<p>How important is taking the AP Calculus test for admission into top schools (Yale, Pomona, Vassar, e.g.).</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>i'm kind of wondering too. would taking honors calculus with 4 other ap's (chem,gov,english,french lit) be still impressive to schools like georgetown, tufts,etc?</p>
<p>and I should qualify that she is not interested in being a math or science major - her interests are english, psychology, spanish and art.</p>
<p>Theoretically u can get into any college without any AP credit, since schools don't require AP scores. But the top schools like the ones u mentioned factor in any available AP scores to weigh different candidates - they're somewhat required to do so, because they have an extremely competitive applicant pool. If u have a chance to take the exam, then it's quite important that u take the exam and score well to maximize ur chances of getting in.</p>
<p>You don't have to take any specific AP courses to get into a top college. It all depends on your school, your strengths/interests, etc. The best advice is to take the hardest schedule you can take while still getting As. If AP Calculus is beyond you then there is no point in taking it just to get into a college, because it will backfire.
My friend got into UChicago without having taken any calculus in high school. This was definitely not the norm at his high-school or for people in his demographic, but he did well on SAT math and in the math classes he did take. (It's just an anecdote, but shows it's possible.)</p>
<p>Now I'm worried. I'm applying to a lot of top-schools but because I wasn't placed in the Accelerated math program in 8th grade, the highest lvl I'll be able to reach is Pre-Calc next year.</p>
<p>Any more info. on this?</p>
<p>can you take precalc over the summer? ask your school.</p>
<p>I would highly recommend taking the course.</p>
<p>I've talked to my counselor. I'd need to be able to show the math department that whatever summer course I took would be equivilant to the one I'd take in a full year at school. Also, there arent any summer programs for pre-calc except for in madison, and the people I contacted there have not obliged to get back to me yet.</p>
<p>I'm frustrated.</p>
<p>Rence--my friends son was not on the accelerated track and ended up taking math during the summer so he could take calculus. (ended up at Oberlin). In our district, seniors must take pre-calculus or AP calculus. There is nothing in between.</p>
<p>I guess I should really push for approval of taking that summer program then...</p>