I am going to be going into junior year next year in the IB Diploma Programme. This past year (as an MYP Sophomore) I actually took two science courses. Due to that, I am not planning on taking a science course this year, but will take IB SL Chemistry as a senior. If I am interested in being a chemistry major during undergraduate then proceeding on to medical school, will it look bad to colleges if I do not have a science course during junior year, even though I took two science courses during sophomore year? I will still finish high school with four science credits (Biology (honors biology was not available), CP Chemistry, Anatomy, and IB SL Chemistry) like most high school graduates, but I am not sure whether order and time I take them matters. I should add that I am most interested, at the moment, in UCB, U of Chicago, and Northwestern, among others, as potential colleges for undergraduate.
Please let me know if you need any other information and thank you in advance for your help.
It is not the number of science courses that is the problem – it is the fact that you are missing physics that could make the science part of your record less impressive. High school physics is often a recommended prerequisite to college physics that is required for chemistry majors.
Also, if you have already had high school chemistry, why not choose HL instead of SL if you are taking IB chemistry?
Thanks for your response. I simply opted not to take physics because the only option would be to take it for two years (weird, I know). I completely forgot to mention that our school (unfortunately) does not offer any HL Chemistry, only SL. Likewise, they only offer HL Physics, not SL. If I tried to fit HL Physics into my schedule I would have a schedule that would be overfilled.
To be completely honest, I am also looking at other careers, but medicine is the biggest in my mind so I obviously want to make sure I make the right choice with that in mind.
If anyone else has anything to contribute I am all ears!
In our state(NY), viable candidates to the most selective colleges will have 5 credits of science, having only 4 most definitely hurt their chances for admission.
Thanks for your comments. I’m surprised that 5 credits are expected in your state, as generally people only have time to do one science course per year. I will have a free hour senior year, so would it be okay/look bad if I took the one science freshman year (biology), two during sophomore year (CP Chem, anatomy), none junior year, and two senior year (physics, IB SL Chemistry)? I’m just afraid that not taking any science course for a year might cause admissions to wonder about whether or not I’m truly a good match for a chemistry major. However, I would finish with five science credits, so I feel like they could overlook the no science during junior year fairly easily, seeing as I would finish with 5 credits. Please let me know what you think.
In NY almost every school will have an accelerated program in which students can take a high school science class in 8th grade, thus giving them 5 by the time they graduate, same thing for math.