Is it bad to take classes in highschool unrelated to your intended major
So I'm a senior I plan on doing premed in college majoring in biology and Im applying to top colleges. This year I'm taking classes like AP environmental science and AP economics. I wanted to take these because I thought they would be interesting but they are kinda unrealted to what I want to study. Will this reflect poorly on me and decrease my chances? Should I have taken something else like AP psych or stat? I've already taken AP bio, AP chem, AP calc, and AP physics which are really the only courses I've taken that relate to premed.
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2 answers
What AP classes you have taken in HS have very or little bearing on what college you get into. Furthermore, some would argue that studying Biology as a major is not the most efficient path to getting accepted into a top Medical school because there are so so many Bio Majors with great MCATs scores applying these days. I'm not saying it's not the most popular way or logical way, but about 43% of undergrads get into Medical School with a different major.
Therefore if Medical Schools are flexible with what majors applicants are, then undergraduate colleges even BS/MD programs would be as well.
According to this report, it is easier to get into Medical school if you are Humanities or Math or Social Sciences major than a Bio major. It's true that 47% of Med School applicants are Bio majors but Medical schools do not require you to be a Bio major to get into Med School but an excellent student with great character who passes all the thresholds for application requirements.
Assuming you have classes related to your major And take those and then you take non major related there’s no penalty just like college you can take unrelated classes while still getting your degree. So there is no penalty at least to my knowledge.
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Just to second this answer - colleges just want to see that you've challenged yourself. It's okay if those two AP classes aren't directly related to your major. It's slightly different if you're applying to BS/MD programs, as you'll have wanted to demonstrate a strong background in related subjects and ECs, but it doesn't sound like you're applying to those.