<p>I made some stupid schedule choices when I was 13 and 14 which I hope won't haunt me forever. I really don't want to talk AP Calc next year because then I would also have to take the 2nd half of Pre-Calc simultaneously first semester (based off of some previous stupid math choices), and to do that I would probably have to drop a class thats not AP but that I really want to take and that is much more relevant to what I want to study in college, but I'm afraid top colleges like Columbia will look down on the fact that I took AP stats instead of calc and just wanted to go the easy way. What do you guys think? I'm a junior, by the way, who has to register for senior year classes next week.</p>
<p>oh god i totally know what you're saying. i'm taking pre-calc this year and i've never had so much trouble with a math class.. and i REALLY would rather take ap-stats but id like to know how "bad" or slacker it looks to colleges. i mean it's AP.. right?</p>
<p>Could you take a precalc course this summer at a local college?</p>
<p>i know you can. you can take any course at the local college as long as it is cleared by your school</p>
<p>i did that freshman yr for alg2, and this year im taking ap stats and bc calc.</p>
<p>I could probably take pre-calc over the summer, but i really wanted to take a beginners italian course and maybe an intermediate coloquial spanish course because I want to study spanish and italian at college, and before I start AP spanish, i wanted to be able to learn more in a slightly different environment with a different teacher and hope that i will be able to just improve my spanish. I actually wanted to do a language program in Spain over the summer but that fell through so I decided I could just try to improve locally. I just hate having to choose between what I really want to do and what i think will get me accepted into Columbia.</p>
<p>Oh, just to clarify, I don't think I want to spend my summer taking 3 courses, one that I won't enjoy at all, especially with a part-time job and summer homework and practicing tennis and possibly studying for the SAT and subject tests.</p>
<p>Some colleges seem to be using AP Calc as a dividing line of sorts. If there's any way you can take it, do it. Just my humble opinion.</p>
<p>I say you find the time to take it over the summer. Three classes, a part-time job, tennis and studying is a managable load in my opinion. If you're really stressed out, then pick the least important thing to you and drop it.</p>
<p>definitely. i did two classes, a part-time job, volunteering, and tennis over lst summer.</p>
<p>it's not so bad.</p>
<p>FWIW, there's a poster, AdOfficer, who works at an unnamed elite institution in the Northeast, who claims that they look for certain APs in their applicants. I believe these "crucial" APs are: English Lit, US History, one lab science, and AP Calc. A foreign language AP adds dimension, but is not expected. </p>
<p>You can do a search of his posts to confirm this.</p>
<p>On the other hand, my son was accepted at a great Ivy and never took AP Engl Lit or AP Hist. He is awesome in the math and sciences, however. He followed his interests and his strengths, didn't do things just for "how it wuld look to the colleges," and it worked out fine for him. (Truth be told, I was nervous.)</p>
<p>So the choice is: Do what you think the colleges want (AP Calc), or do what really interests you and makes you unique (the languages). I think you've got to go with what gets you excited, and let the chips (i.e., the college admissions) fall where they may.</p>
<p>Also -- in my experience as a parent, the summer courses are not as rigorous as regular school-year classes. Even if you take pre-calc over the summer, it may not adequately prepare you for AP Calc in the fall. And given that you're not enamoured of it to begin with, you may not do well.</p>
<p>i'm a highschool junior and really into languages as oposed to math.. next year i could take calc, but i'd rather take AP stats. i also take 2 foreign languages, french and spanish, would that compensate?</p>
<p>Wila, your basically in the same position as me and getting mixed responses. I'm in spanish and latin and want to learn italian. I would like to just ignore all the replies that tell me things that i don't want to hear and just listen to veryhappy!</p>
<p>And I know that its possible to handle all that over the summer, it just doesn't sound very appealing. But maybe I will. Or I guess I could take health over the summer through a distance learning program and then I wouldn't have to bother with that in my schedule, and then I'll have room to take everything I want to take and everything I should. I think that that sounds like a pretty good solution. </p>
<p>But I would still like to hear of anyone who got into Columbia without taking AP Calculus.</p>
<p>yeah i don't see the point of taking ap calc if i really don't think i'll do anything so directly related to math... i've heard it's good for business students but i'm not really into that. and i know what you mean about keeping your summer free.. after working very very hard junior year having a busy summer does NOT sound appealing</p>
<p>Is taking the second half of pre-calc really necessary? I found pre-calc mostly to be a rehash of algebra 2 with more calculator integration. Also, calculus uses mostly fundamental aspects of algebra (factoring, etc...) that you probably have already learned. Most of the concepts you learn will be new whether you take the 2nd half of pre-calc or not. When I was in high school kids could skip pre-calc if they wanted to do so. I'm not sure if you have that same option or not...</p>
<p>no, i don't have that option. i wish i did.</p>
<p>idk i'd also say even if you did it'd be dumb because i'm finding pre calc kind of hard</p>
<p>Do you guys have other math/science AP classes on your record. I think, like you've said, AP Stat can come off as the easy way out of Calc, but I would imagine that if you have an AP Chem or Physics or something that's known for being hardcore math/science, it might compensate, and you could take what you want. Just a thought.</p>
<p>I took AP calc junior year and then AP stat senior year because I couldnt take BC due to a schedule change. I think AP Calc is worth taking. I want to be a history major and I dont want to have anything to do with math but it's a good character building class. I honestly think that AP math and science courses are by far more challenging than other ones (except AP FRench lit..holy crap, hardest test ever)</p>