Do colleges want four years of science?

[Anonymous]

Almost every school has a recommended high school curriculum. It is flexible however, not required.

If you child wants to major in a social studies topic, than doubling up on that senior year might make sense. If science is a possible career interest, then she should take it.

[Anonymous]

AP Environmental Science is a great choice for a humanities kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don't really describe how selective of a college your daughter is thinking about.

At the tippy top schools, the idea of an abbreviated schedule itself is going to be scrutinized. Even at state flagships, three classes is going to be questioned. English, math, and 2 APs sounds like 4 anyway.

I don't mean that the abbreviated schedule (even 3 classes) is a problem, I mean that the internship or college course(s) it is allowing needs to be better than what she would get in HS.

If the internship is good enough, they won't care about science. But it sounds like there is no internship yet which means it is unlikely to be good enough to take care of all flaws in the application.

Now a college course(s), I'm guessing it will be like the two AP social studies classes. I think math, AP English, 2 AP SS and a college course would be fine if it doesn't lead to dropping most HS based ECs, without replacing them.

(OP) She would be AP Lit, AP BC, AP CompGov, AP HumanGeo, and then she writes for the paper which is a class. She would do AP environmental instead of AP HumanGeo. She doesn’t have her internship set but it would likely be good enough but not radically impressive (a lot of her peers have done ones at the court house, county council, think tanks, etc but not like hillterning or something else).
As far as schools go, she’s mostly interested in SLAC but it’s still early in jr year so her list is pretty long.

[Anonymous]

Definitely do AP Environmental Science over AP Human Geography. Or take both. Add on one extra class.

[Anonymous]

Selective colleges want 4 years of science as a general rule. Look at the particular ones you are interested and see their "recommended" course list (don't go with required--the recommended is the real requirement unless your DD has some particular hook they really want and an extenuating circumstance that made her not able to meet some recommendation).

[Anonymous]

Unless she is applying to top 25, three is usually fine especially since it’s the three cores (and having AP CS doesn’t hurt for sure).

[Anonymous]

Most colleges do not accept Human Geography AP. Any other AP would be better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless she is applying to top 25, three is usually fine especially since it’s the three cores (and having AP CS doesn’t hurt for sure).

This wasn't our experience--when asked reps from top 50 SLACs consistently encouraged DD to take 4 years of science even though she had an interest in international relations. They wouldn't say she HAD to do it, but when pressed they said the 4th year of science looked better than the other things she was considering (which were high level courses). BTW she was strongly advised NOT to do an abbreviated schedule senior year. Said it often raised questions/concerns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless she is applying to top 25, three is usually fine especially since it’s the three cores (and having AP CS doesn’t hurt for sure).

This wasn't our experience--when asked reps from top 50 SLACs consistently encouraged DD to take 4 years of science even though she had an interest in international relations. They wouldn't say she HAD to do it, but when pressed they said the 4th year of science looked better than the other things she was considering (which were high level courses). BTW she was strongly advised NOT to do an abbreviated schedule senior year. Said it often raised questions/concerns.

+1 The main problem here is the internship—that idea is really bad. That’s what summers are for. It looks lazy to not take a full schedule your senior year.

[Anonymous]

Ahhhh! Please stop posting misleading information. Physics is not a prerequisite for admission to William and Mary.

Colleges tell you how many courses they prefer for you to have had in specific disciplines. Some majors will have prerequisites. Your kid will not be denied admission because s/he has not had physics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ahhhh! Please stop posting misleading information. Physics is not a prerequisite for admission to William and Mary.

Colleges tell you how many courses they prefer for you to have had in specific disciplines. Some majors will have prerequisites. Your kid will not be denied admission because s/he has not had physics.

No one is saying it's a prerequisite. But if you vary from their recommended course list it is a disadvantage. One might have other stellar qualities that make up for it, but one might be on the edge.

Off of W&M own admission page:

"Our most competitive applicants have taken a rigorous course load including courses such as Calculus, Physics and 4 years of a single foreign language. You can increase your competitiveness by taking the highest level courses offered at your school and performing well in them."

They explicitly mention calculus, physics and 4 years of a single foreign language in a one paragraph description of their view of a competitive candidate-- which is pretty telling. Those are typically the courses that parents call schools and ask--does he/she really need to take calc, physics or 4 years of FL. And their answer is if they want to be competitive, yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ahhhh! Please stop posting misleading information. Physics is not a prerequisite for admission to William and Mary.

Colleges tell you how many courses they prefer for you to have had in specific disciplines. Some majors will have prerequisites. Your kid will not be denied admission because s/he has not had physics.

No one is saying it's a prerequisite. But if you vary from their recommended course list it is a disadvantage. One might have other stellar qualities that make up for it, but one might be on the edge.

Off of W&M own admission page:

"Our most competitive applicants have taken a rigorous course load including courses such as Calculus, Physics and 4 years of a single foreign language. You can increase your competitiveness by taking the highest level courses offered at your school and performing well in them."

They explicitly mention calculus, physics and 4 years of a single foreign language in a one paragraph description of their view of a competitive candidate-- which is pretty telling. Those are typically the courses that parents call schools and ask--does he/she really need to take calc, physics or 4 years of FL. And their answer is if they want to be competitive, yes.

Our most competitive means the top 5%. Note the words "such as" suggesting that they are aware not all high schools offer all classes.
My favorite college visit was at MIT where the tour guide was rattling off information about the work being done in the engineering programs and laboratories around campus. One parent asked her about her own research at which point the student disclosed she was a Literature and Humanities major and had no interest in science. I could have hugged her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ahhhh! Please stop posting misleading information. Physics is not a prerequisite for admission to William and Mary.

Colleges tell you how many courses they prefer for you to have had in specific disciplines. Some majors will have prerequisites. Your kid will not be denied admission because s/he has not had physics.

No one is saying it's a prerequisite. But if you vary from their recommended course list it is a disadvantage. One might have other stellar qualities that make up for it, but one might be on the edge.

Off of W&M own admission page:

"Our most competitive applicants have taken a rigorous course load including courses such as Calculus, Physics and 4 years of a single foreign language. You can increase your competitiveness by taking the highest level courses offered at your school and performing well in them."

They explicitly mention calculus, physics and 4 years of a single foreign language in a one paragraph description of their view of a competitive candidate-- which is pretty telling. Those are typically the courses that parents call schools and ask--does he/she really need to take calc, physics or 4 years of FL. And their answer is if they want to be competitive, yes.

Our most competitive means the top 5%. Note the words "such as" suggesting that they are aware not all high schools offer all classes.
My favorite college visit was at MIT where the tour guide was rattling off information about the work being done in the engineering programs and laboratories around campus. One parent asked her about her own research at which point the student disclosed she was a Literature and Humanities major and had no interest in science. I could have hugged her.

Sure, you can be literal about it and pretend there's no subtext, but if you have a girl who is not above the 75th percent in both SAT/GPA applying to W&M from the DMV, she would be at a disadvantage not to take calc and physics. Not doing so wouldn't just mean she wasn't in the top 5%--it would mean she's not in the top 50%. This is not amped up misinformation. I've seen a lot of kids go through the admissions process. School's won't say its REQUIRED since schools don't all have, but if yours does-- they are doing their best to put you in the ballpark of what you should be doing. Now the people saying it has to be AP Calc BC--that's extrapolating. But taking the core sciences (Bio, Chem, Physics) + at least AP/IB/otherwise advanced version of 1 is just basic.