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I don't think that she'd have any trouble getting into state schools where we live or probably even UW (another one she's interested in) and she will get in both zoology and AP bio with her current plan. Physics is the one that wasn't going to fit into her current game plan, but that may have to change. I hate to have her entire transcript full of nothing but science though, too...

The kids at our local high school who go to the state schools or even private schools will have- 1-2 years AP calculus; bio, chem, and physics (some will be AP); AP english; AP US history; etc. They don't just take science and math, they take it all.
We live in a very competitive school district, and I don't agree with simply taking courses that will "look good" on your resume, but that is what they do out here.

Agree with jack'smom, especially if you have schools like Stanford or Duke on her list. Unless she has some really spectacular extracurricular or other hook, she probably ought to be taking calc & physics. Are there any local colleges where she could volunteer to help with research in the summer in the other areas she is interested in (like zoology?). My D is taking the top science track at her school (no APs offered, but honors bio, honors chem, and honors physics). The only other science course she is planning on is an anatomy course her senior year (in addition to physics). She is very interested in epidemiology and vaccine development, so is looking for research opportunities in those areas over the summers.

She is open water SCUBA certified and has been diving with an indoor program since she was 8. She did the open water cert shortly before her 13th bd. She is now going in to help as an assistant with the younger kid SCUBA classes for the 8-12 y/o kids. I'm sure that the people at the SCUBA shop would write her great letters of recommendation.

We've volunteered @ the local humane society weekly since she was 11 and plan to keep that up throughout high school. She's hoping to do a summer science program this summer at a college (we're waiting to hear back on admission), and will likely do other summer programs of that sort in future years.

She does have AP history for next year and AP English at some point along with a few other APs likely. Her ACT scores from when she was 12 more than qualify her to take anything she'd like to take at the community college, so she certainly could do some courses there as well later. She's hoping to start up a club to work on assisting with domestic animal care (spay/neuter clinics, vaccines, etc.) in Costa Rica and other developing countries...

Point being, I think that she is pretty well rounded and has long term passions in animal related and ocean related areas. She's just not sure how much time she's going to have for things like her club or NHS if she is taking so many heavy classes every year.

AP Physics B (non-calculus-based, often taken by future biology majors) http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/sub_physb.html may be better suited to Cricket2's daughter than AP Physics C (calculus-based physics for for students majoring in the physical sciences or engineering ) http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/sub_physc.html .

One option might be to take an immersion French course during the summer to leave time for what she wants to do in HS. Take immersion courses two summers in a row then cap it off with summer in France taking a science class or two. I would also get subscriptions to French TV programs and have her get her news and science programs that way. She will be far more fluent at the end of this rather than taking it in HS. And she will have time to read books in French with the slower summer pace.

Other than that, there is no way around the hard math classes and the hard science classes. Best to get them out of the way now. Professors will respect students who faced their fears and took the hardest classes.

I would take some sort of anatomy class at some point in HS even if its human anatomy and a DNA class, even if she has to go to a local college.

As for her major, I would not specialize too soon in Marine Biology. Rather, work on her tool box (ie classes ) and look for a professor she likes whom she can talk her way into working for as an undergrad even if free.

One of the profs at one of the universities she contacted suggested that she avoid trying to get AP/college credit for introductory bio b/c it would be better to take courses in your major @ college. Another option might be to bypass the AP bio her senior year and just live with the pre-AP bio she has already and then take physics her senior year (or to see if the school will let her take it at the community college rather than the hs so she can get college credit for physics at least if she won't be for bio).

Her school does use Naviance. I was unaware that it had any features beyond letting you plan out your courses. I'll have to find out more about what else can be done with it.

Re not specializing in marine bio early, she's thought about that and I do think that she will be specializing early b/c she has unusual direction in that area. She met with a researcher at the Fish & Wildlife Svc when she was in 6th grade who is a well known manatee expert who had, oddly enough, moved to CO at the end of his career to study bats. They discussed her college aspirations and he felt that, given her specific and long term interests (she's wanted to study manatees since she was three), she might be one for whom he'd bend the typical advice to major in just bio and then specialize in marine bio in grad school.

The only variance we've seen from her passion area is from underwater photography of manatees to marine mammologist with a specialty in sirineans (manatees and relatives) to her recent consideration of studying tide pool critters b/c she prefers the atmosphere of the pacific northwest to FL.

The introductory freshmen courses in biology, chemistry, physics, calculus etc. are the universities' cash cows, and this is likely a factor in their not wanting students to skip these courses. If a student gets a 5 on the AP exam and if all of the topics on the course syllabus are things she has studied, I think she probably should skip the intro course.

Thanks. Dang, so much conflicting info out there! So, do you think that 'intro bio is where we teach students how to do bio the [insert school name] way and students who miss this course will be at a disadvantage' is a bogus claim?

Intro Bio at many selective colleges uses the same textbook at AP Biology (I know because D keeps seeing it in dorm rooms as we visit colleges!). It is the Campbells book, and it is very hefty. There is a LOT of material in it. There is a huge difference between a regular (or even honors) high school bio course and a course that uses Campbells. We know this because D has taken honors Bio (AP is not offered at her high school), but has been studying Campbells for the USA Biology Olympiad test. One thing this has made clear is that she will be at a signficant disadvantage at a rigorous university if she is competing in her classes with kids who took AP science courses in high school; she will have a lot of catching up to do. Not everyone who takes AP skips the intro classes. Some because they don't get a high enough score, some because they want the easy A on their college transcript (especially those aiming for med school), and some because they just want to make sure they are solid on the material before taking the higher classes.

D is still thinking about her major and college choice, but she already intends to spend the summer before college beefing up with the intro college chem book just so she is ready for intro chem in college, since there is no AP at our high school.

I will re-iterate what I said above. Your D will need to get through those basic science courses and calc in college to major in almost any science related field. She can spend her summers and after school hours doing field work/manatee research or whatever specific area interests her, but she is going to need to get through those classes. IMHO, it is not doing her any favors for her to avoid them in high school.