<p>Hi everyone, I'm making my schedule in two weeks and am having quite a difficult time deciding what science I should next year. So far I have taken:</p>
<p>Biology I (frosh)
Chemistry I (soph)
AP Biology (junior)</p>
<p>I am torn between taking AP Environmental Science or Physics. I am not highly interested in pursuing science in college, but I have not completely ruled it out. Is absolutely necessary for me to have Physics in high school even if I'm not 100% committed to science? AP Environmental seems really interesting, but many people have told me physics really is a typical prerequisite in education regardless of what major (I don't know how valid this is). What do you guys think? </p>
<p>Colleges I'm looking at are like Brandeis-Boston College-NYU level and other AP's I'm taking as a senior include Calc AB, English Lit, Spanish, and US Government and Politics, if that helps at all.</p>
<p>It really depends on your ability in doing really good Algebra, the sort of plugging in variables, making your own equations, setting equations equal to each other, plugging in a given equation into your own equation to cancel out a variable you don’t have. That’s AP Physics for me, its a lot of concepts, equations related to those concepts and then applying all of those concepts with equations and given variables. You get used to it as you progress, but you’ll get used to it as you get farther, some of the hardest stuff early in the year is just crazy easy, and you get used to using loads of equations. Can’t say much for AP Environmental, but I’m guessing it’s similar to AP Bio. Not sure about the Physics being a requisite in education, usually people believe you should have Physical Sciences (Physics/Chemistry) and Life Sciences during high school, it doesn’t say you have to take both Physics and Chemistry.</p>
<p>I haven’t taken Environmental Science, but I’m currently in physics right now and I love it! It isn’t as much math as you may think it is, although it is significantly more than that of chemistry and (especially) biology. Physics uses math in the form of equation that you plug into to solve for what you are looking for. If you know how to do basic algebra to rearrange equations and solve for variables, you will be perfectly fine with Physics. Not to mention it is my favorite science because it is most applicable to the real world. Although it may be hard to apply protein synthesis or covalent bonds to the real world, it is easy to apply kinematics or force to the real world, which is something you learn in the class. I would recommend physics highly, as it would be a good science to have background in to apply to the real world.</p>
<p>APs look good… but it’s also kinda weird not to take Physics in HS (but colleges will prolly not notice). AP enviro is the easiest AP science… If youre good at math then physics should be a breeze!</p>
<p>I always questioned why AP Environmental Science existed. Much of what is covered in AP Environmental is covered in AP Bio. If in your position, I would just take Physics. At the non-AP level, you should be able to get an A fairly easily and that will look really good to colleges.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, colleges want to see a year of each major branch of science (Physics, Chemistry, and Biology). </p>
<p>If you really want to, could you take both?</p>
<p>Also, I attend Northeastern University as a biology major and I did not take Physics in high school and was still accepted by the university (obviously). However, I will probably struggle when I take Physics next year considering I don’t know even basic concepts.</p>
<p>Yeah, some schools want to see that you have physics. I suggest taking physics, colleges will see you opting out of physics to take environmental as a sign of you taking on less rigorous courses</p>