Am I at a disadvantage if I choose not to take Calc AP as a senior?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Boston College
1

<p>Next year, I want to apply to Carroll’s school of management. I am currently a junior. My next year schedule-- </p>

<p>Lit AP
Stats AP
EURO AP
Art History AP
Chem 2 AP
Spanish 4
Required Gym/Health
*Calc Advanced</p>

<p>Am I at a disadvantage if I choose not to take Calc AP as a senior? Are they looking for students with AP Calc?</p>

2

<p>CSOM does accept students who don’t take an Calc AP course. But that’s perhaps the exception rather than the rule.</p>

<p>If you had an otherwise stellar application and you didn’t take AP Calc, then it wouldn’t be a big concern. However, since few if any applications are “perfect”, anything you can do to strengthen you application can only help.</p>

<p>No one can tell you whether a lack of AP Calc will make or break your application decision. But it definitely will help if you have it.</p>

3

<p>Not taking a math class senior year looks bad on your application, according to my councelor.</p>

4

<p>CSOM has 3 math requirements: MT 100 (Calc I), EC151 (Statistics) and MT235 (Math for Management). If you score a 4 or 5 on an AP Calc exam, you don’t have to take MT 100. If you score a 4 or 5 on the AP Stat exam, you don’t have to take EC151.</p>

<p>There must be more than a few incoming CSOM students that do not have AP credit in math/calc, as this notice is posted on the BC Math Dept. webpage: </p>

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<p>By the way, there are 4 sections of MT 100 being offered this semester (Spring 2010); that’s roughly 125 students and at least half are in CSOM. </p>

<p>So clearly you would not be alone if you don’t take AP Calc in high school. And AP Stats would also satisfy one of the CSOM math requirements, so it would be a perfectly acceptable substitute in this case. Judging from your proposed senior year schedule (which includes 5 AP classes), you clearly are following a rigorous curriculum. As long as you perform well in these classes, I don’t believe that you will be penalized for not taking AP Calc.</p>

5

<p>In case you missed it, here is a link to a recent discussion on whether to take Calc AB or BC. You may find some of the information contained in the posts helpful to your situation.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/boston-college/892612-ap-calculus-ab-bc.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/boston-college/892612-ap-calculus-ab-bc.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

6

<p>As much as I love AP Stats, you are better off taking Calc instead (assuming that you have a good HS teacher). The reason is that Calc is difficult and a little easier to handle in your smaller HS class than a large lecture hall, packed with gpa gunners. Not saying BC has a lot of gunners, but all pre-biz and pre-health students need calc. And since med school doesn’t like AP credit, some/a lot of premeds are retaking Calc in college after they have aced the AP exam.</p>

<p>Save Stats for college.</p>