<p>i'm a junior trying to work out my senior schedule, and i think i've finally gotten everything worked out. the main concern i have is whether or not it will hurt me to not have a science, so i was hoping to get some feedback on if that's a big deal (i'm hoping it isn't b/c i really don't care for science and i can't work it into my schedule without dropping something that i really care about).</p>
<p>here's what next year's schedule would look like:
(in an 8 period day including lunch)</p>
<p>AP English
AP French
AP Calc AB
AP European History
Honors International Relations
Peer Mentoring
Chorus</p>
<p>does this schedule look ok? is the fact that it's missing science going to really hurt me even though i'm still in 5 academic classes? does it seem rigorous enough?</p>
<p>Hope you plan on taking a science senior year. Everyone should take chem, bio, and physics before finishing high school.</p>
<p>Any science is far more valuable than Euro, but if you don’t want to take a science, whatever. You’ll should really take another science either this year or senior year.</p>
<p>thanks for the advice, but does it make a difference if i’m going to be an IR/Poly Sci major? since Euro is the most challenging history class at our school i think it would be more valuable for me than science b/c of the field i’m going into, so does science really matter?</p>
<p>*another thought: if science is really important to have but i can’t fit it in, would it be a good idea to take a physics course at a nearby college or online over the summer?</p>
<p>Surely you can fit in physics next year. If not, it’s not bad, but having only two science credits is essentially having the bare minimum. Not a bad thing, but not a good thing.</p>
<p>As a poly science major, yeah, Euro is probably more important (side note, AP World? AP Gov? AP Econ? AP Human Geo? AP US History? All good social science courses, hope you have room or have taken them).</p>
<p>so does earth science not count as a science credit? that’s what i took freshman year, then bio, then chem. none of the colleges i’m applying to require/recommend more than 3 years of science, so is what i have ok?</p>
<p>(and i’m taking APUSH and self-studying AP US Gov this year, and the other ones you listed aren’t offered at my school :()</p>
<p>Oh woahhh, I thought your post said “I’m planning my junior year”. That’s why I recommended taking a science senor year, for a total of 3 credits.</p>
<p>If you’ve already taken 3 sciences, you’re okay! I misread.</p>
<p>If you’re applying to top schools, no science past chem doesn’t look too great. If you’d taken AP Physics or something like that this year I would say it’s fine, but you didn’t take a single AP science, not even psych (which in my school counts as a science), which wouldn’t impress me if I were an admissions officer. I would scrap honors international relations or that mentoring thing if you really can’t fit in a science otherwise.</p>
<p>aren’t ECs important too though? i’ve done chorus for 6 years so i don’t think it’s a good idea to just drop it…</p>
<p>what do you guys think about fitting in physics somewhere else like over the summer since basically every class on my schedule is really important to me?</p>
<p>Peer Mentoring and Chorus arent ECs. on your schedule they are academic subjects. We are comparing the academic value of Chorus vs Physics. Is this a serious question?</p>
<p>well i can’t do chorus just after school since it is a class…i’m only saying i can’t just drop it after being part of a community since 6th grade. i didn’t mean to imply that mentoring was an EC, but chorus is since it also has an out of school commitment.</p>
<p>i wasn’t really wondering about comparing the academic values of chorus and physics, i was more wondering if physics was essential and how to fit that into my schedule in an alternative way like online or through a summer program. </p>
<p>are you suggesting that i should have 7 straight academic classes in all my school periods without any electives showing interests? i feel like if i dropped those two classes i would lose my well-roundedness which would hurt me for admissions, plus i don’t want my day/life to be purely academics.</p>
<p>would taking a local college class in physics be seen positively?</p>
<p>It really depends on how selective of a college you are aspiring to. At the most selective colleges, rigor in your class schedule trumps all, and colleges expect to see bio, chem, and physics. I recall reading something in The Gatekeepers, about “the science trinity” of bio, chem, physics. </p>
<p>Core academic subjects are more important than ECs. Colleges aren’t necessarily looking for a well-rounded student, but a well-rounded student body in aggregate. </p>
