I won’t have a science junior year, but I will have 4 APs in the humanities and calculus. My projected senior year schedule won’t have a lab science either, but will include AP Comp Science. I have top grades and rigorous classes in the humanities subjects, but I just didn’t do all that great in bio and Chem and I don’t feel the need to continue with science.
I’m aiming for top schools like UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Wesleyan. Will it appear that I’m not challenging myself enough in STEM subjects? Are honors bio and honors Chem enough, or should I fit physics in too?
Will they throw your application in the trash? No. Will you be less competitive than other applicants? IMO, yes.
Unless an applicant shows a compelling reason not to follow a college’s recommendations, one should do what is asked. “I don’t feel the need to continue with science” is not a compelling reason.
Rule of thumb for many colleges is that they want to see at least three years of lab sciences including bio, physics, and chemistry, or sometimes another science. It says clearly on the UC website what sciences they want to see. Unless there is some compelling reason you don’t have one of the recommended sciences, you are probably weakening your app by not having a third science.
Btw, I agree with the point above that you not seeing a need to take a science is a valid reason for not doing so. Most colleges have distribution or core requirements. You will have to take more classes you don’t necessarily like. Doing well in classes you don’t care for is a good way to show your ability.
Take physics. It will be a glaring hole on your application, IMO, that the other applicants will have. It’s just a standard high school requirement these days for folks wanting to attend selective colleges.
Taking physics would be at the expense of computer science, most likely. I feel that computer science would relate to my future career a lot more. Is it still worth it? Or should I dispense of a class closer to my interests, like AP Spanish, to fit in physics? In college I want to study something related to data science or international relations. Thank you for your responses.
You can take a CS course in college, or go through the material for a course like http://cs10.org on your own if you want to learn CS at an introductory non-major level.
However, if you want to go into data science, you will want to take substantial college CS and statistics courses at a much more advanced level than high school AP courses in those subjects.
You should take another science class. For top schools, most applicants will follow the recommendation. Having just 2 years lab sciences would be a big disadvantage for you in applying to any top schools. Unless you have a reason, one should keep the 4 cores in all 4 years.
