<p>I'm applying to Yale next year, and just figuring out my schedule. </p>
<p>I'm an English person (writing is my passion) but am deciding my Math course. I am currently in Honors Precalc and had an A- last semester and an A+ so far this semester, but my teacher knows that I work hard for my grade and that it will be harder to do the same in a course such as BC Calc. </p>
<p>I don't want to be strained academically in one subject next year when my strength is in my humanities courses. </p>
<p>But I know that Yale asks for "most rigorous." Does AB count, or if I'm looking at "most rigorous," should I take BC? Any current Yalies or Yalie admits that can help? All advice is welcomed!</p>
<p>It won’t really make much of a difference. “Most rigorous” doesn’t mean you have to take the “hardest” class every opportunity you get. In fact, someone who just got in early action at my school and has enrolled took AB instead of BC. It doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>BC would be more rigorous than AB. Honestly though, as long as your counselor checks off “most rigorous” for your schedule and they see you’re in AP cal, I highly doubt they will significantly care that you did AB over BC. Scheduling conflicts among other things are very possible and good reasons why certain classes aren’t taken. Talk to your GC and the AP cal teacher at your school and find out what path is best for you.</p>
<p>Just to echo what everyone else has already said, you should take AB. Honestly, for a non-science person to even be taking an AP calculus class says a lot.</p>
<p>To be honest, BC Calculus confers many more advantages than AB Calculus. Truly, you are only covering one or two additional chapters in the textbook. Yet, at many institutions, you will receive twice the AP credit. </p>
<p>In my opinion, I would always opt for BC Calculus. The greater rewards that accompany the high score outweigh the slight amount of additional work required. Also, BC Calculus is one of two AP tests that provide subscores. That is, even if you do not do well on the BC portion of the test, you will still receive the credit that you deserve through the AB subscore.</p>
<p>If math comes really easy to you just take BC. If it doesn’t go with AB. BC is MUCH harder than AB. For our school at least, the first semester of BC is AB material the the second semester is BC material. So if you take AB you will essentially go through the curriculum twice as slowly. Furthermore, the AB part of BC is significantly easier than the BC part of BC.</p>
<p>I should add that the biggest difference between the two is the pace. Material-wise, the “C” concepts involve sequences and series, which, like anything else, are not terribly difficult with practice.</p>
<p>I was in a very similar situation at the beginning of this year. I’m a humanities person, and I had As in precal, but I had to work for them.
I chose to take BC for a number of reasons.
As Mifune said, the difference in the amount of material between AB and BC is not astronomically huge - and the BC AP test gives you a subscore, so you could still get AB credit. There’s no harm in trying.
As far as grades go, you’ll be okay if you can put in the time. Calc is the hardest class I’ve ever taken, but it’s still not unmanageable. I should add that I’m by no means particularly studious - I don’t do the homework every night, and I’ve often left the entire chapter until one or two days before the test. But at some point I do sit down and really learn the material, and it’s all fine.
In terms of how it will look to colleges, here’s my thinking. At this point, there’s little left you can do - that is, the majority of your app is set in stone. This is one thing you can do to get a slight advantage. I wanted to impress in any way that I could. I wanted to use every available outlet to prove that I’m up to a challenge.
Just my two cents. If you really think it’d be too hard for you, or if it has a killer reputation at your school, it probably won’t hurt you very much to take AB.</p>
<p>Nice post, elanorci. Ultimately, you are the one that knows your individual limits and even though it is best to design your schedule to provide a healthy degree of challenge, be sure to pursue your own personal interests.</p>
<p>AB if you’ve been struggling in math and will obviously be a challenge for you. BC if you think you can handle it or are planning to major in a math related field. </p>
<p>Personally, math is my worst subject so I opted to take AB. I could have gone to AP Stat though which is significantly easier… so as long as you challenge yourself I think you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>it’s completely up to you. if you feel ready, take BC. if not, take AB. having any kind of calc as an english person isn’t half bad. i take AB only [all my school offers, but it was my worst section of the ACT by 7 points so i decided not to go above and beyond lol] and got in SCEA.</p>
<p>The college credit is just not important. Taking AB would be easier for your workload—it’s your senior year and you’ll be working on college applications, and it wouldn’t look any worse. </p>
<p>By the way, all the parents out there in the world, unless it’s in a thread that’s actually relevant, we do not care how many likely letters your “D” or “S” or whatever is getting.</p>
<p>“Oh, my D/S took AB and has already gotten two likely letters AND COUNTING” screams pathetic bragging on the part of an insecure parent to everyone… likely because that’s what it is.</p>
<p>I have seen the summary forms used at two top 20 campuses. With the exception of Engineering colleges neither made a distinction AB & BC calculus. You had to review the applicant transcript to determine whether it was AB or BC. To be honest I never really cared. Many applicants that intend to pursue a science major take calculus. On the other hand I was always excited when a student interested in the humanities or the social sciences took AP calculus.</p>
<p>Starbuck, i thought that Lehigh mentioned her daughter’s likelies to show that her daughter’s decision to take AB instead of BC did not prevent her from getting accepted. maybe the AND COUNTING was unnecessary, but oh well. the likelies are relevant.</p>
<p>To Starbuck: Lehigh’s sharing of their child’s admissions outcomes did not seem out of context to me. And, even if it was, their posting seems to me to more likely be a spontaneous expression of justifiable pride in their child’s accomplishments, not “pathetic bragging on the part of an insecure parent to everyone”. And speaking as a parent, I love to hear about the successes of other family’s children, and I love being able to share in celebrating them here. </p>
<p>You may well feel differently if/when you become a parent yourself (I’m assuming you’re not a parent now). In the meantime, your presumption in telling us parents how we ought to behave in these forums is rather breathtaking.</p>