I see. I had thought that if AP Micro and DE Govt were on my schedule then it would be looked as the same as most seniors who take AP Gov/AP Macro
College applications will specifically ask about your senior year class schedule.
If AP Micro is from junior year and DE Gov was over the summer, you wonât have social science on your senior class schedule.
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Sucks our school only has a 6-period block. I guess I should then replace A&P with AP Govt/AP Macro. I will keep everything else the same, I guess A&P will have to wait for college. Thanks everyone.
That does limit the amount of schedule space for electives like A&P once you fill your schedule with the expected college-prep core courses and high school graduation requirements.
High school level A&P may not be all that useful compared to courses on the subject taken in college (after college general biology and often general and organic chemistry). The same can be said for AP statistics for those who will take calculus-based statistics in college. In high school, these might best be thought of as electives that can help the student determine interest in the subjects, but should not displace college-prep core courses or high school graduation requirements.
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It is entirely normal for a high school student to not know what they want to do with their careers. For those high school students who do know, it is very, very common for them to change their mind. One daughter I think when she was a junior in high school came to me and was concerned that she did not know what she wanted to do for a career, whereas her friends did know. I pointed out that yes her friends did know what they want to do, but in six months they will have a different plan, and in the end they will probably settle on yet another different career path. This is normal.
There is quite a few careers that are possible with a degree in mathematics. It turns out that a lot of what we take for granted in our day to day life only works because someone did the math. As a math major, the other students who I knew who graduated with a bachelorâs degree in math ended up in a wide range of careers. One or two went to law school. One got a masterâs degree in acoustics. It turns out that there is a lot of math required to design a concert hall where every seat has good sound quality. One got a first job working at a cyclotron helping to do the math required to keep the beam of high speed protons focused and aligned. Some got various software engineering jobs, in most cases jobs where there was a lot of math needed to solve problems and the amount of data was large enough that computers were needed to do the computations (but a human needed to make sure that the math was right). A few went into artificial intelligence or machine learning (although this tends to be more recent, mostly). Some math majors go into accounting or quantitative stock investing. There are lots and lots of possibilities, and as a high school student you are not going to be aware of most of them. At the point that I graduated university with a bachelorâs degree in mathematics I still had no idea what I would end up doing, and then I ended up in a field that did not even exist when I graduated university (but that needed math).
Similarly there are lots of options in the various sciences. You can get to university, take some science classes in several different areas, and figure out what you like best, take a bit more of that, and see how it goes. Generally we each figure this out over time.
In terms of medical school, this is a path that requires a huge commitment of time and effort and hard work and college funds over an extended period of time. The people I know who succeeded on this path were very strongly driven to do it. If you are not strongly drawn to it there are lots and lots of other options.
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You are 17. Itâs nice to have an idea to work toward but your life will likely be very different in 3 and 10 years from what you expect it to be.
Explore. No need to rush. If exploring includes medical shadowing, great. Deciding on the next 50 years today âŠnope.
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Thank you for the detailed response:) Though with the unknown it can make it difficult to plan out things accordingly when you have almost no idea on how to even start. I just hope things will work out eventually.
Update:
I have recently come across another course(s) that could replace AP Stats in my original schedule.
AP Literature
AP Govt/Macro
AP Physics C:Mech
AP Chemistry
AP Calculus BC
AP African American Studies
DE Intermediate Spanish III(may not take IV)
DE Intro to Philosophy and DE Intro to Stats
Would this schedule be preferred over the one I originally had with both DE Intermediate Spanish IV and APAAS replaced with AP Stats for a black student prospecting majoring in math/biology/statistics at top schools and/or UCs?(I am in CA).
Either is fine. In fact both are too rigorous, even with stats. And that you have to apply makes it harder - these apps take a long time.
Good luck.
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Maybe I should eliminate either Philosophy or Stats or both or keep my original plan. What would you recommend based on my intended major(s) and college aspects?
Youâre over thinking. Youâre over the top. Stats will be more useful in life but your schedule is likely too loaded.
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Your intended major doesnât matter. You are in HS and should strive for manageable rigor and the broadest education you can achieve.
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Completing all graduation requirements should be your priority. Period.
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There are significant diminishing returns with more courses, including APâs, after you pass the basic threshold for selective colleges: 4 years of math, science, English, social studies and level 3 of a foreign language at the highest rigor for your high school. Once you have passed the hurdles for academic rigor, GPA/rank and test scores, it is about your ECâs, essays and LoRâs. You want to allocate your time and effort smartly across all of these areas. Donât forget to have some fun as well. You only have 1 senior year of HS.
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I still think that you are taking on an excessively difficult senior year course load.
Remember that senior year you will also be putting in time to fill out applications. You might also be visiting schools to help you decide where to attend (very likely with multiple acceptances to choose between). At some point you will also be studying for and taking the SAT or ACT exams. All of this takes time and effort.
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Thanks for the advice. I have ECs that are relevant to my interests and likes, so that is not a problem. Iâm pretty good at writing essays especially non-informative, so I should be fine with that.
For LORs, I hear that it is recommended to get them from a humanities teacher and STEM teacher. Do colleges really care about that?
You previously stated that your school has 6 blocks. Why are you trying to schedule for 8 blocks? No to DE Intro to Philosophy and DE Intro to Stats. If interested in these subjects, take them in college. AP Physics C: Mech or AP Chemistry, not both. Iâd lean toward AP Chemistry unless you have already taken AP Physics C: E&M and a regular high school chemistry course. If you have not taken a high school physics course, take that instead of AP level. You do not AP level for every course. Select 1 math, 1 English, 1 science, 1 social studies (US gov if a graduation requirement), 1 foreign language, and either a study hall or the elective of most interest to you. Do not underestimate the amount of time you will need for college applications, extracurricular activities, and hanging out with friends and family.
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I have already completed H Bio, reg physics and chem. I was thinking as I will be a STEM major, it would be preferable to have all AP Sciences and Math. At my school, it seems fairly manageable. I see strong students take AP Calc, Physics C, and Chem junior year with no problem, so itâs fairly common. My school doesnât offer AP Physics C:E&M. I will consider dropping Philosophy but I am a math guy and it seems it would make sense for me to have both calc and stats. With APAAS, I am interested in this course, and I will be having the same teacher as I have right now with APUSH so I donât think I want to drop that. The only courses I would say from my list that I really donât care about/wonât major in is AP Lit and Spanish, but it woud seem detrimental if I donât take them because I would have already completed previous advanced courses in them.(AP Lang/DE Elementary Spanish II). I think I will drop Philosophy on that note 
Most elite colleges prefer students who have a good rounding in HS education. Even MIT asks for 1 humanities teacher LoR. As for LoRâs themselves, I have been told by the Yale AO that LoRâs from teachers of core courses are an incredibly important data point for them. The best ones back up any qualitative assessment with anecdotal examples.
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