Is this course schedule rigorous enough?

Applying to College
1

Hi all,

So as the college admissions process is nearing for me, I’m a bit worried about the rigorous level of my schedule. Will colleges look less towards Senior year than other years? I am planning to major in Biochemistry while on a Pre-Med track. I am primarily aiming for Holy Cross (MA) and Tufts.

GPA: 3.75/4 (UW)

9th Grade:
Honors English Literature and Composition- 85 (B)
Spanish Level IV- 94 (A)
Geometry- 93 (A)
United States History I- 90 (A-)
Honors Biology- 93 (A)
Environmental Science- 93 (A)

10th Grade: No APs offered for sophomores
Honors American Literature and Composition- 95 (A)
Spanish Level 5- 89 (B+)
Algebra II- 96 (A)
United States History II- 93 (A)
Honors/Pre-AP Chemistry- 92 (A-)
Forensic Science- 95 (A)

11th Grade (With first trimester grades)
AP English Language and Composition- 88 (B+)
Honors Spanish Conversation and Composition- 94 (A)
Pre-Calculus and Trigonometry- 98 (A+)
Philosophy- 99 (A+)
AP Biology- 91 (A-)
Anatomy and Physiology- 96 (A)

12th Grade (Planning to take)
AP English Literature and Composition
Spanish Practicum
AP Calculus BC
AP United States History
AP Physics 1: Algebra Based
AP Environmental Science

Also, I have never taken Physics before. For those of you in AP Physics 1, is it a good idea to take it without prior knowledge in physics?

Thanks :slight_smile:

2

Where is AP chem?

3

@Alfonsia‌ The teacher who teaches AP Chem at my school is HORRENDOUS. She literally has a track record for 2s. She can’t teach or explain and she poorly prepares students for the exam.

4

You don’t “need” to take AP Chem… I don’t know why anyone would say that you need to - considering that you already have AP Bio and will be taking AP Environ Sci and AP Physics. And you already took H. Chem.

@FutureDoctor2028 I don’t think you need to worry - it’s still a rigorous schedule. AP Lit, AP Physics, AP Calc BC, APUSH, Spanish are all core classes. APES is probably one of the easiest AP classes, but in context of your tentative schedule, it doesn’t matter. Good luck next year!

5

Senior year looks fine, and there’s nothing you can do about 9-11 at this point anyways, so stop worrying. You’ll be okay.

And in terms of physics, you seem like a strong math student, and a lot of algebra based physics is math. You’ll do fine.

6

It’s a very rigorous schedule. Ap Physics 1 is designed to be taken without any prior physics (unlike AP Bio and AP chem, which require a year of the subject before you can reasonably take the AP.)
Only one from AP bio, Ap chem, or AP physics is typically expected as long as you have one science every year (which you do).

7

Thank you all for your responses :slight_smile:

I was kind of worried about Physics but hopefully everything will go well next year.