Is it possible to get a bachelor of science if..

crazco

i never took gr. 12 physics! i was simply not interested in it.. and no im worried universities won't allow me to pursue this degree because i never took it. i took chemistry and biology up to the ap levels and also environmental science. but in my senior year i never took physics? does it matter, will i still get accepted? and do i need to take physics courses if i want a b. sc if i do get accepted?

i worried!!!!!!

story645

Relax! If all your other grades in math and science are fine, it almost definitely won't matter. Even more so if you're not even applying for engineering or physics. Physics 101/102 exists because schools know that lots of high school students don't take physics, and plenty of schools don't even offer it. You'll likely have to take two semesters of physics for a bachelors of science, but it depends on the school and your major.

crazco

damn! i hate physics. i wanted to avoid it at all costs

im going for a biology major

Saladsamurai

My girlfriend is a Biology major and she needed to do 2 semesters of Physics.

crazco

this warrants an FML.

did she have an option (i.e. between physics & geology)

Saladsamurai

No option. I think you should consider that if you want to be a scientist, you are going to have to overcome some hurdles. Consider this an opportunity to overcome a new barrier; that is what science is all about, right? Whenever I realize that I have to take some class that I dread, I take it as a personal challenge. It's a good way of tricking yourself into 'liking' a subject; and if you are anything like me, you might actually end up liking it.

crazco

I am up for the challenge, but when I don't enjoy something I find it hard to get into the material and then it makes learning it very difficult because nothing clicks. And when nothing clicks I get into stress mode which makes me frustrated and further impedes my progress.

I am wondering if by not taking physics in my senior year if I will be even farther behind in University. Are they highly sequential?

Saladsamurai

I wouldn't worry about it too much. I was 25 when I took my first physics course Just brush up on your trig skills before the semester starts. And possibly do some reading up on the topics before hand as well. Being familiar with even just the terminology will really help; it's one less thing you will have to think of while trying to process things.

crazco

That's re-assuring. Thanks for the help. Did you GF take physics in highschool? because im still worried physics 12 might be a pre-requisite to getting my B.Sc

Saladsamurai

No she did not; or if she did, she did not do well. I have been tutoring her....a lot. I am pretty sure that you will not need it as a pre req for a bio major. Most curricula will have this built in to the 'core curriculum' that makes up the first 2 years of your (or any) major. This is assuming that you are in the USA. Though I doubt things of this nature vary too much outside of the US; but don't quote me.

The best thing to do is to simply got to a school's website and find the requirements. You will see that college degrees are pretty 'self-contained.' That is, they don't really count to much on your HS courses.

crazco

i am an asian-canadian going to dalhousie univeristy in canada

thanks for your help, i will call them asap

Saladsamurai

Good luck! And remember, when you have questions about physics, simply go to the Homework forum. I have gotten so much help there that it is ridiculous.

Ryker

A bit off-topic, but since it's somewhat related to what you just said, I'm just going to ask here and not open a new topic for it. How many years of chemistry does one have in the US/Canada in high school if he doesn't choose it in grade 12 and how many years if he does choose it? I've namely seen a lot of universities stating grade 12 chemistry as a necessary pre-requisite, leaving me illegibile because I didn't elect it in my final year - and despite the fact that I have learned chemistry for 3 years in high school, and I'm pretty sure we've covered all someone who took it in grade 12 in the US/Canada would cover.

story645

In the US, everything varies by state and by high school, but generally students take at least a year of chemistry (often in 10th grade) and can opt to take AP Chemistry whenever. Some schools also allow students to take AP Chemistry in place of their regular chemistry course, so the student would still only have a year in it. In my state (NY), 3 years of science are required to get a diploma, so just about every school ends up offering Biology, Chemistry, and Earth Science because it's easy to find teachers for those subjects, and some offer physics if they can find a teacher and enough students show interest. From what I've seen, other states don't differ that much.

That seems odd to me, 'cause I never saw that as a requirement. Then again, that was 5 years ago.

Ryker

Yeah, there were some Canadian universities I didn't apply to because of that requirement, with York being one of them. After browsing their website I saw that requirement, e-mailing them to explain the situation with me having 3 years of Chemistry and Biology along with 4 years of Physics and Maths, they still said I would not meet the necessary pre-requisites if I didn't take Chemistry in my last year of high school. But based on what you wrote - unless it doesn't apply to Canada, too - it sounds to me really silly to write off applicants who didn't take Chemistry in their last year, but took in their first three years, getting a deeper insight into the subject than when compared to someone who only took it in "grade 12".

Choppy

Crazyco,

You have to read the admission requirements for any university program that you're interested in attending. These are usuaully pretty accessible online. Undergraduate admissions are usually pretty agorithmic - if the numbers line up you're in. If not, you're out.

Ryker,
If I understand the issue you're presenting, its not the year that you took the subject that matters, rather the level of the subject that you take. Some students will take grade 12 chemistry in the 11th grade for example and they will have satisfied the admission requirements.

If the prerequisite is grade 12 chemistry, then adding up 9th, 10th and 11th grade chemistry won't cut it any more than 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade math will qualify you for a university calculus course. You have to keep in mind that, grade 11 chemistry is usually a prerequisit for grade 12 chemistry, but universities aren't going to waste time checking on high school methodology for these things. They examine the curriculim in the final year courses and apply a blanket policy for their own prerequisits.

Ryker

Yeah, I understand what you're saying, but the point I was trying to make is that I think those three years in our system do cover what's covered in grade 12 Chemistry in Canada/US. I could, of course, be mistaken since I don't know your systems that well, but where I live, in your last year, you can only elect two courses (apart from the already obligatory domestic language, two foreign languages, Maths and history). That leaves you with no possibility of choosing all of the science courses (Biology, Chemistry and Physics) and is, I think, an indicator that the additional fourth year is only meant for summing up and perhaps adding a bit extra to what you'd already learned before. I luckily did elect Physics and from I what I remember (it was 7 years ago) we did cover the same stuff than before but perhaps adding an extra layer to it. Now if that extra layer is what is considered as grade 12 stuff then I guess I did luck out and only I'm to be blamed for not choosing Chemistry in my last year, as well. But like I said, if it's true that in Canada/US you can meet the requirements by only doing a year of Chemistry, then I'm pretty sure the content cannot be more in-depth or cover more than what we did in those three years in high school.

Again, I understand what they ask of prospective students, I just feel the formalism doesn't give some foreign students the chance to perhaps explain or prove their coursework was sufficient despite not being taken in their last year of high school. So I'm not ruling out that my courses were insufficient - if they were, they have every right to reject me! -, I just think for foreign students whose education systems differ should be given a more case-by-case consideration of their qualifications.