I am currently a junior in high school, and so far I have taken biology, chemistry, and ap physics 1 (taking physics this year). My school requires 3 science credits which I will have at the end of this year. I am interested in majoring in either international affairs or political science/pre law.
Next year, I am really not interested in any of the sciences my school offers. The sciences I haven’t taken are honors bio II, honors chem II, honors anatomy, and ap physics 2. I really hate bio, chem & anatomy have horrible teachers, and physics 1 literally makes me crazy.
Will it hurt me to not take a science senior year? Obviously science won’t play a huge role in my major, so should I do more classes I’m interested in, or should I just stick it out and take a science?
The advice we received from our HS college counselor is that many colleges are looking for 4 years in the 5 main subjects (English, Math, Science, History/Social Studies, and Foreign Language). I guess it would depend on what kind of colleges you are aiming for, but in general it’s better to take all 5 your senior year.
Have you checked the requirements for the schools where you plan to apply? Even if they require less than four, it wouldn’t hurt to email and ask them if they’re really looking for four regardless of the requirements. My D didn’t want to take a math in senior year- she already had four years of math, two dual enrolled, and she felt done. She emailed a few schools about that and got a variety of answers, and decided not to do math this year. She was accepted to all her applied schools prior to pulling her remaining apps because she got an ED acceptance, so it couldn’t of hurt her too badly. Maybe you could find a dual enrollment science course that would appeal to you more, if it seems you need to take something.
One each of biology, chemistry, and physics that you have is the best possible three years of science for college prep purposes, and is probably fine for most colleges.
But check the colleges you may be interested in to see what they want to see. Some of the most selective colleges may prefer to see all-around academic strength, regardless of your intended major. But whether it makes any difference and how much will be hard to know from outside the admissions office.
But note that politics, international affairs, and law would benefit from scientific knowledge (consider the domestic and international politics relating to climate issues and emissions from burning fossil fuels).
The reality is if a student does all major courses all 4 years there would be hardly any room for electives or specialization. You’ve already completed what, at many high schools, would be the 4 year sequence.
The expectation of the most selective schools is that high school students should be generalists, not specialists. You don’t necessarily have to take the most demanding courses across all core subjects, but you shouldn’t be avoiding any of those subjects, either.
The flip side is that those schools tend to have much more relaxed general education / distribution requirements than less selective schools.
But if this is a concern, best to check each school specifically, rather than relying on such a generalization. For example, MIT, Chicago, and Columbia are highly selective, but have heavy general education requirements, while Evergreen State is not that selective but has a completely open curriculum for its BA degree.
Thank you all for the suggestions!!! I will definitely be looking in to each colleges requirements to see what would give me the best chance of admissions (all of my schools are in the T50 with my top choices T20). @lookingforward I would probably replace science with another social studies course. @bopper my school does not offer any science electives
@rachel89012 - you’ve gotten good advice. It so much depends on the schools you are applying to! Anecdotally, my D chose not to take Math her senior year because she hated it and had already completed 4 years by taking Geometry over the summer as a sophomore. The college counselors warned that it would look terrible on her record to have no math as a senior but neither of us could see her slogging through Calculus (her only Math option) when her major would never ever use it. I don’t think it made any difference in her admissions and it made a HUGE difference in her Senior year courseload - she took AP Psychology instead and enjoyed herself. So my advice is check with the schools you think fit you best and then use your own best judgement.
After you check, you may be ok without sci, if your app otherwise is strong. But for poli sci or IR, have you done anything with local govt, some civic organization or a rep? Or an existing/adult advocacy group in the community? You have a year to build this experience (and previously asked about limited ECs.) This could enhance your app, to the top 50, for those majors. Not a guarantee, but something many PS/IR kids miss.
@lookingforward yes I have done a lot in the past year to enhance my ECs in that area. I interned at a political campaign (that won :)), am part of an ambassador board for my states attorney general, started a model UN club/team at my school, and am planning on applying to be a senate page this summer. Thanks for your help!!!
I think it really depends what you’d take instead. At this point (senior year) you can be allowed one deviation from the standard as long as you have English/Humanities and Math. So, you could drop science and take two social science/history classes but they’d have to make sense (ie., APWH or AP euro+ one more). In addition, for IR, a strong level in at least one foreign language will be expected. I’m guessing AP English, AP FL, AP history, and AP social science would make for a strong core for your chosen major + math of your choice + another class.
@MYOS1634 The issue is I switched school districts going in to high school so I am not ahead in a foreign language because the school I attended prior did not let you start high school level language classes in 8th grade (so next year I’ll be in German 4), but my school also does not offer AP foreign languages anyway. Additionally, the only AP history my school offers is apush (which I already took). We also do not have AP English. So yeah I’m kinda stuck on scheduling. I am on a good math track though and will be in AP stats & AP calc next year
Can you register through dual enrollment (also called PSEO, Running start, concurrent enrollment) at a local community college that would allow you to take courses in those three academic fields?
At the college I work with, you couldn’t be admitted without four years of science; even if you weren’t majoring in a STEM field. So do please check. If the schools you like “recommend” four years of lab science, take science again next year.
It really is something you need to look at what individual schools your planning on applying to expect. For instance I have seen many times on cc that colleges expect physics. On the other hand for non STEM majors I know plenty of people that got accepted into a wide variety of colleges including Cornell who never took physics. In general though recommended means required unless there is a really good reason not to have it. Perhaps think about the reason you would give for not taking a 4th year of science if asked in an interview.