Harvey Mudd required completion of BC calc by HS graduation when my son applied. Don’t know if that has changed in recent years, as Klawe has opened things up a lot during her tenure.
If they did then, they don’t now. They require the equivalent of Calc 1; they do not specify it needs to be an AP class.
https://www.hmc.edu/admission/apply/first-year-students/eligibilty/
Regardless, let’s not get bogged down into who requires what; that thread (as linked above) if the place for that discussion and it was not this OP’s question.
I would skip AP Stats altogether. Your D really needs BC. I would a)push to get into BC, b) if that doesn’t work take AB and self-study/tutor for BC. Senior year needs multivariable calculus and linear algebra whether through a CC or more likely online. For a mathy person, stats is best saved until one has mastered MVCalc and Linear Algebra and a more rigorous stats class can be taken that uses these two subjects for much greater insight than is offered in AP Stats. AP Stats is a 1 semester college course spread out over a year. It’s designed for those who need to learn the subject at a much more deliberate pace. It seems like agony for a top math student.
I think one could argue that the BC class should be filled based on performance in honors pre-calc, and of course those seniors that took AP as juniors should get priority. I can’t see given a senior priority of a junior who outperformed the senior in pre-calc. It does neither child any good.
Computer Science, on the other hand is well worth studying in HS for a mathy person.
Our experience with AP statistics. Our D1 was a Chem E major and the school she attended did not offer credit for AP stats. They indicated she had to take their stats course designed for engineers. She did take AP stats and felt it helped her in her college course. My D2 is taking pre DPT courses. Her school also did not offer credit for AP stats as they indicated they wanted stats for the behavioral sciences. She did not take AP stats. We’ll see what she thinks of stats as she is taking it this coming fall. My conclusion is that while taking AP stats might be a good introduction to statistics universities don’t see it as a replacement in many cases to taking their statistics courses.
Probably analogous to taking high school physics before calculus based physics in college, though less formally necessary (college calculus based statistics typically does not list introductory or high school statistics as a prerequisite, unlike college calculus based physics).
Thanks for all of the feedback. I’ll show this thread to my D and hubby (who is actually a phd statistician and saw how AP stats went when our oldest took it a few years ago (but she’s not a math major so never needed calc-based stats)).
Thanks for the correction about my thought that a couple of the top schools expected to see Calc 3 completed, @ucbalumnus and @skieurope (and maybe someone else as well).
To answer a couple of other questions, there isn’t room in the school day for 2 math classes this fall (e.g., AB Calc and AP Stats). Total schedule: AP Calc, AP Physics 1, APUSH, regular English, Biotech 1/2, Spanish 3, Concert Choir. (In other news, our school doesn’t officially have AP Physics C, but unofficially there seems to be the option to meet with the physics teacher after school for extra tutoring towards the C test. This might work out if it doesn’t conflict with Chamber Singers).
Do what works best for physics. I’d be really pissed.
@skieurope, S1 applied to Mudd with HS class of 2008, pre-Klawe. At the time, the requirement was specifically BC. Not surprised it has changed; they were the only school in the country then who required at least BC. They are much more flexible now.
@CountingDown 2008 was a lifetime ago vis a vis admissions; I was barely in long pants then. 
As I said, it might have been the way things were then; it’s just not the way things are now. I was not doubting the veracity of your information.
For many colleges, requirements seem to change with each application cycle; usually it’s in the area of standardized testing requirements / score choice, but it could be in other areas as well. Applicants are well served to check with target colleges for the latest update.
Only true for most Engineering, and Math majors. Even a top private like the University of Chicago offers credit for AP Stats. Many/most(?) other colleges do as well.
The top math kids at our HS take AP Stats concurrently with Alg II/Trig or Precalc, as a sixth academic course. (Calc AB not offered, only BC.)
Chicago appears to be like many colleges where AP statistics may count toward a general education requirement or for major requirements in some social studies majors, but not for major requirements in majors that require calculus-based statistics (economics, statistics, etc.).
Correct. (Which means that AP Stats does count in many colleges for many majors.)
There’s two levels of distinction for AP classes - one, those classes that help you fulfill a requirement at many universities with a good score (AP Calc, AP English Language, AP English Lit, Chem, Bio, Physics, Macro/MicroEcon, etc) and those classes that at best gives you general ed credits. AP Stats falls into that second category. So the question as it pertains to this thread is, how important/necessary is this class, as opposed to the opportunity cost of taking some other class.
As another option, Stanford Online offers Calc C as the course to follow AP AB:
“Calculus C
Further study of differential and integral calculus. Topics: a more rigorous development of limits and derivatives, advanced techniques and applications of integration, power series, calculus for parametric and polar coordinates, introduction to differential equations. Together with AP Calculus AB (OM4AB), this course prepares students for the AP Calculus BC exam. This course is for students who have completed the AP Calculus AB curriculum.”
It’s pricey and requires the SSAT for admission, but it offers an option to taking BC.
Top math students at our high school do not take AP Stats.
Agree with @VickiSoCal. The kids who skipped to Algebra 1 in 7th and Geometry in 8th (maybe 6-10 out of 400), generally do Algebra 2, then Calc AB, then Calc BC then Multivariate Calc in the 4 years of our HS (Pre-Calc is mainly for those who would struggle going straight to AB - so they might do Geometry, Algebra 2, Pre-Calc then Calc AB).
Taking AP Stats senior year after BC is seen as something of an easy out compared to MVC (or is chosen by those who struggle with Calc AB so avoid BC), and appears to have been a marginal negative in admissions (e.g. at Berkeley) this year.
As an alternative can and does your child want to take the class needed with online high school. Maybe once your school sees you are serious about doing this… They will find an extra seat in bc. I would talk with the principal and math teacher on this one and push it.
Is this a proposition or a conclusion?
So at least 390/400=97.5% students /parents are depressed here for not being classified as a top math student.
There is no need to classify what a top math student is but a regular student good at math.
To OP: AB + physics 1 + other APs is a good list of course loads for a good student. Physics 1 is actually difficult to get a good score, though it is lower AP, but it covers more materials than physics C.
There is a difference between a good math student and a top math student. Either way, our school has 2 sections of Math SL, two sections of AB - so about 120 students in all taking the equivalent of first semester calculus. In addition about 60 students take BC, and abut 30 of those go on to Math HL. Those 30 would be our top math students.
There is only one section of AP Stat.
^^My younger S took Calc AB, AP Stat and the SL Math Studies exam. Most colleges he was considering didn’t give credit for a 7 on Math Studies or SL, so he decided this route worked fine for his purposes (getting placement/credit, but still getting the IB diploma).
S1’s STEM program did Stat as a one-semester course with a pre-req of BC Calc and went way beyond AP curriculum guidelines. It was a required course due to the significant research component in the program. Would have been a terrible course for S2, who was an excellent math student but whose passions were in other areas, but for really pointy STEM students like S1, it was great.
To the OP: do the best you and your D can at getting the most rigorous sequence possible, assuming that’s what she wants. If your D is interested and has time, doing some of the tutorials on AOPS would be good enrichment. If she wants to learn some algorithmic programming (which will really strengthen her math skills), USACO, the USA Computer Science Olympiad, has free curricula. She can join the competitions or not, but the training is excellent. A math/CS double major is a very strong ticket in the workplace, and not just in Silicon Valley.
You can always ask the guidance counselor to address in the rec letter the pace of the math courses offered and that your D would not have been allowed to take BC as a junior. Your D should not apologize for it in her essays. She’s taking the most rigorous courses available at the fastest pace allowed. (If they listen to your advocacy and allow her in early, then that is something the GC CAN mention in his/her letter.)