<p>I'll be a senior next year and need some help figuring out which courses I should talk. I spoke with the guidance counselor whose advice was "Do what you think is best." thanks... I want to be a PA or MD. This year I'm taking AP calc ab, AP physics, and AP lang&comp. I only want to take 3 aps next year. I'm deciding between chem (not actually an ap, it's a uconn dual enrollment class but close enough), bio, lit, gov, and calc bc. Most of the schools/programs im looking at don't accept ap credits so i want to take the ones that will give me the best chance at doing well in college.
Thanks!</p>
<p>I would definitely take calc bc and chem. you’re already doing lang&comp so you don’t really need to do lit in my opinion. If you do bio as well you will have a very firm background in the sciences which will help in pre-med.</p>
<p>Why do you only want to take 3 APs?</p>
<p>As far as being most useful, probably calc, chem, and bio. You’re required to take all 3 in college for premed.</p>
<p>thanks, it sounds like it’ll be calc chem and bio. I’d consider doing 4, I said three because I don’t want a super tough senior year but if there’s another one that would be helpful for college I’d take it. Would it be gov then? hist is the only subject I havent taken an honors class in…would i be at a disadvantage in college?</p>
<p>or i could self study psych…</p>
<p>What schools are you applying to? The issue here is what your guidance counselor will say about the level of rigor of your coursework in high school in their recommendation letter to the schools. At the most selective schools, you want him/her to check the box that says your program was “most rigorous.” Every school is different - at some, everyone takes 10 APs so your program probably wouldn’t be considered ‘most rigorous.’ But it wouldn’t matter if you weren’t applying to the top schools anyway. On the other hand, at a less academically competitive school, 3-4 APs may be highly unusual and the guidance counselor is wowed by your drive and ambition and you get that ‘most rigorous’ rating.</p>
<p>What to do? Go talk to your guidance counselor. What’s the norm at your school? Does 3 vs. 4 APs matter in his/her eyes as to whether your program is ‘most rigorous’ or not.</p>
<p>As for being pre-med, medical schools don’t care a great deal about where you go to college as an undergrad. They care about your GPA, MCAT score and state of residence. So, any school that has solid sciences, a decent reputation and leaves you without a lot of debt (because med school is wickedly expensive), will meet your needs.</p>
<p>I’m fairly confident my guidance counselor would say most rigorous if i took either three or four. I’m applying to Duquesne, Seton Hall, UConn, northeastern, and Desales. haha kind of a broad range there. my goal is to make college a breeze without killing myself with work senior year.</p>