Two of my kids took regular physics freshman year along with honors biology. My exercise science major didn’t take physics is HS which was a mistake, she also didn’t take AP biology or AP chemistry. Nit taking AP chemistry was her biggest mistake, that first college chemistry class was so hard, got her 2n B ever (and worked very hard for that B). She did learn how to self study well and actually taught herself physics (professor had a strong accent and it was online). She was chasing merit so fortunately not having taken physics wasn’t an issue with acceptance’s. Our GS guidance was pretty bad.
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It would be wise to take physics, especially since she’s on a STEM/pre-med track. That said, my daughter got into several T25(ish) LACs without taking physics (she took honors bio, honors chem, and APES, in addition to 9th grade honors physical science – all 9th graders at her school take the same science, but at different levels). Then again, there were several T25 schools she didn’t get into. Did the absence of physics make the difference? Who knows? With acceptance rates that low, it could have been anything. But the absence of physics did not doom her chances at schools with <20% acceptance rates.
But my daughter’s not a STEM major, and she’s not going to have to take physics in college. Your daughter’s outcomes may be different, especially since she’ll likely be a STEM major. If she’s going to have to take physics in college (check out the requirements for majors that interest her at different schools), it would probably be a good idea to get her first exposure in HS. It sounds like (based on other posts) MCAT tests for physics, so that would be an argument for getting the foundation in HS. And of course college GPA is very important for med school admissions – another point for getting that first look at physics in HS.
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My kid didn’t take physics in high school…but she has a very strong math and science aptitude. She took her first physics in college. It was fine.
But your kid needs three different lab sciences, in my opinion. And I don’t think repeats of any biology or chemistry are needed in high school.
My kid took Anatomy and Physiology in HS senior year, DE course, and really liked that.
@WayOutWestMom what do you think for this kid for more sciences junior and senior years?
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My daughter took honors bio in 9th grade, honors chemistry in 10th grade, AP chemistry in 11th grade and AP physics in 12th grade. She was a biology major. I think it’s a mistake to skip physics.
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Our school does the same thing with needed to take the regular science class before the AP. Because of this many kids take only only 1 AP science class. She should definitely have a aphasics course before college for premed but as for the issue of rigor, our school considers one AP science class highest rigor due to the need for regular before AP. (and my S who only took 2 ap in junior year and 4 this year was accepted to Williams)
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Those 2 elements make a huge difference wrt acceptance at top colleges: she had a basic exposure to some of the foundational physical concepts AND she’s not a STEM major so there’s leeway for her in that regard (and taking APES is a logical choice if she had a Humanities/Social sciences profile).
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Would note that at least one highly selective LAC (Wesleyan) makes a point to highlight the percentage of admitted students who have taken biology, chemistry, and physics (along with percentages who have taken calculus and at least four years of foreign language). That doesn’t mean all three are required for admission, but clearly they see it as a plus.
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You don’t have to go to a top college to get accepted to medical school.
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Your high school course record will have zero impact on medical school admissions. Having said that, your student wants to be well prepared to do very well in undergrad school and the MCAT to maximize their chance of acceptance to medical school.
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My kid doubled AP Chem and Ap Physics 1 (which is the same as H Physics) in 11th to take Physics C in 12th. Most STEM/Pre-med kids at our school double up one year. At the very minimum they do Honors for each, plus 1 AP (Chem or Bio for pre-med types, Phys for Engineering)
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This is all interesting food for thought. Thanks. She wants to take AP Chem and AP Bio, and she wants to stay in the research seminar, so maybe one year she will have to take three science classes (which would be fine with her, but sounds horrible to me). I will also have her talk to her guidance counselor.
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I personally would not recommend this. It might sound like it will work…but it’s going to be a hard year.
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She will have to choose. For us, it meant regular US History. I think AP Physics 1 or Honors Physics double up fine with either AP Bio or AP Chem. Bio + Chem is a tougher proposition IMO. AP Bio + APUSH or AP Euro also not recommended at our school due to the volume of reading.
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One more in agreement with completing a sequence of HS bio, chem, and physics before taking an AP in one of the disiplines.
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Is a summer class an option?
In our feederish HS, it is common for STEM kids to take one of the intro sequence science classes during the summer so they can double up on two different advanced subjects junior and senior year.
AP bio + AP chem were not possible to take concurrently at my D’s hs because of the required labs. It was fine to overlap physics with bio or chem though. (My D did AP chem and AP physics C together senior year).
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Another in agreement with taking bio, chem and physics.
A bonus of having a strong high school foundation in the “premed” sciences is that it may take a bit of stress off in a particularly hard college semester. For example, my D felt AP Physics C prepared her very well and she breezed through college physics. This provided some relief during a tough semester that included two very difficult classes (for her).
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Yeah, I think she wouldn’t take AP Bio and AP Chem at the same time. I guess junior year she would take AP Chem and Research and senior year she would take AP Bio, Physics Accelerated, and Research.
She’s doing APUSH now, which is a beast at her school, so she’s getting that out of the way.
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I would not take 3 sciences at one time, two lab sciences are hard to do at the same time. I assume research seminar is AP research? That doesn’t add much, and can easily be dropped in lieu of a core course.
Regarding taking physics, not having physics will likely close some doors at selective LACs. Someone shared the Wesleyan data from class of 2027 where 80% of the admits had bio, chem, and physics. And thats at a school not known to be overly Stem-y.
What will your D have in the way of foreign language?
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Not disagreeing with you about having physics in HS making it easier in college, but isn’t the flip side true as well: Wouldn’t doing AP Chem and AP Bio in HS make taking chem and bio in college easier? (That’s assuming she didn’t go straight to Organic Chem.)
I don’t think it’s AP research? It’s not characterized as such. It’s a prestigious program at our school, and she seems to want to continue with it.
Re foreign language, she will take Latin IV as a junior and AP Latin as a senior. I’m guessing for math she will take Calc BC as a junior and AP Stats as a senior.
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