what about this class?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

A dad here posting for the whole fam.

My son can take a really cool BIO class. It’s not AP or even honors. It is a two year two period commitment. That’s 8 semesters JR and SR year. As you can imagine this means sacrificing AP French and other opportunities.

Should he take the cool shiny schedule eating class or stick with more traditional honors/AP schedule?

The kid is looking at very competitive schools.

The course description is below.

BIOSCIENCE TECHNOLOGIES
GRADES 11-12 • PREREQUISITE: APPLICATION PROCESS THROUGH EASTLANDFAIRFIELD CAREER & TECHNICAL
SCHOOLS
If math and science are your favorite subjects, Bioscience Technologies is the program for you. With its unique focus on
the uses for science, Bioscience explores
a variety of fields including agriculture,
medicine, forensics, genetics, food science, and others. Students interested in
becoming a scientist, engineer, or medical professional should participate in this
program located in the state-of-the-art
classroom in Clark Hall.
Areas of study include:
 Molecular Biology
 Microbiology
 Plant technology
 Cloning
 Data reporting and presentation
 Environmental Engineering
 Experiment design

2

My experience with courses offered at technical schools are that they are not looked upon as the same rigor as AP courses. Honestly I’m not sure I would sacrifice foreign language and the ability to take AP science classes if your son is looking at very competitive colleges.

3

I agree that he should not give up French if he is targeting selective schools. Can he take a social studies or other class in the summer to make room for this elective?

4

He should not take this class, he should focus on the shoe-ins that sub 20 schools care about: Ap classes

5

It’s a class that’s good if he’s aiming for your state flagship (unless you live in CA or VA).
If you’re aiming for Top 50 universities/LACs, he should stick with the core they want, ie., 4 years each of English, Math, Social Science, Science, Foreign Language. Electives should never replace core classes.

6

I formed my opinion once I hit this line:

So I agree with everyone else; unless his college list contains no T50 schools, A course at a tech school is not more important than a balances schedule in all core subjects.