DD’s Guidance Counselor advised her not to take physics, but instead take Human Anatomy and Physiology as her science Senior year. Her science classes so far are Biology, Chemistry, & Principles of Biomedical Sciences (this is a dual credit class with a state S&T). GC says that it would be better to use her open spaces for an internship in the medical field and the anatomy class. Her math includes Geometry, Algebra 2, College Algebra B (she tested out of the A part) & Trigonometry next semester. Our math path is weird and so she can either take Math Analysis (pre-calc that is almost identical to College Algebra B) or statistics. AP Calc or AP stats will not fit into her schedule as she has to have math analysis as a prerequisite for either. GC is recommending Stats as more useful for biology since Math Analysis would be a repeat. D is looking at regional universities and some LAC’s. Nothing highly competitive. I think we could fit either the physics or AP Calc in but it would mean dropping AP Art Studio. I just hate for her to have to drop something she really loves and I think she could look into Art Therapy as a career.
The general thinking is that if applying to a top college it is good to have biology, chemistry, and physics. And for a STEM major it is helpful to have taken calculus in HS. However, there seem to be a lot of moving pieces in your D’s schedule so I’d suggest you work closely with her guidance counselor to strike the right balance.
@happy1 D is not looking at top or highly competitive colleges. Her GC has given bad advice to DS in the past so I have little confidence in her advice to DD. The anatomy class includes dissection of a cat and is a more advanced class than regular physics, so I do see GC’s point that it more fitting to her major.
Biology majors typically take a year of college physics. It’s algebra-based but I don’t think it would be a picnic for a kid who never had physics at all.
thanks @eh1234 That is exactly the kind of argument I need for DD. I think she may have to rework her schedule to include physics. My guess is that the statistics class won’t make and she will have to take math analysis - which would be an easy class for her. She may just have to give up an elective. I charted out her courses and we had AP Spanish & AP art studio for next year. I think she can drop one of those and still take physics and anatomy. Our physics teacher is one of our best teachers at our school IMO and I think that she would actually like the class because of him.
She needs to take physics. 1) colleges will expect it for a future stem major 2) it’s a requirement to take two semesters of physics for biology or other science majors and going into college physics with zero physics class will put her at a severe disadvantage since even kids who had physics find the class hard.
Since you have a local S&T college, could she take whatever is their pre requisite for calculus there? And if that pre-req is college algebra, could she just take calculus at the college? If not, is the pre-req class for hs calculus offered over the summer?
Thank you @MYOS1634 I’m so glad that I asked this question because our GC obviously gives bad advice! She will have to choose between AP Spanish & AP Art and take Physics. I think both the internship & anatomy class are valuable. This the course description for the Dual Credit College Algebra class she is currently in - “The class consists of Math 120, College Algebra. The catalog description for Math 120 is a study of various types of equations and inequalities, functions and their inverses,theory of higher degree equations, systems of equations, determinants, logarithmic and exponential functions, conic sections, sequences and series, and the Binomial Theorem.” Would that be considered “precalc”? If not I will insist she take Math Analysis (instead of statistics) as a math teacher said it goes a bit deeper than College Algebra B. It really irritates me that they just instituted the College Algebra requirement before taking Math Analysis. It makes it very hard to get to AP calculus unless you were put on an advanced course in 7th grade. Anyone on the mid-level path has to give up other electives to get there. She won’t be able to take any classes this summer due to an EF tour to SE Asia falling right in the middle of our summer courses. The S & T is hours away - they just use the curriculum and there is a test that gives you the DC - like an AP test so it’s standardized. It really steams me that GC gives such bad advice - I shutter to think how many kids she’s led down the wrong path.
That college algebra course looks like a precalculus course without trigonometry.
At that college, is that course plus trigonometry sufficient prerequisite for calculus?
Agree with #3 on physics. Physics for biology majors in college will have lots of grade grubbing premeds, like other courses for biology majors.
If you have no other choice, she should take Math Analysis since it covers a bit more (up to early calculus) and will help her with her college math placement test - statistics is not part of the same sequence. But really look into what your local college offers and have her follow that sequence thriugh calculus.
Anatomy and internships aren’t that valuable for her- anatomy is useful for future nursing and kinesiology students but isn’t necessary for a Biology major which is more theoretical.
AP Spanish and AP art would certainly be more rigorous than Anatomy.
She should have honors English (or AP English language or AP Lit), Analysis or Calculus, Physics, History or another social science, AP Spanish, AP art (+ internship if she wishes).
Has she taken AP bio or AP Chem? If not, either of those would be better than internship ID she wants a competitive schedule, otherwise she’s fine.
She thinks she wants to go to medical school. I think it is much more likely that she end up going BSN or PA. She has an interest in Toxicology and may go Bio-Chem with a career in research. She has AP Lang this year and 4 DC classes, and for next year AP Lit , AP Gov’t, & AP Art, would be her AP’s if she dropped AP Spanish. She will take Trig this year. She can not take either AP Bio or AP Chem. She is late to the STEM path as she was planning a different route. Then she took regular chemistry and it really clicked with her. We put her in the Biomedical Sciences to see if she really wanted to go that route. Since she did not have the advanced Chemistry class, she is barred from AP Chem. She has to take Bio 2 to take AP Bio. Unfortunately that teacher who teaches Bio 2 and AP Bio is awful. We are talking a National Merit Finalist who is now Bioengineering Major almost got a C in her class. She’s notorious for being difficult and not a good teacher. She literally told a student his mother must have had an affair because genetically he could not have red hair.