As a Grade 9 Student from Ontario, Canada who intends on applying to the U.S, should I take AP Macroeconomics and Microeconomics (single course for two exams) or AP Biology for grade 12?
Advantages for AP Macroeconomics + Microeconomics:
Advantages for AP Biology:
Please refer to the blank spaces in my course plan.
You should take the classes that make the most sense for you.
Also, if you are thinking of applying to highly ranked universities in the US, then you should read the “applying sideways” blog on the MIT admissions web site. As I understand it, this recommends that you take the classes that make sense for you, participate in the ECs that make sense for you, whatever you do you should do it well, be genuine, be yourself, and treat people well. This is the approach that my family has used and it has worked for us at a variety of universities in the US, some of which were highly ranked.
Also, be aware that universities in the US can be very expensive unless you qualify for very good financial aid one way or another.
An alternate approach is to get a bachelor’s degree in Canada, and then apply to graduate programs in the US if you ever get to the point of applying to graduate programs. I know multiple people who have taken this approach, and this includes a student who got a bachelor’s at Toronto and a master’s at Stanford, and another student who got a bachelor’s at Toronto and then both master’s and PhD at Princeton. One daughter got a bachelor’s at a small university in eastern Canada and is currently getting a PhD at a very good university in the US.
The very good graduate programs in the US really do know how strong the Canadian universities are. Of course you also have great graduate programs in Canada, and my understanding is that a master’s degree in Canada is frequently funded by the university. In contrast a master’s degree is often full pay in the US (and can cost close to US$100,000 per year). In contrast PhD programs are typically fully funded in both countries with a small stipend, although admissions to PhD programs is typically quite competitive (as is admissions to undergraduate programs at any university in the US that could be remotely worth the cost compared to the excellent universities that you have in Canada).
And you have a lot of excellent universities in Ontario, including some that are very well known as being excellent for CS.
If it were me, then I would take economics rather than biology. Both daughters would have gone with biology. This does not say anything about which class would be better for you.
Are Bio and Chem covered in your Grades 9 and 10 science classes?
If so, I would not say you need to take AP Bio as well as advanced Physics. In the US, the more or less standard recommendation is to take each of Physics, Chem, and Bio at least once at the HS/AP/college level, and then maybe one of those a second time to make up your fourth year of natural sciences. If your sequence of natural science classes is more or less equivalent to that, I would say any other natural science is very much elective for you, meaning if you would prefer taking something else at an advance level, that is fine.
Alternatively, I can take two computer engineering courses throughout Grade 11 and Grade 12 (or just in Grade 11 if I want to take AP Economics in Grade 12), but these aren’t AP.
Based on the information that you have shared in this thread, AP Bio does not seem to connect with who you are.
Sounds like Engineering would match your interests better.
As a Canadian, you don’t have any obligation wrt AP courses.
To me this sounds interesting. I do not think that the number of AP classes should be anything that you worry about. This is not a competition to have the largest possible number of AP classes.
What would be more important is to take the classes that make sense for you. For me, this would be engineering first (even if not AP), economics second, and AP biology not at all. For some other student, the order of interest might be quite different, but you should take what is interesting for you (assuming that basic high school course requirements are handled).
One note from your original post, regarding AP Biology you say:
I do not agree with this. Admittedly, there must be someone who writes the software for a variety of medical devices, and some of them might have studied some biology. However, CS is an area that overlaps with math, and taking classes that also overlap with math to me makes more sense. Economics does have some math (for example econometrics is quantitative economics, and uses quite a bit of linear algebra). Engineering has a significant overlap with math. To me these courses make more sense for a potential CS major.
However, you are young, and it is very common for people to change their mind regarding what they want to study. Even students who have already started university will frequently change their mind what they want to major in. Taking a range of classes that are interesting to you can help you get some improved understanding of what some potential majors are like, and what you are good at. This can help a student to either verify what they want to major in or get some ideas for other potential majors.
Just echoing others, I think once you have covered what I would consider to be the core college prep courses, you should feel free to let your interests guide your selection of other courses.
So CS and engineering kids are probably well-advised to make sure they continue on the main math sequence each year, and then probably should choose Physics as their first natural science to do at a more advanced level.
But assuming they do all that and also all the other basic stuff in other areas, you can really do what you feel like.
So maybe some such kids will also take advanced Chem, or maybe advanced Bio, or both. Because they really like science classes in general. Cool.
Others might take Econ, either because they have some possible interest in businessy stuff, or they like applied math. Also fine.
Others might do a lot of CS or engineering classes. I think at least US colleges tend to see these classes as not necessarily required to go into CS or engineering as long as you do well in Math and Physics. Indeed, you might find it more fulfilling to pursue those interests during HS with activities rather than more HS classes. But if you have the electives available and want to take those classes? Again, fine.
Or so on. As long as you are covering the core stuff, I think most colleges really are fine with you doing anything you find interesting with your other HS courses. Including because they tend to think their own versions of stuff are going to be better for you anyway, so don’t see much point in you getting too far ahead (with the exceptions of things like main sequence Math and possibly Intro Physics, which are pretty standardized).
Now that I think about it, computer engineering or AP Economics will probably be more beneficial.
As a side note to your last paragraph:
I explore other subjects all the time.
I am still adamant on computer science as my major, although I am fine with a double/triple major, just as long as the other subjects have a quantitative focus and are applicable to real-world projects or data and financial applications (e.g. CS/Math, CS/Statistics, CS/Data Science, CS/Financial Engineering, CS/Physics, CS/Electrical Engineering, CS/Finance, etc.)
I’ve decided on it for over 5 years now due to my personal interest, the industry, and the versatility of a CS degree.
