Hello, I have planned out my high school schedule and currently I am a sophomore at a pretty competitive high school in socal. My main goal is to get into a UC and do either comp sci or biology (premed) in college as I am not fully decided yet and I am trying to see what is good for me. I had one concern as my school does not allow anyone to take more than 1 science AP which is IMO kinda lame.
My current sophomore schedule
PE/tennis
chem honors
math analysis honors (essentially precalc)
english 2 h
AP human geo
french 2
Now here is my planned out schedule for junior and senior year
AP comp sci A
chem ap
ap calc ab
english 3h
us history honors (maybe AP havent decided yet)
french 3 h
tennis
senior year
Cybersecurity class
AP calc BC
english 4h
AP bio/ ap physics dont rly know
Ap government
tennis
economics (can take this course as well as government over the summer if somehow i get AP physics which doesn’t look very likely sadly).
Now the main problem is that one of my desires is to take all 3 science AP courses but my school does not allow that even though our school is pretty competitive. Is it ok if i do not take physics in high school? One option is taking it in summer school but that is extremely difficult and I am highly reluctant to take it over the summer
Did you take Biology as a Freshman? If so, then replace AP Biology with AP Physics or replace AP Chem with AP Physics. UC’s like to see you take Biology/Chemistry and Physics but they do not need to be all AP level.
Is taking any of these courses during the summer an option also?
No. And your title is clickbait. Your HS is not preventing you from taking physics.
Competitive universities will expect an applicant to have a year of bio/chem/physics plus one at a more advanced (not necessarily AP) level. There is no need to have all 3 AP sciences, and if your school does not allow (and BTW, good for them), then it does not allow. Taking over the summer is probably not the best use of your summer.
Additionally, you do not want to go into a college physics class, which is often a pre-med weed-out class, with no HS physics background.
@Gumbymom Lets say i want to do follow premed track in college by doing a major like biology or biochemistry. If i don’t take AP Bio, is it necessarily gonna be bad for me in the long run when I am in college?
Your guidance counselor can explain on your college applications that your school allows only one AP science. Colleges/Universities will not penalize you for adhering to your high school’s rules.
Everyone here is telling you that competitive universities will expect to see biology, chemistry AND physics (at any level) on your application, and one core science AP. If you choose AP biology, that’s fine, but you’ll still need regular physics. If you choose AP chem (would be my choice if I were a STEM person) that would also be fine, as you’ll need chem to better understand biology, since chemistry is the building block of everything.
Admissions counselors don’t expect students to specialize in high school. They want students to cover all the bases of all core subjects, then specialize if (and only if) there is room in the schedule to do so.
You need some sort of physics (regular honors AP…) Take physics honors or regular.
For a pre-med, AP chem is more important than AP bio. Obviously taking both is better.