<p>DS 2, a high school sophomore, is worried that he is at a disadvantage in college admissions because he is on track to take Calculus as a senior. He is currently taking Trig and is earning an A. He will take Honors Pre Calc as a Junior, then AP Calc AB(?) as a senior. He has not chosen a major for college yet but is leaning toward some type of STEM major.</p>
<p>DS 1 took AP Calc as a junior, earned an A, and is now a Mech Eng. major at college. Younger brother compares himself to older bro and is worried that "it is too late." I think he is on track to be a competitive applicant to a variety of schools, but he doesn't find my opinion credible.</p>
<p>Please share your thoughts on how I can bolster his confidence that he is on track. He has a 4.25 gpa and is taking a variety of rigorous classes. He earned a decent PSAT score in math that should continue to improve.</p>
<p>In most schools, AP calculus is the highest math available, so how would that be disadvantage? I would have him take AP Calculus BC in senior year, instead of AB. Also have him take SAT 2 math subject test next year to bolster his applications.</p>
<p>Fall2016- It is not offered at our school. The traditional path at our school is APCalc (AB) followed by AP Stats. The intent of my question was that DS 2 has the belief that taking Calculus as a senior rather than as a junior makes the student non-competitive for a stem major at selective colleges.</p>
<p>I don’t think it is true, as admissions are supposed to look at what is available at your school. If he has time and is really dedicated he might take equivalent of Calc I at the local college and take AP Stats at HS his senior year. What colleges is he thinking about?</p>
<p>It should not be a problem if your son end up with AP Calc Senior year. One of our local high schools does not offer AP Calc at all but one of its graduate was a Rhodes Scholar graduating from MIT. So it’s in the context of your high school is what matters.</p>
<p>^^^Actually I think it is also the context of what the middle school offered. Often kids can’t get on the fastest track if they don’t start HS Algebra in 7th or 8th grade. Kids could easily be taking the hardest math available to them without taking the hardest math a HS has to offer.</p>
<p>Take Precalc at a local community college in the spring or summer.
He will take a test in the fall to determine competency and get reassigned to Calc.
Go with your s to ask from your gc for permission to take as required for enrollment for precalc at the cc and if the hs will accept the credit.</p>
<p>If calculus AB (~= semester of freshman calculus in college) is the highest level of math offered in high school, then that is ok to take in senior year. If he is more motivated and the schedule works, he can take calculus at a community college in order get a whole year’s worth of college freshman calculus during his senior year in high school.</p>
<p>Statistics is useful for many majors, but he can take a one semester introductory course in college (which may be more advanced or in-depth than AP statistics) or a junior-level one year sequence if he wants or needs to do it in greater depth.</p>