<p>You guys are missing the forest for the trees. The schools very well might care because they are getting top applicants and so use a variety of metrics, including high school course load, to determine which top students and more eligible than other top students. They typically do take into consideration which AP or Honors courses you take in relevant subjects versus how many were offered to you. Because of that and they fact that being exposed to physics before college is highly advantageous in general, if I were the OP I would seriously think about finding a way to add at least physics and preferably AP physics to my senior scheule.</p>
<p>The great thing about physics is that the answers are objective, so a teacher can’t say the answers are wrong just because you don’t get along with them. This isn’t a comparative literature course, it’s a hard, objective science. Just take the class and try to do what you can to perform well and mend the relationship with that teacher. The benefits of physics for you (the OP) go beyond what admissions committees think.</p>