Most states require physics for graduation.
Hmmā¦D did not want to take physics next year either. I forget what she wanted to replace it with but I know it was an easier class. I told her I thought physics was important but she is so worried it will ruin her GPA like her math class is this year. Luckily we can change her schedule easily - just email her dean and he can almost always accommodate us especially if it is early in the summer.
His GC didnāt say anything about it being a requirement for graduation. He will have had lab science for four years. IB Bio is a two year course so it doesnāt leave room for another science unless he switches out the zoology for physics. OMG - I do not want to have this conversation with him tonight. Itās giving me anxiety just thinking about itā¦ Why wasnāt this thought of by his GC and the IB coordinator and Iām the one sending the email in April. Again I feel justified in hiring the educational consultant. I need to find out definitively if it will affect college acceptances and I donāt know how I would go about doing that, short of email admissions officers and I donāt even know if that is something they would answerā¦
I had no idea any states require physics for graduation. I know mine (NY) doesnāt.
@Kona2012 I forget, do you have a working college list yet? The colleges may list whether physicsnisnrequired/recommended .
Our system requires 4 years of science, but it doesnāt dictate that physics is one of those sciences. However once you get through chemistry and biology there arenāt a lot of other obvious sciences. DS isnāt thrilled at the idea of taking physics, but it was always one of my favorite classes. I had a very goofy physics teacher who used to like to do Phun With Physics experiments in class. It doesnāt sound like our high schoolās physics teacher is one of those, which makes me slightly sad.
The three sciences that all other science classes stem from are bio, chem, and physics. At least for top 50 colleges (not just tippy top) they expect to see all three. Our school does not require physics but I would say 3/4 of the kids at our school take all three. Many colleges will list out the sciences they want to see. But, just like how they may want four years of foreign language, itās never a āmustā just know that the most competitive camfusates will have everything the college wants to see.
Our school requires bio, chem, and either physics or geosystems for graduation, and four years of lab sciences for an āadvancedā diploma designation. I assume this is typical in VA.
Son only likes physics and is bummed that there is no AP Physics 2 offered next year. (He doesnāt want to deal with Physics C while taking Calc AB, especially since his teacher says that kids should complete BC Calc first).
My state requires only 2 years of science, but the local school district requires 3. No requirement on what they break down into; but D19ās school doesnāt offer high school physics every year, so most students actually end up with 9th-grade general science, bio, and chem (with some taking advanced bio instead of chem). Itās still up in the air whether the school will offer physics next year or whether D19āll need to take it DE.
Looks like D will probably have 4 AP classes and 1 dual enrollment class next year so maybe I can convince her to just do honors level physics since everything else will be worth 6.0 anyway.
She did Honors Chem this year because of a weird rule our school has that to do AP Chem before honors Chem you have to do a double block and that would have taken away her elective. A week or so into the school year they all of a sudden opened up a stand alone AP chem class but by the time we heard about it is was full. 
All year she has been a little annoyed that she only has Chem honors because it is too easy, but physics would be so much harder for her honors might be perfect.
Georgia requires physics.
Our GC has no problem with DD skipping physics, but then again, sheās a history/languages kid, not a STEM kid. Sheāll have taken a general intro to lab science, chemistry, AP Bio, and a semester elective of astronomy. But boy, was she ever happy when her GC was okay with the astronomy instead of physics plan! Itās a matter of some amusement within our family, as her grandfather was a physics professor but DD swears that the only physics class sheāll ever take was the one time all the grandkids went to watch his Physics 101 lecture (on his last day before retirement).
@Kona2012 - Sorry for the frustration. Donāt panic! Maybe you could call or e-mail two potential match schools and two potential reach schools on your sonās list and ask specifically if not having physics would hurt his application. Heāll definitely have the rigor with the IB diploma but they may be able to give you some feedback so you can make a plan for next year.
My son is in IB diploma and they take Bio and Chem during 9th and 10th grades and are then required to take either HL physics for two years or AP physics during junior year.
Okay, Iāve now toured 3 Ivy schools, and I must say they are the worst tours Iāve been on. Literally a mob scene where you just walk by buildings and the student volunteer guide just yells facts from the front of the group. Boring!!!
You donāt go inside any buildings, and donāt learn much in general. The first Ivy I toured was Dartmouth, when my son was doing a soccer clinic there. I thought it was pretty, but the guide was terrible. We recently toured Brown, and I couldnāt believe how many people were there. The guide was good, but didnāt show us anything of substance. We toured Harvard and it was the worst tour Iāve been on. Terrible guide, huge crowds, huge sub groups, walking around in the mud and goose poop just looking at some buildings. Incredibly boring and pretty much a total waste of time.
If any of you decide to visit these schools Iād just advise going it solo and exploring on your own at your own pace.
I canāt imagine how bummed Iād be if I flew into Boston just to visit Harvard and that was the tour I got.
There is no benefit to go with the group. Iāve found that when weāve ditched the standard tour and just walked around on our own it was much more satisfying. I like to walk along the outskirts of the campus too, so I can see where the kids can go hang out and get food, shop, etc. Neither of my kids really care about architecture, they just want to see the locale and get the general vibe.
