ertyuio Offline

Also - I think it's worthwhile to mention that maybe the reason for my well-roundedness is because I can appreciate the value of each academic discipline I'm actually pretty tired of hearing other people interested in the humanities making comments such as "math is boring" or "science is no fun" or other remarks that essentially are putting down science/math. I personally see math as an exercise in logic, because math really requires you to think carefully about what each item of a problem means, what you are required to do with it, and how you can manipulate a given piece of information to achieve another piece of useful information (integration by parts in Calc II comes to mind here). Physics is very much the same - AND it's also interesting because it shows us how complex/beautiful our universe is. So frankly, I'm quite tired of listening to other prospective lawyers dissing the sciences, because they have a lot of merit in themselves. And actually, a huge part of the LSAT (the required standardized test for law school admission) depends on the test taker's logical and analytical abilities, so in my opinion every aspiring lawyer would ideally be well-versed in math and science.

Well, it's great that you're self-motivated enough to try and get into AP Calc! Personally, I think I would have hated Physics B - I took honors physics last year (which was somewhat similar in the sense that it was algebra-based rather than calculus-based), and it just seemed... so... pointless. I wasn't learning real science and I knew that - in fact, calculus and physics were created to complement each other, so it just seemed ridiculous that they were essentially teaching a class that required you to memorize a bunch of boring formulas and memorize their specific applications and pass it off as physics. That really isn't what the subject is about...

Ha, I'm not as open-minded as I could possibly be. For starters, I REALLY don't enjoy the life sciences (i.e. biology and chemistry). Maybe it's just at the high school level, but my biology class was essentially a test to see how much you could memorize from a textbook. And chemistry... ugh, don't even get me started. Here's how I see it: Random stuff reacts with other random stuff at random conditions/temperatures (with a zillion other random exceptions) to produce more random stuff. Random elements give off electrons and form random geometrical shapes. I mean, I can see why it might be useful, but it's just so... pointless to me On the other hand, the beauty of physics is that it applies to so many things in the real world. Even the average layman would probably be more familiar with basic principles such as gravity and kinetic/potential energy (roller coasters anyone? lol) than with what kind of color Element X produces when it is heated to a certain temperature and reacted with Element Y, or what the different parts of a flower are called. Plus, in physics, you get to learn why birds fly (aerodynamics!) and how your microwave works and why an eraser or a grape would explode if it was put into said microwave. Hence why physics = <3.

I'm so jealous that you get to pass by the campus every single day! What's it like? I've been to NYC before but I don't think I ever went to visit Columbia... anyway, I'm currently on the waitlist there and will go in a heartbeat if accepted.

I stumbled across several of your posts, and all I have to say is this: MATH + PHYSICS = LOVE. <3 I'm not a hardcore science geek like you are, but I've always enjoyed my math and physics classes. Calculus in particular is utterly fascinating. Even though I will probably end up choosing a humanities major/concentration in college, I'm thinking of taking multivariable calc my first year just for the fun of it :P (I've already taken BC Calc in high school) Also, AP Physics C is the one AP I regret not taking or studying for in high school (then again, it just wasn't possible since I've switched high schools twice), so I'm totally jealous of Becca down there. On the other hand, there's always the opportunity for that in college, and especially for the E & M portion, it's kind of hard to understand the concepts of div, grad, and curl without having taken multivariable, so I'm glad I have the opportunity to really learn it after getting my math knowledge up to speed! College is an amazing place. I can't wait for graduation (I'm a senior too).

Anyway, basically just stopping by to say hello! You seem cool.

Yeahh, it's stupid. Seeing as Stats is one of the easiest APs out there and I'm going to get a 1. Oh well, I don't need it for my major or humanities credits so it's whatever.

Yeah, I was considering applying to RIT as well, but the ED acceptance kind of threw out that option... which didn't matter since RPI was my number one choice. And yeah, my class is ridiculously beast. Every girl in my physics class (aka, all three of us) got into RPI. Where else are you looking besides MIT, Cornell, RPI, and RIT? Anywhere else?

Haha, nooooo. I took the stats class, but our teacher didn't really teach... he tried to, but ended up making the subject 200x more confusing than it needed to be. Then he left the week before spring break before we learned hypothesis testing, aka all the questions for the FRQs. I tried to do Calc BC as an independent study my junior year, but the current calc teacher wasn't comfortable teaching it.

Haha, well apparently we learned them: Gauss's Law, Faraday's Law, and the Ampere-Maxwell Equation. Gauss's Law = <3

Hehe, it's RPI. RIT is Rochester Institute of Technology. MIT! My physics teacher went there, and one of the girls in my physics class was accepted (but is attending Harvard instead.) The valedictorian of my class is headed off to Cornell. And totally visit RPI! Are you a junior this year?

CALC BC?! So jealous. My school doesn't offer it, I'm so sad! I took the English Lit test and I have Stat on Wednesday... unfortunately, I didn't actually LEARN statistics this year, so I plan on answering what I can and then guessing on the MC and drawing pictures/writing stories for the FRQ. Physics B last year didn't make sense to me, haha. Calculus makes things SO much easier, and you learn Maxwell's equations!

Yes, I chose my college: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. I applied Early Decision. I'm so pumped. Do you know where you're going/have any ideas?

Math + Physics = love. I'm taking both AP Physics C tests on Monday afternoon and I took the Calc AB test on Wednesday. I'm going to school for engineering, most likely nuclear... but if it changes it'll most likely be environmental.

Its fine, I completely understand. Things have been crazy for me too.
Things have been... Bad, and crazy. How are things for you?

Hey, totally creeping right now, but I saw you're a science and math person... hehe, so am I! What do you want to do for a career?

I know how that feels, I am starting to stress out about my class. Greatttt.

Thanks