AP Calc or AP Stats for a biomedical focus?

I am a rising senior in high school and I can’t decide if I should take AP Calc or AP Stats. I would like to major in a biomedical field (probably with a focus on genetics). I have been leaning towards Stats since it seems it would be more useful, but I have also considered taking AP Calc since I have already taken Advanced Calc. I thought maybe AP Calc would be easier having already had an introduction to Calc. Thank you for your feedback :slight_smile:

As a biological science major, you will likely have to take both calculus and statistics, though calculus-based statistics may be required or recommended.

Since you were two years ahead in math (calculus in 11th grade), why did you take what appears to be a lower-level-than-AP calculus?

I would ordinarily not hesitate to recommend AP calc but what was your advanced calc class? If you’d basically be repeating content, take stats.

@johnsonl
You need to first exhaust your high school math curriculum. Have you taken AP Calc BC? Stats is not crucial. A solid Calculus background is, at highly selective colleges. Regardless of major. One of the common mistakes is taking AP Stats instead of AP Calc senior year. I would recommend AP Calc BC.

@ucbalumnus I took a lower-level Calculus class because I had heard the AP-level Calc class was really challenging. I considered taking it, but decided against it since I already had a heavy schedule. I was also advised by some teachers to take advanced and then if I wanted to my senior year to then take AP Calc. This is apparently a typical route students take at my school.

I think i would take AP Calc AB (or BC if they have it)…if you do engineering, having a solid calc foundation is important.

Stats can be done in a semester. Having a solid foundation in Calc is very important for that particular field. You will need both Calc and Stats. The decision regarding which Calc to take should be made based on your previous classes and how well you have done to date.

AP Calc. Statistics is not math. https://simplystatistics.org/2012/04/11/statistics-is-not-math/

While Statistics isn’t considered math at most colleges, it typically is in high school and will be as, if not more, relevant to biomedical research and genetics.

https://www.ted.com/talks/arthur_benjamin_s_formula_for_changing_math_education?language=en