I’m in my junior year and as of this year I have already taken biology, chemistry, physics, and AP calculus. When picking classes for my senior year, I chose AP literature, AP Spanish, AP psychology, government/economics, choir, and academic decathlon, as well as an extracurricular career training class to become a medical assistant through my school district. However my counselor pointed out to me that I don’t have any math or science courses in my regular schedule, and since I’m planning to apply as biochem/premed that might look weird. However I’m really attached to this schedule and don’t want to give up any of the classes I’ve picked.
So my question is, would this really negatively impact my chances of admission to this major? If it does, is applying undeclared a reasonable alternative? (My top schools are UC Berkeley, USC, and UC San Diego) And would the career training class make up for it in any way?
The career training class is heavily science focused. You already have math through calculus, and the core science classes. The career training class will give you specific job skills that apply to your long-range goal, and that also mean you can get a decent paying job right out of high school. You don’t need to major in science to be pre-med. So there is no reason to feel you must change your schedule.
If you are serious about a biochem major, then you might want to take AP bio or AP chem if one of those is offered at your school and is open for students who have taken the science classes that you have completed. But this would not be absolutely necessary.
Have you taken AP Bio or AP Chem? You should definitely take one of those to prepare you for college bio/chem. All the other pre-med students will have taken it. i would also take a Math…perhaps AP Stats would be good if not Calc BC.
Did you look at the UC A-G requirements? The other students in those top UCs will be taking math and science.
If you are applying for biochem/premed, I would take math and science Senior year. Strong applicants will have four years of both, especially at the top UCs. The extra curricular career class would be, in my opinion, most likely seen as an extracurricular.
maybe… but, it only matters if you have competitive stats. To be competitive for UCB, you’ll need a 4.3+ GPA and 1450+ SAT. If that’s not you, then no course selection will make up for it. That said, when it comes to math and science, they can be hard to pick up after a year off.
A lot of you are suggesting AP bio or AP chem, but my problem isn’t that I don’t have classes left to take, it’s that I don’t want to change my schedule from what it is now. I spent a lot of time picking out this schedule with the classes that I really wanted to take, and I’m invested in all of them. That’s why I have reservations about changing to any math or science course, because I’ve been dead set on this schedule for a while. I’m just trying to see what my options are if I stick with this schedule.
NCalRent, my SAT is 1530 and my GPA is 4.05 (however, the only reason it’s lower is because of one bad semester I had due to a personal crisis, and my grades everywhere else besides that semester are much better, so I plan to explain that in my application). Anyway, Berkeley is still just my top choice, San Diego is my second choice and I’m pretty sure I can get into there.
People replied suggesting AP bio or AP chem; counselor said no math or science and lack thereof may look weird as premed/bio, but… “I don’t want to change my schedule from what it is now. I spent a lot of time picking out this schedule…” I would point out that for Fall 2018, UCB and UCSD received 89k+ and 97K+ freshman applicants respectively. The competition is fierce among many qualified applicants. I’d guess those numbers and competition will only increase for Fall 2019. Also at least as far as UCSD, bio is a capped major. https://students.ucsd.edu/academics/advising/majors-minors/capped-majors.html
So I guess you can add in say AP Bio/Chem (making sure you do well) and say that I gave it my best shot with a rigorous course selection (not that planned schedule is a walk in park), or you can stick to your guns, stand pat with planned schedule and apply. What’s the worst that can happen (eg rejections from UCB/UCSD/USC)? You’re a strong student and should easily get accepted somewhere. But FWIW I’d try to add additional strength (ie add math/science) to your app especially since you plan to explain away a bad semester due to a personal crisis.
GPA and course rigor trump test scores for UCs so make sure you apply widely and not just to UCs.
I think it’s really cool you like all these classes and are using your senior year to explore them.
Admissions don’t hinge on one class and since you took AP math before I’d think you’d be fine. But if your question is, can I take those and not suffer any backlash, unfortunately the answer is no. If you apply to competitive universities and don’t have math nor science senior year AND are applying to a science major, you are not going to be competitive. So, see if one of your xhosen classes can be replaced with an AP science.
Or stick with this schedule but consider UcB, UCLA, and UCSD as high reaches (do include them of course) and prepare a broader list with realistic reaches (UCSB, Oxy…), matches (cal poly, Whitman), and safeties (UCSC, SDSU honors, Lewis and Clark).
To be honest, I really like that medical assistant program for students with your long-range goals. It will open up the possibility of reasonably flexible, decent paying work anywhere in the country, that also provides you with experience in medical environments to cover the experience/volunteer hours needed for medical school apps. A parent friend of mine reported that working as a CNA confirmed her premed kid’s determination that medicine was the right career.