Science classes you wish you took in highschool?

Applying to College Admission Stories
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Hello! I’m currently a sophmore in highschool who aspires to be a neurologist and will soon be scheduling for junior year. I’m considering either taking AP Bio or AP Chem next year and then AP Physics senior year. Freshman year I barely scraped by with a 90 in Honors Bio. This was partially because my teacher wasnt the greatest and I suffered from Freshman Year syndrome. This year in Chem I’m doing fairly well with a 98. From what I’ve heard, however, AP Bio has a bettter teacher and is a much easier class than AP Chem. I know people who have 98s and 99s in AP Bio, but my older brother (who has been an A student throughout high school and also did well in HN Chem) is struggling to get an 86 in AP Chem. As a more disciplined student than he is, I think I could probably get an A in the class, but just barely. Should I take the easier AP Bio? Or should I challenge myself and take AP Chemistry, a subject I enjoy more? Could I take AP Chem next year and AP Bio senior year and just not take AP Physics? Would I regret never taking a physics class in high school? Please tell me from your college experience what you are happy you did/what you wish you did in regards to your science classes.

(Also: Is the myth that colleges prefer to see AP Chemistry true?)

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Top colleges generally prefer to see a year each of bio, chem, and physics. So that answers your physics question. As for AP Chem vs AP Bio, take whichever one you enjoy more. If you take AP Chem next year, and are able to double up as a senioe and take AP Bio and AP Physics, great; if not, no big deal. But you need to squeeze physics in somewhere.

Colleges want to see that you challenged yourself and performed well. I doubt that there is any preference for AP Chem over AP Bio.

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I wish my high school had OFFERED AP Physics! It was back in the dark ages, but they had other AP classes. I was totally unprepared for engineering physics in college. I almost changed majors because of that!

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@MainLonghorn Our D told me that the first year engineering physics classes (at Purdue) are considered brutal. She told me her friends said Physics is where GPAs go to die:) She had a 5 on her AP physics in both sections so they let her skip both those classes. She’s a sophomore now and so far so good. She also had a 5 in AP Chem. She did take the second semester Chem class as she needed a Chemistry Lab course to be accepted in to their ChemE program. It made the course much easier for her.