Senior year schedule, particularly science course

Applying to College
1

I would like to start off saying that I’m not aiming for any Ivies or top 20 schools. My reaches are schools like BC, Bates, University of Michigan, and UNC- Chapel Hill.

I have a 2060 SAT, 720 CR, 620 M, and 720 W, and as of last year, I had a 4.4 GPA on a 4.0 scale (weighted because of Honors and AP courses) but due to A’s and A+, it is probably is up to a 4.5 or 4.6

I have to select my senior year schedule, and one thing that is a major concern of mine is my course rigor. I decided to not take a Latin college course my junior year, so the highest language course I have is Latin 3 Honors, completed my sophomore year. This is definitely my biggest regret of high school, but I recognize that I cannot rewind time and that I’ll have to deal with the repercussions. Due to this decision, I am only taking 2 AP courses my junior year: APUSH and AP Lang, but I am doing very well in all of my classes, which include college prep chemistry and pre-calculus.
For next year, I am struggling to find a schedule that is rigorous but manageable. I will most likely go into business or political science, so I will not be a science major.

So far, my planned schedule is:
1.AP Calc AB
2.Honors World Lit
3.Management
4.Journalism
5. AP Bio
6. Lab (for the science).
7. Half year history elective, then half year study hall

My real question I guess is whether or not the absence of Physics would really hurt me for any of my reaches and schools like Villanova, UConn (instate), Syracuse, Penn St, and Franklin and Marshall. I feel like I already have a mark against me because of the foreign language issue, and I don’t want to add another major one (if the language one is even that big of a deal, I’m not too sure)

Should I take AP Physics instead (i have not background, but it would be 1, so just mechanics) or AP Environmental and regular physics (mind you, I am not a science or math person so I might go insane, but I have a real interest in AP Environmental. If I were to do these two, I would have to drop Journalism and the half year stuff.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

2

I don’t think the science you take will make an appreciable difference in your application. Perhaps check with your guidance counselor to confirm.

3

I do not want to do your homework for you - but I can recommend that you Google each of the schools you mentioned that you are interested in and find out what HS minimums they are looking for in Science, Foreign Language and Math.

IMHO - you should be ok without the Physics and Latin, since you are not applying for pre-med, science or engineering.