Hi everyone!
So I’m a senior and my school just told me that it was not possible to take both AP Stats and PLTW AE in my senior year (due to class conflicts and class sizes etc.)
I can’t take one of them online because due to my extracurriculars and my other classes I think that it would be too much for me to handle and I don’t want to stress out too much when I have college apps and managing clubs to worry about.
UC’s recommend 4 years of math in high school, and because I already finished AP Calculus BC (which is the highest level of math my school offers) I decided to take AP Statistics.
However, because ap stats isn’t really correlated with engineering as much as PLTW AE is, I don’t know which would seem better in the eyes of UC admissions officers. (personally if given the choice I’d prefer to take AE, but this is the matter of whether I take 3 or 4 years of math when 4 is much preferred by the UC’s for STEM majors.)
Any advice? Which should I take?
PLTW will help you determine how interested in engineering you really are. AP statistics will not likely be useful for subject credit in an engineering major in college, since engineering majors that require statistics are likely to require calculus-based statistics. AP statistics may be somewhat helpful in determining interest in industrial engineering, which is heavily statistics-based, but you seem to be more interested in mechanical engineering for which the PLTW course will be more helpful in determining your interest for.
For UC purposes, calculus validates all lower high school math except geometry (i.e. algebra 1, algebra 2, precalculus/trigonometry). Assuming that you took an actual geometry course (or integrated math courses that include geometry) in high school or middle school, completion of calculus easily fulfills UC math requirements and expectations for frosh applicants. See page 17 of http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/files/quick-reference-2017.pdf for validation of math courses.
What other PLTW classes are offered at your school? Civil Engineering and Architecture would be equally good at determining your interest. I’m assuming you’ve already taken IED and POE, have you also taken Engineering Design?
The PLTW courses are generally in addition to your core courses, not in place of them. PLTW courses are not generally available online, though you might get a teacher to allow you to complete the work as independent study (though I don’t think it would be the best idea). You don’t want to take either course online, because you think it will conflict with other commitments, but would you school allow you to have a study hall during which you could work on that class, or would they require you to fill that slot in your schedule with something else? If you do - what is that something else?
The only other pltw classes at my school are IED and POE, which I’ve already taken, so the ones u mentioned don’t work. We also don’t have study hall or homeroom at our school. Just classes. The way the situation is, I’d have to choose between Stats and AE. I’d switch one out for the other.
Note that with the completion of calculus, you have what is considered the equivalent of a fifth year of math (algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2, precalculus/trigonometry, calculus) based on UC validation policy. You do not need another math course to get the recommended four years of math.