As a high school senior, my son has an opportunity to take calculus at Colby College (or he could take AP Calc at his HS). Does it matter where he takes calculus to the colleges he applies to?
I would think it’d be better to take it at his HS and take the AP exam and get whatever credit his college gives for that. In most cases, the best reason a student has for taking a course at a college is that their school doesn’t offer it.
His school will offer it over the year at a pace that matches the workload with the rest of a high school schedule. At Colby, it’ll be a semester class. And in most sections of it, the majority of kids will have taken calculus in high school.
Of course, I offer this perspective without knowing what lead you to this decision. …
AB or BC in high school? BC will be similar pace as college calculus, while AB will be slower.
Taking an actual college course will give him a preview of how college courses work, even though the content will be similar.
Cost?
@ucbalumnus, no cost (HS has some kind of agreement with Colby). At HS, it’s AB, the teacher allows students to do BC but that’s an independent study with little guidance from teacher, so not an ideal model.
@gardenstategal, that’s valuable & worth considering. Thank you.
Do you want to take calculus at college pace in a college environment, or at a slower pace in a high school environment?
Note that if you are pre-med or pre-law, a grade in a college course becomes part of your GPA when applying to medical or law school.
well @ucbalumnus, if he takes the class a Colby he can transfer it into his college BUT as a transferred class it doesn’t impact his GPA. Most colleges just give credit & not the grade for a transferred class (I have read). If he waited to take calculus at his matriculated college/univ. that grade would be on his record.
If he thinks he might be interested in attending Colby, though, taking a class there would definitely give him an insider’s view! Guessing you are local…
good point @gardenstategal
Yes, colleges in general do not include grades from transfer college credit in their own GPA calculations.
However, medical and law schools will include all grades from all college course work in GPA calculations (and they may also treat grades differently from the college – e.g. the value of A- may be 3.7 or 3.67). Obviously, this is only relevant if the student applies to such professional schools.
If he takes it at Colby, he’ll have to ensure that the college he attends will accept the Colby credit. It shouldn’t be an issue, but you’ll want to be sure.
If he takes the AP, he’ll want to ensure that he does well enough on the AP exam to get the credits to count.
@ucbalumnus I was under the impression that grad schools (esp medical/dental school) will not accept college courses that were taken during HS, and to meet their course requirements the course has to be taken will in college or post-baccalaureate. No?
As a recent Colby Grad I would recommend he take AP Calculus. I took BC in high school and took Intro Calc at Colby and got an easy A. Or if your son wants to be a math major , if he gets a 4 or 5 he will be able to take fewer classes.
“Does it matter where he takes calculus to the colleges he applies to” That depends upon the intended colleges. AP calculus is not close to the equivalent to a first year calc class at a strong college. A good student will get far more out of the college class. Adcon’s know the difference. If a student plans to attend a college or university with holistic admissions, the college class would be more impressive since it suggests motivation to take more rigorous classes than the high school offers and is suggestive of how well the student is prepared for college level classes. Of course the best reason to choose the actual college class has nothing to do with next year but all to do with learning at the highest level possible now.