Asking for another…
If a student has AP Calc credit, do they still need to take a “higher level” Calc? Or will taking Stats suffice? Or what?
I’ve thought about this as well and would be curious to hear what others think.
If a student already has AP Calc under his belt, I can’t imagine that AP Stat would “move the dial” with an admissions officer; that is, the AO would already assume he’s a strong math kid and could handle stats. (I don’t think the reverse is true. If a kid has AP Stats only, the AO might wonder if he took that because he can’t handle Calc.) So my advice would be to take a higher level calc, or some other non-math advanced class, rather than stats.
I think that @mom2collegekids is asking for med school.
If the school has a 2 semester math requirement, and the applicant only gets 1 semester credit for AP Calc, usually taking stats is fine for the second semester.
Suggestion: Check your UG school pre-med requirement and also the medical school you are targeting.
for example, OU pre-med requirements accepts AP Calc and still expects a Stat course (though AP Stat) is taken.
Also the pre-med sheet states, many Texas Medical schools wants Stat (since it is more practical use) but states many other medical school may expect Calculus. From MD school, UCLA wants some college level Calculus and AP Calc is not sufficient. Better strategy to check both. I have not done extensive research on this but looked at these 2 school out of interest. EOE.
I had AP Calc AB credit and retook calculus my 1st semester. They would have accepted it, but I wanted a better grade for med school. My Calc I class at college covered a little bit more than AB did. My advisor recommended for us to take Calc II regardless if we had AB credit or not. I think it is all personal preference. I’m a biochemistry major so I was required to take it regardless. He told us it was the “safe” thing to do since all medical schools have different admissions requirements. I would recommend for them to take biostatistics if it’s offered.