AP Stat is FAR more useful in medicine. I realize now that Calculus was a total waste for medicine, whereas I felt the lack of statistics all the way through my career, because you really need to understand statistics to evaluate the power and validity of clinical studies.
But I agree with you, if he’s going strong on math, he should take it as far as he can. Could he take AP Stat at the high school, and do second year college math at a nearby college, too? My kid took a full load of AP’s at the high school senior year, and did two more classes at night, one at each of two nearby colleges.
If one is going to be a scientific research statistician, of course AP Stat would not be sufficient, and of course one would need calculus too, along with many other math classes. But this is a young person in high school who is considering what to do with math for senior year, after having already done BC Calc, who is also interested in medicine.
I stand by my recommendation that he should take AP Stat next year, and if at all possible, he should also take a second year college math class at a nearby college, too. If, after that, he decides he wants to take further statistics classes at college, he can. But for next year, AP stat at his high school is the appropriate statistics class to take, if it’s offered, and will probably be sufficient for him to understand the meaning and significance of the statistics cited in studies in medical journals.
No. He’s better off continuing with the next appropriate course in college math after Calc BC next year, at a college. AP Stat is relatively easy, and would be an appropriate first stat class (and possibly only stat class) for a person planning on medicine. He can take that at his high school, in addition to his other classes next year. If he finds that he just loves statistics after that, he can further pursue stat in college.
If he loves math, he can take Multi Variable Calculus (what people here refer to as MVC) at any college nearby.
Ask the Guidance Office what the process is for dual enrollment (ie., taking a college class while in HS, with the HS usually paying for it). A Community College class will be a sufficient introduction.
(It does not have to be Princeton or Rutgers - look into Mercer CCC for instance.)
And he can take AP stats at his high school, or Elementary statistics in addition to MVC at the college. This would especially matter if he applies as a math major.
AP Stats alone wouldn’t be sufficient for a future math major (AP stats is a good math class for “AP students” who aren’t very good at math, it can also be an elective in addition to another math class for math-y students).
As mentioned by UCBalumnus, MVC isn’t the only class he could take. Discrete Math and Linear Algebra would both introduce him to other approaches to “mathematical thinking”.
Johns Hopkins’ CTY (Center for Talented Youth) offers online College Level Mathematics programs, and much more to challenge students at advanced standing. CTY says that it is in association with the MSA-CAS (Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools), which includes (some?) schools in New Jersey.
Lot of kids in his school went to Mercer county college but some one had mentioned to stay away from community colleges since it will be looked down upon when he applies to med school in the future. MCC also has a summer MVC as well
That was shorthand for “med schools don’t like/want to see premed pre reqs taken at a CC”. However MVC or Linear algebra are NOT premed pre-reqs, so, no problem.
(Biostats is, so taking ap stats in hs to prepare for biostats makes sense.)
An update to our journey trying to navigate math courses. Kid has started with AP stats in school however we have been out of luck in getting in for math courses in community college ( middlesex community college) since his current school did not fill out the dual enrollment forms before the deadline ugh! The Options available for community college are accelerated programs which don’t offer math courses. At this point where should we look? Rutgers and Princeton are out of question since their requirements are extensive than the community college. Stanford couldn’t offer since their fall semester was full
