<p>I have a family member who works in admissions. He says that many (if not most) admissions departments look for physics in an applicant’s course of study…</p>
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<p>High school or AP statistics might be of interest as a low level introduction (possibly too low level for a math-loving student, as it is often targeted at students who do not want to take more advanced high school math); an applied math or statistics major will have to take college statistics courses at a more advanced level (these courses typically have only math prerequisites, so high school or AP statistics does not help in terms of prerequisites).</p>
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<p>Perhaps there are other social studies courses instead of a fourth year of history that he can take? Does his circle of friends in high school include native or heritage speakers of Spanish?</p>
<p>Do I understand correctly that he can take four of these courses?</p>
<p>Physics
Drama
History (what kind?)
Spanish 5
Biology 2</p>
<p>ucbalumnus, for his purposes (based on what he’s already completed and his interests) he’ll most likely be choosing 4 from among these: </p>
<p>Physics I Adv.
Adv. Spanish Lit. I or Advanced Span: Hist & Cult of LA & Spain)
A History elective (lots of choices)
Adv Bio II
Calc II Adv
Statistics II Adv
Classical Drama</p>
<p>Going into freshman year, I despised the thought of taking bio. The teacher was bad and I knew I wanted to take chemistry. Looking back, I’m really glad I did. I took another more advanced bio class again junior year and have the best teacher I have ever had. She’s inspired me to engage in research and showed me the laboratory experience. While I also have taken other sciences like chem and physics, and still do, I thoroughly enjoy bio and find the other courses compliment the coursework in bio. Do not let your son skip it; he may be pleasantly surprised with it later on.</p>
<p>Given the stated interests of math or related subject and theater, it seems like the schedule of four (only four, not five?) of the listed courses would likely be:</p>
<p>Physics I Adv
Calc II Adv
Classical Drama
Spanish or history / social studies</p>
<p>Second year biology and statistics are probably of the least value out of the list of choices. If he needs or wants to take additional courses in the subject, he will be able to take them in college, probably at a more in-depth and advanced level than most high schools will offer (unless the high school is a super-elite science magnet or something like that).</p>
<p>Thanks, ucbalumnus. In addition to those four, he’ll be taking the required English course for all seniors, PE, and (if he can swing it schedule-wise) a fourth year of Chorus (they need basses!). The bio course I was interested in him taking is pretty rigorous (taught by a PhD) and requires permission. Here’s the course description:</p>
<p>In this course we will learn about biological knowledge as acquired through experimentation. The first third of the course is devoted to reading historical and contemporary research articles in developmental biology and embryology, with an emphasis on scientific process, experimental techniques, and data interpretation. In the second third, students select a topic which they will research as a class, utilizing the skills from the first half, to produce a talk for the Annenberg High School Science Symposium. In the last third, students concentrate on performing a series of molecular biology laboratories that serve as a direct application of the scientific process. Together, the course comprises an in-depth look at what it means to be a scientist.</p>
<p>OTOH, the Spanish History course could kill two birds with one stone (language and history). We’ll see what his advisors say. Thanks, again!</p>
<p>absurdwombat, thanks for your story. Another vote for Bio II!</p>
<p>But if he takes second year biology, what gets squeezed out? I can’t imagine a student with his interests wanting to drop physics, math, or drama to accommodate second year biology, while advanced Spanish with history and culture of Latin America and Spain seems like a good humanities type course to balance out the schedule.</p>
<p>My thinking is that if he takes a writing-intensive English course AND drama (which includes play-writing and performance), he’ll have two humanities-type courses. But we’ll see what his advisor says!</p>
<p>What set of courses does he want to take?</p>
<p>^^^He’s not sure. That’s why I posed the question here. He’ll sort it all out. I mainly wanted some input from folks here about whether or not skipping physics would make a difference if he took Bio 2, and it’s pretty clear he should take physics. Hoping he agrees!</p>
<p>I didn’t mention this earlier, but he’s expressed an interest in the past in possibly studying psychology in college. My preference would be that he go the more hard science route if he chooses psych (way too many social science psych grads running around who can’t find jobs), and he’s really enjoyed the advanced bio class he’s taking, which is why I thought a second year of it would be good for him. But he can always take it in college later. The physics is important to have taken in high school for someone with his interests though. That’s pretty clear.</p>
<p>Thanks, again.</p>
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<p>The “hard science route” of psychology tends to be more biology oriented, and biology majors do not have any better job prospects than psychology majors at the bachelor’s degree level (indeed, may be worse, according to the <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys-4.html#post15425078[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys-4.html#post15425078</a> ).</p>
<p>If job and career prospects are important to him and you, the math-heavy subjects (math, statistics, computer science, and economics with heavy math) tend to have better prospects at the bachelor’s degree level. Physics majors can sometimes get into these same jobs (some employers are willing to hire “smart people who can think mathematically and logically”), although actual physics jobs are scarce. Chemistry and especially biology majors face a job market with an oversupply of people relative to demand, so they should search and apply widely and not restrict job search to jobs related to their majors, like humanities and most social studies majors know they have to do.</p>
<p>Just thought I’d give an update. Son ended up taking the bio course this summer at the local technical high school. He says it is ridiculously easy (there are some in the class having to repeat), and admits the year long course at his school would have been better (more in depth and more difficult) but is glad he is taking it and getting it out of the way so he can focus on extra physical science courses which he is more interested in. His high school science chair signed off on him taking the summer bio class but warned it would not be sufficient background should he want to take AP bio later.</p>
<p>LBowie -</p>
<p>Don’t worry about what the high school science chair said about not being prepped for AP Bio. If your kid really wants to take that class one day, I’m sure it can be worked out. After all, the college intro bio class it is designed to imitate does not have a strict requirement for any previous study of biology.</p>
<p>Thanks. Yes, I figure if he wants to take biology in college he will be able to. I guess my only concern is if admissions committees somehow ding him for not having enough lab courses, though there is a lab with this bio course, and he is taking chemistry in the fall.</p>
<p>And if he decides to take a summer class next year, I will be sure it’s at a community college or university level. The level of this one was sort of low. He never gets homework or studies for tests but still gets As There are 7 students in the class, with about half repeaters and half taking it for enrichment; one is a 6th grader. (He couldn’t do CC this year because high school bio was a prerequisite.)</p>
<p>In our suburban district it used to be that kids took “regular” bio as sophomores and then could take AP Bio as seniors. </p>
<p>Eventually people concluded that it was unnecessary to have a year of regular bio in order to take AP bio. Now sophomores can take regular bio OR AP bio and there are multiple sections of each. This arrangement seems to work much better for our district.</p>
<p>Son never took regular BIO due in part to block scheduling in our STEM program. He took AP Bio last year and did fine with it and got a 4 on the exam, which considering the steep curve on the new revamped test I consider pretty good.</p>
<p>Can he take bio somewhere else? It sounds like the teacher, not the subject, is the problem. There is no way I’d let my kid skip biology! I’d just find another place to take it, even if it meant going to summer school instead of getting a job.</p>
<p>Not sure if you are replying to me, Massmom. But if you are, he is not “skipping” bio. He is taking a summer school course at a different high school, though hour-wise, it is not as long as a full year. The teacher is fine and with just seven in the class, they all get a lot of attention. We are a sciencey family and there is plenty of science discussion, etc. at home. Let him focus on what interests him, is my thinking. This will give him the chance to take some science electives later on, like advanced earth science, which really excites him.</p>