Imagine someone who is a strong student taking multiple AP classes all through high school. His passion is social studies and his likely major is History or something else in the social sciences. He has taken the highest level science classes available each year in high school to date (acclerated Earth Sci 8, Honors Bio 9, Honors Chemistry 10, AP Biology 11), along with all the other top students in his class, in addition to AP classes in every social science available at his school, AP English, AP Computer Sci, AP Calculus. In senior year, he faces a choice: take Physics, which does not interest him in the slightest, or take AP Environmental Science, which actually intrigues him.
I noticed that at least one school-- Wesleyan-- in its admitted students data, cites the percentage of students who took bio/chem/physics sequence.
For admission to a top college, how important is it to have Physics on the transcript?
I realize this is not necessarily a question that CC posters can answer with authority, but would not ask it directly of an admissions officer lest asking it might make a negative impression. Just wondering what you have heard and what your experience has been…
It depends on the college. Some will recommend X # of years of lab science including one year each of bio/chem/physics; others will simply ask for # # of years of lab science. If the college in question does not specify, and the applicant is not interested in majoring in STEM, forgoing physics in favor of another science is likely OK.