x-posted.
In another post, you said maybe biochem. You won’t be competitive for that or microbiology with just one AP lab sci.
You keep asking how many but really need to dig into the college websites and see what makes a match, academic and other. We don’t know anything about your hs performance or whether this is just a random dream. But you have to be on your game, put in the effort to learn what this is about, if you want to have a chance.
When one talks about # of AP courses, one really means AP course/post AP/AP equivalent course.
For your prospective major, I’d try to add in another AP science.
Do I really need to take another science ap? I heard from some people and in college confidential that one science ap course is sufficient. I was planning to take ap chemistry but I wanted to retake it in pre-med. I also thought colleges dont regard your major in admissions.
I’m so confused. I thought colleges don’t regard your prospective major in admissions.
It depends upon the college and the major. Some colleges admit into the University and you do not have to declare a major immediately. Some colleges will admit directly into a major such as Engineering and some colleges have a combination where applicants are direct admits into their major (STEM) and some applicants will be admitted into a specific college such as the College of Letters and Sciences (L&S) regardless of major.
It is best to check each school of interest.
You asked about Ivies. And you want a STEM major. The competition for a spot at a tippy top is fierce. They expect a potential STEM kid to have rigorous prep in math and science.
And they expect you to know this, be thinking on a level that stretches and exhibits drives.
And, to know most Ivies do not have business majors for undergrads.
The only ivy i will be applying to is Harvard. I’m fine if I don’t get accepted in their microbiology program. The rest of the colleges i will be applying to are the UC’s and Stanford for microbiology. Excluding Harvard, do the UC’s and Stanford take into consideration the prospective major? I know in stanford and berkeley you will be undeclared during freshmen year. I will be applying to L&S schools. Will one ap science course be sufficient? And are AP biology, ap lit and lang, all ap history, ap psychology, and calc ab & bc rigorous enough?
A few of us sometimes argue this. But my perspective is any college that asks your possible major will be looking for your prep in that arena and related. They want to see how you actually think, whether you pursue ideas, take on the right challenges, at the right levels, in and out of hs. You don’t just make a wish list and expect to walk in. Are you serious about this?
Each UC campus is different when it comes to how they admit majors.
UCSD for example admits into the University first and then into the major, Biological Sciences/Microbiology is a capped/impacted major. UCSD recommends if you are applying for a capped major to select a non-capped major as an alternate.
UCD admits into the College of Biological Sciences and all majors are impacted.
UCSC admits into the University and uses your “proposed major” as a guideline for taking required courses. You need to declare a major at end of Sophomore year for UCSC but you can declare as early as Winter Quarter Freshman year.
You need to research all schools of interest for a better understanding of their admission policies and requirements if you may want to switch majors later on.
If you are looking at Stanford, UCB, UCLA etc… 1 Science AP will be a great disadvantage if you are planning on a major in a science field especially if your school offers 20 AP courses.
I am planning to take chemistry over the summer at a community colleges so I could go on to ap bio. Will it be redundant if I take ap chemistry senior year even though I’ve already taken college chemistry?
@neonnn you have way to many ideas going on about your classes. Please sort them first when you are trying to plan everything.
Everything just depends on you and how you can handle classes. I know people who took 4-5 AP classes and did all bad in them and failed the AP tests (the purpose of those classes). Their rank may be high but what did they learn?
I knew for a long time what I want to be and what my major would be and therefore only focused on those classes: Ap Bio and AP Calculus. My interest was so high that I even self studied for BC and got ALL 5 in them. And now at the end my GPA, and rank is even higher compared to those people who took too many AP classes.
As said it depends on you. But ivies might be too high for one who takes ‘only 2 ap classes’ when there are other who take higher amount of classes. You can still try.
However you are on a good way for UCs. As I explained above for you, you may want to consider taking AP Physics as well. It helps you for your major, for your ACT testing and in general. All of my friends have taken it and some consider as well a major in microbiology. None of them did super well in Physics but they took and struggled through it. I think you would be fine since you have the good knowledge for Calculus.
Again you do not have to take that many AP classes, but you just want to do the best in order to get the best education and the biggest range for your further university.
To answer your question, whether it would be bad to take Chem in college and then AP Chem. Nope I do not think so. The only possible problem you might face is whether you’ll get college credits for both
What kind of college chemistry?
If it is a college level general chemistry course that is transferable to a UC (see http://www.assist.org ), then AP chemistry is likely to be redundant to it. However, a community college may also offer a preparatory chemistry course that is similar to high school chemistry.
If you plan to go to medical school, college courses taken while in high school and their grades will be counted for your medical school application GPA.
http://admissions.berkeley.edu/selectsstudents
“For applications to the College of Letters and Science and Natural Resources no consideration is given to the indicated major in the review process”
UC Berkeley states that major is not take into account in admissions.
http://admissions.berkeley.edu/selectsstudents
“For applications to the College of Letters and Science and Natural Resources no consideration is given to the indicated major in the review process”
UC Berkeley states that major is not take into account in admissions.
^ yes but the college you’re applying to counts.
Are you first generation (neither parent for a four year degree)?
Be careful when choosing your summer chemistry course : it should NOT be ‘general chemistry’ but something like 'introduction to chemistry. ’
After that class, you can either take general chemistry at the community college, or AP chemistry.
You don’t need to take AP Lit. It’s everything else you need to think about.
For what you want to do, you need math through calculus (check), foreign language through level 4 or AP (?), each of biology, chemistry, physics + AP science classes (for what you’re interested in, AP physics 1, AP bio, AP chemistry, would be key, but honors physics instead of AP physics 1 would be okay, and APES would be a nice add-on), 4 years of English including AP Lang, 4 years of social science/history including some AP 's (it doesn’t have to be apush; apwh and AP us and comp gov and /or AP econ would be nice to have I’d you don’t have apush.)
You also need to balance junior and senior year. 3 AP’s each year, carefully chosen, would work, but you need to plan over each year, including any summer if relevant.
Can you list all classes through senior year, including preceding summer when relevant, for these categories :
English =
Math = algebra1+2H, geometryH, calc ab+bc
Social science/ history = …, apwh,…,…
Science =
Foreign language =
Personal picks=
What do you mean by the college you’re applying to? Isn’t that the college of letters & science?
At big universities, you’ll be applying to a specific college, which often has different criteria depending on its majors.
Can you answer the questions in #34?
For UC Berkeley, I will be applying to Molecular and Cell Biology, which is apart of L&S. What specific college are you talking about???