Junior Course Selection, and also regarding Extra Curriculars and Community Service

Jess80808
Sun, 14 Feb 2016 01:54:47 +0000

As a current sophomore taking AP Physics and AP Chem (along with other APs), I would say that two science APs are definitely manageable if you are willing to put in quite a bit of time and effort. On the other hand, DO NOT try to self-study AP Chemistry. I would consider it to be amongst the more difficult of the AP courses and since it is so inherently lab-based, you would struggle with finding appropriate resources, etc.

Your current extracurriculars look good to me. I would advise against “jumping into” a bunch of extracurriculars in your junior year, especially because you plan on taking such a rigorous courseload. The most important thing is to find one or two activities that you are truly passionate about and to really “delve deep” into them. If you can do some community service/volunteerism on the side, that is just a bonus. The idea that you need physician-shadowing and hospital-internship experience in order to apply to a “pre-med” program is completely a myth.