Senior Year HS Schedule: Classes for College & Art

[mgiddy911]

Its come time to choose classes for senior year, there are some art classes i want to take and would like an easy schedule senior yr, but would anyone here recommend AP Calc: AB(BC is harder), AP Chem, AP computers and an advanced physics topics class for someone who wants to major in Physics in college? Would these classes benefit me enough in my college carrer or would having and easier senior yr and taking some art classes liek engineering graphics and ceramics be better. By the way I don't think I will be going to a college where me getting in may depend on how they see me using my time ...

 

[franznietzsche]

Its come time to choose classes for senior year, there are some art classes i want to take and would like an easy schedule senior yr, but would anyone here recommend AP Calc: AB(BC is harder), AP Chem, AP computers and an advanced physics topics class for someone who wants to major in Physics in college? Would these classes benefit me enough in my college carrer or would having and easier senior yr and taking some art classes liek engineering graphics and ceramics be better. By the way I don't think I will be going to a college where me getting in may depend on how they see me using my time ...

If you want to major in physics,i would suggest dropping any idea of an easy senior year right now(well that depends on your definition of easy i guess, but drop any idea of cake classes). Take the most difficult curriculum you can handle. Period. I would be taking calc BC, AP chem, AP comp sci, the physics class definitely(i wish my school had offered BC calc and comp sci).

 

[mattmns]

Depends on what college you plan on going to. I would definitely take AP Calc (bc if you are up to it), and Physics. AP Chem would probably be good to take too, but I do not think it is as important as Calc. I would not take AP Comp Sci: Because the college I go to only requires one comp science class for a physics degree, but this could be different depending on what college you decide to go to. Not that AP Comp Sci would not be good, just I think you would be better off spending more time in Math and Phys.

 

[MathStudent]

As a physics major, I would think it's better to get a jump on the material ASAP as you have a long road ahead of you. You might also consider taking some of those courses at a local community college over the summer or even during the semester, that way you automatically get college credit for them.

 

[mgiddy911]

Thanks for the quick replies, I am going to take the Physics classand AB calc for sure, and mostlikely the AP Chem also .. I want to do the Comp Sci class because i plan on studying Comp Sci on my own throughout college, also I think it will help as I am interested in computer oriented ways of examing physics concepts.. this Comp Sci class will mostly be a Java 2 class, I took an entire semester of Java during my sophomore year so this is the next class for it.

 

[franznietzsche]

Depends on what college you plan on going to. I would definitely take AP Calc (bc if you are up to it), and Physics. AP Chem would probably be good to take too, but I do not think it is as important as Calc. I would not take AP Comp Sci: Because the college I go to only requires one comp science class for a physics degree, but this could be different depending on what college you decide to go to. Not that AP Comp Sci would not be good, just I think you would be better off spending more time in Math and Phys.

It doesn't matter how many courses your degree requires, computer skills are absolutely critical. Experimentalists almost always have to write their own software for their experimental aparatus. Theorists spend a large amount of time writing computer simulations of theories to compare them to experimental results.

 

[Andromeda321]

How many of the courses can you actually take in your high school? Because I'm guessing you have to choose a few from the list right? In that event here's my ranking of what's best to do.
Calc (either AB or BC, BC's best if you can do it)- definitely do this one even if you do nothing else!
Physics- even if there's no "college credit" involved it helps to know a little bit about the topics you'll learn later.
Chem- you're going to have to do it desipite being a physics major and as a result it's worth its weight in gold to get AP credit.
Comp Sci- most schools won't take this credit and it's more a "do it sometime in the next four years" deal but still worth your while if you want to jump start on programming.
Just a word of advice: do NOT ignore all those art classes your senior year no matter what! Sure you might not take all of the ones you want but after doing all the science you'll need a break. Best of luck!