<p>My suggestion would be to drop Peer Mentoring or International Relations for Physics if you are interested in ~Top 50 schools. If you are aiming lower, your proposed schedule is fine. I’m not sure about the summer CC physics class. If you did that, make sure to have your GC note in the recommendation letter that you did that because of schedule issues senior year.</p>
<p>ok, thanks for the advice, i’ll ask my counselor and look into summer programs. and yeah, i’m looking at very selective schools like swarthmore and brown so i’ll consider dropping IR even though i really want it :(</p>
<p>if the summer thing doesn’t work out and i have to drop IR, would taking AP Enviro be ok? (this would be an AP class instead of just Accelerated Physics) even if i drop a class i can’t fit physics into my schedule unless i want no frees which would probably make my grades suffer. (or would taking AP Psych instead of IR be better since apparently some schools would count it as a science?)</p>
<p>I disagree with Sacchi. I do not recommend dropping the classes you are thoroughly interested in- IR, Chorus, Peer Mentoring- to pack in more APs. Once you have a decent amount of credits, as you do, it’s fine really. Those classes are probably more valuable than the APs you could take anyway, considering you have no interest in science.</p>
<p>Kids get into Ivies with less than 4 APs. You have 4 APs senior year alone (and hopefully a few this year/last year).</p>
<p>Ending that paragraph with a tells me that you should not drop IR. Really. Don’t take physics if you don’t want to. There are more important things than your resume! The chance of getting into a “top 50” school is low already, for most of us, so why sacrifice a valuable and enjoyable class senior year and suffer through physics, thinking it alone will be the reason you might get accepted or rejected. Bad idea.</p>
<p>Dont drop IR under any circumstances. You enjoy it, and it’s academic. It’s fine.</p>
<p>Drop Peer Mentoring or Chorus. Your schedule already shows that you are passionate for perhaps Humanities, French Studies, etc. Chorus will not make you look “more rounded”. It will make you look all over the place with no real academic drive to take the most challenging classes available.</p>
<p>On GC recs, they check under program rigor “Most rigorous”, “rigorous”, “less rigorous”, etc.
It is CRUCIAL to get the top marks in rigor. If you taking 2 slackoff classes will compromise that, look into it.
And Physics at a CC I guess would be ok. I dont think it’s spending so much extra time in a CC in order to just keep slackoff classes.</p>
<p>i don’t really consider either a ‘slackoff’ class especially peer mentoring since i’m basically going to be working as a teaching assistant for the whole year (and although my main passion is in the humanities, music is very important to me, so i don’t see why i should drop chorus).</p>
<p>are you saying that physics is necessary just so i have the ‘most rigorous’ schedule (which i think i’ll have anyways, but i’ll talk to my counselor about it), or that not taking a science will hurt me?</p>
<p>and @pancaked: thanks for the advice! i want to make sure that not taking science won’t significantly hurt me but i really want to take those classes and i think they’ll be better for me, so thanks for recognizing that! luckily i have a few more weeks to figure everything out, so hopefully i’ll find a way to make it all work…</p>
<p>i’m actually open to the idea, i’m just insulted that you’re calling me a slacker for taking classes that i’m passionate about instead of a class that’s meaningless for me (and for the record, it’s not everyone i’m not listening to, you’re the only one who thinks i should do this- and while saying that physics looks better than chorus is helpful, calling me lazy for picking the other option is unnecessarily unkind).</p>
<p>i was mainly just wondering how much it will affect admissions (i’m not necessarily going to change my mind, i just wanted to know), and if there are any alternatives.</p>
<p>You are expected to take the most rigorous courseload available to you for top colleges. That would mean each of the three hard sciences and ideally an AP or IB level course in at least one of them. So, yes: you should seriously consider dropping Chorus or Peer Mentoring to fit in Physics because it will impact your chances at top schools.</p>
tells me that you should not drop IR. Really. Don’t take physics if you don’t want to. There are more important things than your resume! The chance of getting into a “top 50” school is low already, for most of us, so why sacrifice a valuable and enjoyable class senior year and suffer through physics, thinking it alone will be the reason you might get accepted or rejected. Bad idea.</p>