Once we got off campus today and explored the area my kid seemed a bit more alert and happy.
*** Please note, neither of my kids are typical high stats Ivy material, these were just exploratory visits as we live close by. Itās good to see all different types of colleges if you can.
@RightCoaster, I think it may have more to do with the time of year for the tour than the school youāre visiting. If you go to just about any school during traditional high school spring break weeks, the volume of visitors is just crazy. It makes a huge difference if you can visit at a less popular time. We saw Dartmouth on a random Wednesday in the fall, and I think there were a total of 9 people on the tour (which included 2 additional trainee tour guides). Similarly, we saw Vassar with DD on Thursday in January, and it was just her and 2 other applicants there. We saw Wesleyan ā very similar school to Vassar ā the last day of her spring break, and I think there were about 150 people there. We couldnāt even figure out what was going on at first, as it was totally different than what we expected, and then realized it was a gazillion kids/parents doing a big spring break trip to see schools.
I recognize that if youāre traveling long distances to see a school, you may not have a lot of options as to when you can go. But to the extent possible, much better to go when itās not an obvious college visiting time.
I get that itās a busy time. Dartmouth wasnāt that crazy when we went, the tour just sucked, lol.
Itās not just the Ivies that are busy, all of the Boston area schools are mobbed right now. It is better to visit another time.
My best visits have been random days where weāve just gone solo. Much better experience.
The 2 best visits Iāve had have been at Babson and WPI where went for an open house day long event. They really planned it well, and my kids were much more engaged. The " walking around looking at buildings" does not resonate well with them.
Eventually there will be better virtual reality campus tours. Iāve often thought that would be a fun business to create.
We donāt have too many tours left to take, kind of happy about that.
I think my sonās GC sucks in plain English! Sorry! I feel like they just put them on the standard track of classes unless you request something different. He took Honors Bio (9th), Honors Chem (10th) and had a choice for his IB science. He loves Biology, so he chose that as one of his HL courses. If this physics was going to be an issue then she should have recommended he take that this year as an elective instead of this stupid photography class heās been taking all year. And then I come home and tell my son and he looks at me and says do not tell me that I canāt take zoology! I want to take that class, Iām interested in that. Donāt make me switch to Physics. So I said well maybe you need to some research of your top college choices and call or send an email about it. He said fine, doneā¦ who should I contact. LOL - first time Iāve seen him ready to do something pertaining to contacting an admissions officerā¦ ohhhh I just thought of somethingā¦ we are going to an IB College Fair Saturday, could he ask there? He is planning to talk with the reps from
Colgate
Dickinson
Furman
James Madison
UCLA
UConn
Virginia Tech
His top college choices right now are
SUNY Bing
Univ of Delaware
Virginia Tech
William & Mary
NC State
Chapel Hill
Tulane
James Madison
Duke ( super reach)
With these still being researched
Muhlenberg
Colgate
Dickinson
Lafayette
Davidson
Furman
Emory
College of Wooster
Miami- OH
@eh1234 ā on your point about Virginia advanced diploma requirements ā āOur school requires bio, chem, and either physics or geosystems for graduation, and four years of lab sciences for an āadvancedā diploma designation. I assume this is typical in VA.ā ā I wanted to post an āI agreeā 
and note there is also a provision for the science sequence of courses for the IB Diploma.
āCourses completed to satisfy this requirement shall include course selections from at least three different science disciplines from among: earth sciences, biology, chemistry, or physics or completion of the sequence of science courses required for the International Baccalaureate Diploma.ā
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/graduation/advanced_studies.shtml
@Kona2012 ā for JMU, I suggest checking the website and identifying your admissions person. They have names and contact info listed. (My D19 has been corresponding with hers by email today.)
Scroll down to Find Your Counselor on this page:
https://www.jmu.edu/admissions/contact/index.shtml
ETA: Found the science requirements here:
https://www.jmu.edu/admissions/apply/freshman.shtml
"Competitive applicants should minimally have the following:
4 years of math (one full year beyond Algebra II*);
3 years of laboratory science (preferably including biology, chemistry and physics OR an AP/IB/DE science);
3 to 4 years of the same foreign language or two years of two different foreign languages;
4 years of English; and
4 years of social science.
*Some courses recommended beyond Algebra II include pre-Calculus, Math Analysis, Probability/Statistics, Calculus, and Algebra Trigonometry. AP Computer Science, Computer Mathematics, Consumer Mathematics, and Algebra Functions & Data Analysis do not qualify as courses beyond Algebra II."
@RightCoaster I think you are right about the business idea for virtual visits. I keep telling my husband there are multiple business opportunities in this whole process! Iāve said Iām going to write a book because there are so many things that Iāve learned and things that have changed since I went to school and things you just never thought about.
Itās similar to the first time I went to Disney World with my parents (as a adult). We used to go all the time when I was a kid back in the 70ās. Then I took my son for the first time when he was five and my parents came. I had done all this research and planned parks and dining reservations and my parents made fun of meā¦ then they went and were astonished that it wasnāt the same as when we were kids and you just didnāt drive down to Disney anymore, it required a whole lot of planning! Well thatās my analogy for todayā¦