Unfortunately you do need a fixed one at my school. I have 3 language credits already from another language I speak but it’s uncommon and I think Spanish is something colleges are looking for more. And I have 2 from the Spanish cbe, and I am planning to do the 3rd one. But before I sign up for the 3rd one I was wondering if I should do Spanish in school to show more dedication and in-class-work. I don’t know if I should do AP Spanish four at all because Spanish is a little bit difficult for me and I don’t want to bring down my GPA.
Thank you so much for the advice.
In my school anatomy is now one of the core classes and can be taken as a science class and is a prerequisite for a lot of the classes I want to do so I think I may want to do that. But of course you’re right and AP chem shows that I am able to do harder classes, so that’s my situation… I’m not sure which one to pick.
I’m a rising 10th grader right now. Thank you so much for the advice. I will reach out to my counselor soon, but since a lot of our 4 year plans are due she’s kind of packed at the moment.
Of course, I agree. I know Ivy League is probably unrealistic but it’s a goal that I’m working towards. I know there’s more than the grades and classes but I would like to get that right at least. But honestly I know that not getting into an Ivy League is not the end, and I want to be prepared for college applications in general.
For human anatomy it is a prerequisite for so many classes I’m taking so taking it out may hurt me in more ways than one, but AP chem would show more rigor. So I’m not sure which one to pick.
Thank you for such helpful advice and congratulations with your daughters!
10th grade, actually. We could edit until now but in a week or so it’s closed.
I was also thinking about physics because I know it’s essential ground knowledge and should be taken but again not sure where I could put that. Biology adv and chemistry adv are classes I need to take for sure. So that means I would have to either not do ap anatomy/ap chem or ap biology. All three of those classes seem more important to me than physics, but I may be wrong. What do you think?
Unfortunately, it seems that your high school’s scheduling makes it difficult to have all of the following:
- Tennis (double period)
- Medical-related (double period)
- 5 core academic courses each year
- Space for arts, electives, and high school requirements like health.
If you had only one of tennis or the medical-related stuff each year, that would leave 6 periods for the 5 core academics, arts, electives, and other high school requirements. With both, you are trying to fit 5-6 periods of classes into 4 remaining periods each year.
Ah! Thank you that gives me some more peace in my mind…
Yes I have heard that rec letters are now mandatory. Thank you so much for this advice I will be sure to keep this in mind.
The thing is AP anatomy is a prerequisite for a lot of medical classes I am planning on taking. Would you still suggest trading it out for AP chem? I do agree that Ap chem would show more rigor.
I am not sure what you mean by medical classes. Are these pre-professional classes? At our high school there is a pre-health track for kids that are interested in health related careers (not necessarily med school), including specialty classes like anatomy and physiology, community health, medical English etc. This is typically not the path taken by the kids who are targeting elite colleges, though. The kids going for elite colleges are typically taking a more traditional path with challenging courses in all the core areas each year (English, math, social science, science, and foreign language) and fewer specialty or pre-professional classes.
Your HS may be very different, though. What do your counselors recommend?
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I would say physics is more important than AP Anatomy personally…
But your call and each school/transcript is different!
I do have some rigorous courses like Calc BC, etc. When I compare my courses overall to students who got into top tier schools it’s about on par with 10 aps by 11th grade and 14 by the time I complete high school. I know it sounds like a lot but I think I manage my time and my studying well enough as it’s going well so far but I guess we’ll have to see.
So overall I think my AP classes are enough, but specifically in that science area that I am focusing on already lacks physics, so removing AP chem too may be a little bit of a red flag in my application. But then again would they really care that much?
Please let me know if you have any advice, and thank you!
I do have some rigorous courses like Calc BC, etc. When I compare my courses overall to students who got into top tier schools it’s about on par with 10 aps by 11th grade and 14 by the time I complete high school. I know it sounds like a lot but I think I manage my time and my studying well enough as it’s going well so far but I guess we’ll have to see.
So overall I think my AP classes are enough, but specifically in that science area that I am focusing on already lacks physics, so removing AP chem too may be a little bit of a red flag in my application. But again would they really care that much?
Please let me know if you have any advice, and thank you!
Hmm I think I only have 4 core classes? And for an until 12th grade history and ILA is combined into one class.
