<p>Im utterly lost.
Ever since i began high school as a freshman i set in my mind that i wanted to become a doctor. However im about to begin my junior year with a 3.4 unweighted gpa. Ive taken advance classes and took 1 AP (world).
I hated honors chemistry al though i got a good grade in it. i just didnt understand it, however i was good at biology. My says however that she doesnt see me as a docotr and more of a business person cause of my personality. I know for sure i want to minor in english/ writing in college because its just something ive always wanted to do. And ever since my mom said there are so many things and ways i can go with a business degreee the idea also appealed to me. However i'm struggling internally with my idea of becoming a doctor. I think its denial.
my schedule for next year is
AP Lang
APUSH
AP BIO
Spanish 4 honors
math
physics</p>
<p>Im debating whether or not i should let AP Bio go and sign up for Lit Mag which is academically counted as well.
I also need to bring up my gpa and i feel like i have a good chance of getting all A's if i work really hard. However i think the idea of AP biology scares me and i dont want to let it go....cause in case i do make up my mind and decide i actually want to become a doctor i dont want to regret not taking it because it may make me look less academically challenged. And i dont want to over stress as well.
My dream is to go to Emory and i know the only way i can get in is if i increase my gpa which i know i can!
My SAT score is at a 2200
and this is besides all my extracurriculars.
Do ya'll think i should let AP Biology go?</p>
<p>I think you should take AP Bio.
Emory will calculate your gpa using its own criteria and (I assume) Bio is worth more.
Don’t worry about being behind once you get here. You’ll catch on quick- SAT score indicates you have a knack of critical thinking. </p>
<p>If you’re smart, professor Spell can teach you. </p>
<p>You do need to increase your gpa as much as you can though. It’s not nearly high enough at the moment. </p>
<p>As for what you do once you get here, both are good options. Bio degrees aren’t as flexible as others. </p>
<p>@ivygal Huh, why would medical schools or undergraduate schools care if you take AP biology? Emory undergrad. certainly doesn’t care even if you claim in the essay that you want to become a doctor. Why do pre-meds and pre-premeds always worry about “getting behind”. That’s that unneccessarily competitive spirit talking. Just learn as much as possible and score the best you can at a reasonable pace. And let’s be real. Most pre-meds who take AP biology and get a 5 will forfeit the credit anyway…because they want the easy A that “should” (but probably won’t) come with retaking the intro. course. In that case taking the AP course is indeed a waste and you might as well learn it correctly the first time by taking Dr. Spell (or if a miracle ever happens and he teaches 141 again, Eisen). Don’t just take it to show off that you challenged yourself in an area relevant to what you claim to be your future career path. Take it because you want to learn and perhaps plan to start with intermediate coursework as soon as possible (as in will use AP credit to place into Organismal Form and Function w/Dr. Beck). Don’t do it so that you can show it off to be admitted and then intentionally forfeit it so that you can slack off at Emory. That’s rather sneaky in and of itself (probably does not reflect the quality I want in a future doctor). Truly evaluate the reasons you want to take the course and determine if it’s worth it. Leave the admissions picture out of this decision if you can. Think of learning goals. Also, try to find good chem. teachers in the future. You say you don’t “get it” based on your honors class despite scoring well, but I think you need to try to “get it” whether at Emory or before. It greatly enhances your understanding of biological processes, especially genetics and biochemistry. Otherwise you’re just settling for memorizing content from biology textbooks on those matters and that doesn’t lead to the most awesome college level (or higher) critical thinking. </p>
<p>People change their minds often about what they want to do when they grow up. They start with obvious careers and change as they become aware of more options. It seems to me that your main job in high school and college is to expose yourself to a wide variety of ideas and subject areas and figure out what lights your fire. Obviously you want to keep your options open. But it sounds like literary stuff lights your fire right now (among other things) so trying to fit it into your schedule as a class or extracurricular just helps you move toward your goal of figuring out what you want to do in the long run. Med schools are going to look at your college grades. They won’t care if you took AP Bio. Your high school grades matter for college acceptance and colleges will look at the overall quality of your courses rather than whether you took any one course in particular. Colleges like people who have a variety of interests in addition to a solid GPA. My daughter is coming to Emory as a freshman this fall, is interested in neuroscience or biology, and did not take AP Bio. She took a lot of other AP classes as well as a ton of music classes and some in other areas of interest like Environmental Science. You don’t have to be a cookie cutter of anyone else. Be intellectually curious, take a variety of challenging classes and do well in them, and find some things you get involved with in depth. You’ll be fine.</p>
