Is it better to take AP Chemistry or AP Physics?

<p>I want to go to either Brown, Cornell or Northwestern and my goal is to eventually become a doctor. For my undergrad I was planning to major in English, because I really love English. Would it be more beneficial to take AP Chem or AP Physics?</p>

<p>I am taking Honors Chem this year, but I'm struggling a lot and my grade's not the best, therefore, if I DO take AP Chem, then I'll have to get a tutor for sure. As for physics, I'm not entirely sure if I'm good at it or not, because I'm planning to take Honors Physics next year.</p>

<p>This is my schedule plan for 11th and 12th if it helps AT all:
11th:
Precalc
PE
AP English III
Lunch
Orchestra
Honors Physics
AP Psychology
AP Environmental Science</p>

<p>12th:
AP Calc AB
PE
AP English IV
Lunch
Orchestra
AP Biology
Anatomy and Physiology
(Either AP Chem or AP Physics here)</p>

<p>Thank you so much!</p>

<p>If you want to be a doctor, I’d recommend AP Chemistry.</p>

<p>It does not matter of your prospective profession. The only decision is which will look better on your university application and which you enjoy. At university, you will have to take advanced versions of physics, chemistry etc anyway. </p>

<p>@wannabefeynman‌ I wan’t talking in regards to looking good on college apps, but I recommended it because it will be handy to be more familiar with chemistry when you’re taking the college classes.</p>

<p>AP Chemistry, but you have a year to decide. You need both in college for med school anyway.</p>

<p>@dfafd2dfafd‌
It will not matter much. The universities you mentioned will require you to take a more rigorous version of introductory chemistry, classical mechanics, electricity & magnetism etc. I am not a fan of AP courses anyway, so I recommend whichever one you enjoy and think will get a better result on. You will relearn it, in a much more rigorous and in my opinion better, manner at university. </p>

<p>Do you have a particular interest in either of them? If you do, that’s what I would go with. But if by any chance you want to take both (both are important), I would replace AP Enviro or Psych to AP Chemistry, and then take AP Physics senior year. That way, you’d also be able to take Chemistry without having a year in-between to lose some of the background that you’re getting this year.</p>

<p>If you’re really intent on taking AP Enviro and Psych, I would just take AP Physics senior year. After all, if you’re taking honors next year, that’ll help a lot understanding it, and it would probably get you a better AP test score than Chemistry. That’s just one way to think about it though.</p>

<p>@awakeningvenus‌, I was planning to take out APES and put in a 3rd year of Spanish, and my counselor said that AP Psychology would be a good class to take if I wanted to be a neurosurgeon. The thing about AP Chem in my school is that my current teacher for Honors Chem is the only teacher for AP and she really isn’t the best. I also just really don’t understand chemistry at all and I feel like I’d have no hope for success in that class. I have a 79% in that class currently lol…so AP might not be the best option.</p>

<p>That being said, I honestly don’t know about physics at all because I haven’t taken a physics class before. Interest wise based on what I have learned in like eighth grade, I always felt that chemistry interested me more, but now that I’m taking a legit class, I just don’t even know.</p>

<p>So why would you recommend taking AP Physics? You’re the only one who recommended that. Is it because I said that I was bad at chem?</p>

<p>Thank you so much for your well thought out response though! It’s super helpful!</p>

<p>Same to everyone else who responded. Thanks! </p>

<p>@glee12‌
If you aren’t sure about it now, you could always wait until you take Honors Physics to decide which one you think would be more interesting, or generally easier for you. </p>

<p>My reasoning for recommending AP Physics was that my sister took both, and says that Chemistry is the hardest class she took. Even if that isn’t the case for you, it would still be really helpful taking an AP class the year after taking the honors of that same subject. (In my case, I took AP Biology the year after Honors Biology, and the basic understanding really helped me when it came to going more in depth with the topics, because I had a general background in it already.</p>