I heard that Advanced Integrated Science (AIS) is not considered a lab science for the UC. Is that true?
AIS and AS AIS are UC-approved courses that fall into the elective category, rather than the lab science category. All of M-A’s chemistry, physics, and biology classes, including AS and AP, are considered lab sciences by the UC and other colleges. Students who take AIS or AS AIS as freshmen and then pursue biology, chemistry, and physics (in any order) will have met both the required (two years) and the recommended (three years) UC lab science coursework. The path through the sciences mentioned above (AIS, chemistry, physics, biology) is an acceptable curriculum for all colleges (although highly selective colleges will look for some or all of these courses to be taken at the honors level). Admission officers at colleges such as Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT have offered assurance that M-A’s science curriculum, beginning with AIS and progressing through three years of lab science, provides appropriate preparation both for admission and for future science study in college.