<p>@llbrenner : Your daughter should really check out Emory’s Environmental Science Dept. It is quite excellent and is one of the “hands-on” science majors at Emory. They have really learned how to integrate field experience and other experiential learning opportunities directly into the curriculum. In addition, the connection to the public health school isn’t bad either. It’s a great department that flies under the radar whereas I feel that majors like NBB are somewhat over-rated (the size and population in the UG dept. may have caused a slight decline in quality of some of the main courses. However, at least they have recently started expanding advanced and project based course options for those truly interested at learning at a higher level than normal or just like learning in other ways than a standard lecture format. These courses provide an opportunity to break away from the sit and listen passively, study, and take exam sort of classes). Both provide great experiences if you are a more serious or intellectually curious student though (however, too many NBB majors aren’t and are more there for the “cool” or “uniqueness” factor, not because they actually can see themselves becoming extremely interested in neuroscience. Many are even doing it because they believe med. schools will draw a distinction between them and biology majors which it probably won’t unless you’re doing something niche like taking several computational or quantitative neuroscience courses or doing research in those areas).<br>
And also, for the love of God, please tell me your daughter will be able to skip gen. chem. It has to be one of the dullest classes here (content wise). </p>
<p>@bernie12 That’s good to know! She is actually one of those kids whose challenge is to figure out what NOT to major in-- she gets interested in a lot of new things she hears about. Earlier this week she watched Food, Inc. and spent quite a while afterward looking at the Human Health Major at Emory. They have a global health concentration. It pulls together her interests in biology, medicine, anthropology, psychology, world cultures, environmental science, etc. I think it’s a better fit for her than neuroscience. And if it’s a vibrant department, it seems like there should be some hands-on research opportunities and interesting study abroad options. Plus apparently they have a cool Freshman seminar class about world vaccines and the movement against vaccination. Her goal has pretty consistently been to eventually go to grad school and do research in whatever subject area. </p>
<p>Have you heard much about Human Health/global health major?</p>
<p>It, like IDS has a capstone experience/project which means it’s more for serious students than not (it’s not a catch-all for pre-healths like anthro, biol, or NBB. Having to do a senior project even if you don’t intend to do honors will deter most students who are simply there to go through motions or buffer their GPA’s by using it as a double major). Lots of initiatives and projects regarding health and sustainability have come out of that division before it even became an official academic department. I am sure it will an excellent option that will also allow your daughter to take some of the more interesting hard science courses. I believe the Vaccines seminar is good, and as normal I also have to advise her to take a look at David Lynn’s ORDER seminar if she is considering research as a future career. It is one of the few interdisciplinary seminars that allows students to come up with a proposal, do the experiment, and then defend their proposal. It’s a good foundational experience for someone considering graduate work with a thesis component (as in, everything but non most non-public health professional schools). Take a look at some of the videos at the top of this filtered Emory YouTube list (again, I believe in evidence): <a href=“Emory University - YouTube”>Emory University - YouTube; . Students associated with that division are usually more active in applying their interests in the field directly. Your daughter may also benefit from getting to know people in the ILA (Im sure it will still exist) like Dr. Eisen given her other interests in science. Perhaps they can also help advise her in coming up with some sort of project whether it be hands on like some of the students in those videos or more theory/intellectual oriented. Your daughter is in good hands with her interests. </p>