<p>I'm going to be a senior next year, and I'm having some trouble figuring out my schedule. I've been taking AP classes throughout High School and have earned straight A's, but I have yet to take an AP science course. I currently have AP bio scheduled for next year, but I honestly have no interest in bio and would rather take psych or envirosci. This would also allow me to be a teacher prac for my old AP comp sci teacher, a subject that I will probably be majoring in. This way, I can keep up with programming until college starts. Of course, the most important thing to me is admission/scholarship, but if not taking bio isn't a big deal to colleges then I would rather take a one-period class with the computer science teacher prac. Your thoughts/opinions are appreciated.</p>
<p>Hon ,if it’s available, I STRONGLY suggest you take AP Physics, or AP Chem[ instead of Bio], as many comp sci programs will require Physics or Chem classes in college, and taking AP PHY is good preparation, as well a good way to show your serious interest in STEM subjects[ like Comp Sci] .
If you are looking for scholarship $$, make sure you can show that you took the most rigorous classes available, and did well in them. You’ll have plenty of time for TA’ing in college.</p>
<p>here is a link to USC’s computer science graduation requirements, just to give you some perspective- 3/4 of Vertibi’s 4 different Comp Sci majors require college level Physics classes.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.cs.usc.edu/brochures/ugprogram.pdf[/url]”>http://www.cs.usc.edu/brochures/ugprogram.pdf</a></p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, I’d love to take physics but my school only has one teacher and he is god awful. I will still consider it, but I think getting an A in that class will require me to read the textbook every day and teach myself the subject. I should also rephrase the part about comp sci being my future major, I am not positive about that. Computer engineering (not software) is another option I’m looking at. Of course, this will probably require a much larger physics background, but again, the physics department here is very poor. I am scheduled for Spanish 5 (AP Spanish) at the moment as well, because it is an easy subject to me and I hear it looks very good on apps. I don’t plan on going into spanish at all in college, but it seemed like a good class to include. If anyone has any suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated.
My current senior schedule:
1.AP English lit
2.AP Calc II
3/4.AP Bio???
5.AP Spanish
2 periods open, would like 1 period of early release.</p>
<p>OK, if you will have to teach yourself Physics anyway AND you have 2 periods open, then take AP Physics. You WILL have some AWFUL professors in college, believe me, and you will have to learn the subject matter and pass your classes despite them. In addition, going into an Engineering program without taking AP Physics can really set you back and means you may will have even more [expensive] classes to take to get your prerequisites out of the way. Many colleges will waive entry level Physics classes if you get a 4 or 5 on the AP exam. So bite the bullet, take AP Physics, which WILL be more impressive for an Engineering major applicant than AP Bio, and which will help prepare you for your more advanced Physics classes, once you get into college. And taking AP Spanish, and NOT taking AP Physics will NOT “look good” on applications for a STEM major. Trust me on this one…</p>
<p>MPM is right. Take Physics. You won’t regret it.</p>
<p>Since we’re on the topic of taking Physics, would you guys suggest that I double up on AP Biology and Physics during my senior year? Right now it’s looking like this:</p>
<p>AP Government
AP Biology
AP Calculus AB
AP Literature
Anatomy
Technical Drawing <---- 100% filler class</p>
<p>I’m probably going to major in something in the health science category, as well as study pre-medicine. Would taking high school Physics prepare me for the intro college Physics class, or do you think I should be fine without it?</p>
<p>Thanks a lot menloparkmom, I think I am going to switch to physics. I wasn’t aware that colleges looked so much in your future major in terms of what classes you take in HS. Wish me luck…</p>
<p>Best of luck to you!</p>
<p>mrlaurencenguyen
I’d suggest AP Physics instead of Anatomy. There’s plenty of time for Anatomy in college. And yes, taking it will help prepare you [ MUCH more so than NOT taking it]</p>
<p>Oh, we don’t have AP Physics lol. We only have average high school Physics. I was just wondering if I should double up on that with AP Bio anyway. Both classes are said to be pretty time consuming at my school…</p>
<p>have you already taken Physics[ I’s assuming the answer is yes] If so , remember that maintaining your GPA is really important , AND the whole college application process is very time consuming- much like taking on a part time job during your first semester. I think 4 AP classes is plenty and shows plenty of rigor. More may mean your first semester grades will suffer.</p>
<p>No, I have not taken Physics yet. More “advanced” students at our school used to be able to skip Physical Science and take Biology our freshman year, but we lost that option due to budget cuts. So the only way to take Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and AP Biology during high school is to double up on AP Bio and Physics during a year. I was just wondering if doing so would be worth the risk GPA-wise.</p>
<p>OH! so there is NO WAY you can take a Physics class?? I would do what ever you need to do [ beg, grovel, etc, ] to get in that class. You will be at a serious disadvantage when you get to college with absolutely no Physics under your belt. Tell your counselor you need it to save tuition $$ that you will otherwise HAVE to spend on basic beginning level Physics classes in college , in order to catch up to other pre-med students. At $ 4000 a class, maybe they will cut you some slack…</p>
<p>It’s actually pretty normal for students at my school to miss out one either AP Bio or Physics their senior year. By my school’s standards, I’d be pushing myself to quite an extreme if I doubled up on the two…but I still want to learn them both :P</p>
<p>I’m suggesting you take the Physics instead of Anatomy.</p>
<p>I’d actually rather replace Tech Draw with Physics, since it’s a class that I am 0% interested in. I think AP Bio, Anatomy, and Physics are all taught by the same teacher at my school, though…</p>