Yes, Texas in general has a strange school system. But thank you for helping me break it down a little more.
For example med term which I believe is found in many high schools is what I would do in 9th grade. This one is not double blocked and on level and everything you would expect.
But other classes give you a chance to do clinicals and work with patients real time and even start nurse training and shadow a real doctor.
Yes my high school and Texas schools in general are very strange!
Basically, these medical classes give so much experience on deck and also taking a medical class during the year lets you participate in these science competitions our school holds after school hours.
You need physics for your goals as you have stated them. Do not skip physics. It sounds as though the medical classes are really more designed for pre nursing or other allied health profession majors, not necessarily the right group of science courses to be targeting T20 type programs with pre-med goals. Please talk with your school counselor about the curriculum options to get bio, chem, physics plus 1-2 AP sciences.
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(Deleted, 2Devils posted at the same time with similar content.)
It sounds like the medical track at your school prepares students for pre health, not premed. Premed is NOT medical but a set of core pre-reqs.
You will be taking Chemistry with chemistry majors and you’ll have to score in the top 20% (5 chem classes in that premed core so AP chem not only shows rigor, it also prepares you for what comes next). You will take Biology with bio majors and you’ll have to score in the top 20% too (2-3 Bio courses required). You will be taking Physics with STEM majors and will need to score in the top 20% (2 classes)… You get the idea. Each of these classes is weedout -it means the tests are set up so that only a specific % students get a med-school worthy grade. The way you prepare for med school is by DOING - interacting with people different from you, from volunteering at a DV shelter or Planned Parenthood or soup kitchen, helping as an EMT, directing/guiding people who don’t speak English through the hospital by using the languages you know, etc.
Anatomy&Physiology is essential for Nursing and pre PA applicants, not for premed. The premed pre-reqs are a set of regular classes - what makes them uniqe for premeds is that they have to be the best at each of them.
You can have any major: Physics, Biological Anthropology, Data Science, Music, Spanish, Economics… (as long as you’re topnotch at whatever you choose in addition to the pre-reqs. )
Your HS schedule can be
Double block tennis
Spanish (through level 4/AP)
Math (through calculus AB or BC)
English (honors, AP Lang)
Social Science (4 year long courses)
Science (Bio, Chem, physics + 1 AP - AP chem is a senior year class but if you can fit in Physics Honors and AP Bio junior year it’s good)
That leaves 1 period for Art, tech, health, PE, etc. I recommend taking culinary arts 1 semester if it’s offered - a skill you’ll greatly enjoy and benefit from (plus potential stories to write about).
Also, explore the following, very different, colleges
- Southwestern
- Rice
- Bates
- St Olaf
- Muhlenberg
- Bryn Mawr/Haverford
- Barnard
- Washington&Lee
- Oberlin
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Yes I am really interested in colleges like Southwestern, Rice, John Hopkins, UT Austin, Baylor, etc. My target is Ivy Leagues but all of those colleges are amazing and I aim to hopefully get in there too.
I will try to fit in physics but I think having that one Spanish class should be more of my priority… I might be wrong though?
Thank you so much for the information this helps a lot. I know it must have been some work typing all that out. Thank you!!
Okay that is so helpful thank you! If I have any free space I’m unsure if I should use that class for Spanish or Physics. Which one would college need to see more?
You need them both. I strongly suggest @MYOS1634 ’s plan above, which gets all the things you need including both physics and spanish
This is confusing to me. So every kid who plays a sport at your school has to commit two full school periods to that sport? Both semesters?
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One friend of a daughter was very, very good at a different sport (not tennis). At some point, I think just before getting to high school, she needed to make a decision whether to focus on the sport or to focus on academics. She was good enough at her sport that eventually reaching Olympic caliber was a plausible goal, but of course ever getting to the Olympics was a very long shot and just trying to reach this level would take an enormous amount of time and effort. She decided to instead focus on academics, and it has worked out well for her.
The same daughter (the one with the friend who was good at a sport) had a similar decision regarding whether to focus on music. She also decided to focus on academics and it has worked out so far for her as well.
I can see how this was a very difficult decision for them to make. There are only so many hours in the day, and at some point we each need to decide where to focus our efforts.