by their own state graduation requirements, and certainly if they want to maintain course rigor, a healthy dose of humanities, similar to what’s been pointed out.</p>

<p>Check your state requirements also. Michigan requires 4 years of high school math for all high school graduates, I can’t remember how many of science but state’s are getting more involved in what high school students take and how “much” of subjects high school students take. </p>

<p>In general, I don’t think a student that is going into a non-science major needs more than 3 years, but also my non-science kid loved his Astronomy class and his earth science class and his anatomy & physiology class and avoided the traditional bio/chem/physics like the plaque so if she needs a 4th year, look at what your high school as available.</p>

<p>One other thing - a lot of schools have Gen Ed requirements that include math and science. My daughter is a business major and, in addition to the required calculus and statistics, she needed to take 2 science courses that included a lab. That still doesn’t mean your D will ever have to take Chemistry (there’s astronomy and meteorology and geology and lots of other options), but it’s something to keep in mind if she’s thinking she’ll never have to take math or science again. FWIW, my daughter is at one of the schools on your D’s list.</p>