Would competitive universities prefer to see the student who completed Calc BC as a junior take multivariable calculus as a senior or AP stats? Or does it matter? He’s a likely biology major in college. Thanks.
MV is considered the next step up. AP Stats isn’t. If he’s solid on Calc BC, I’d recommend taking MV Calc
Probably doesn’t matter honestly. Sure MV would look good, but BC as junior (and even if you were taking it as a senor) is ahead most others. If Stats interests you more then go for that.
Multivariable calculus is generally seen as a more rigorous course than AP statistics. However, if it is not a college course, he may not get credit or placement for it, though a biology major probably will not need credit or placement for it. A biology major will likely need statistics (consider the heavy use of statistics in biology and medical research papers), though it may be more useful to take a calculus-based statistics course in college.
So far he’s breezin’ through BC. I had been thinking perhaps he’d be able to skip some college stats for doing well on AP stats. But looking at the UC’s it appears he’d only get elective credit for AP stats.
That may be the case. I took Calc I and II at a local community college. I am currently taking Multivariable as a senior, and diff EQ next semester.
The teacher is a real piece of work, and it is quite difficult to do well in the course. The situation may be different, but AP Stat is less rigorous and an easier class to pass. Whereas in Calc I and II I easily aced, calc 3 will be hard to 3.5.
Of course it may be easier for him to complete multivariable, since we received the difficult professor, and he seems to be quite talented to be breezing through BC. Most colleges will accept a slightly lower school at the college level, and if it transfers the grade will not also transfer.
Good luck, but both paths show academic rigor.
Why not take both? I am a senior and I am taking both multivariable and statistics and it is not too hard to manage. In addition, statistics is not hard to self-study. I do agree that statistics is better for a biology major, while multivariable is the more rigorous course.
Our senior S is taking Multivariable and Linear Algebra. Since he has the aptitude, it doesn’t seem to be a problem. It’s the same as if I’d taken two history classes at once.
AP Stats is a complete joke. Any half decent student could teach himself the whole class in about 25-30 hours of self-study, perhaps even less. The AP Exam is really easy too. AP Stats would be a great option if one wants an easy class that won’t take up time and gets an easy A.
Multivariable Calculus is a completely different thing and is not even worth comparing to AP Stats. It’s a real math class and actually requires work and some intellect to be successful in.
@chootimes Ah - why not both indeed. Well the school department has added a new wrinkle called “Career Technical Educational” requirement. Between that, orchestra, foreign language and psych - his dance card’s about full. He’ll have to drop something as-is.
@gearsstudio Thanks. I had heard similar from a good source. It’s sounding more and more like multi V.
Math Dept at DD’s school told kids who took BC as juniors to avoid AP Stats because it’s useless IRL. But they offered a calc-based stats alternative, so she’s taking that. Would have taken Linear Algebra if calc-based stats hadn’t been offered.
Taking the next step up in calculus MV or linear algebra is much better.
For the record, stating that AP Stats is useless or a joke is misguided. It might not fit some student’s specific situation but it works well for many others. As stated above, taking both might be a good option too. Taking as much math-related studies in high school will serve you well. Good luck!
A bio major will use statistics more than multivariable calculus.
AP stats is not the hardest AP but it’s very useful. Universities find it tough to judge the rigor of high school MV calculus courses since there’s no AP exam - it’s not clear that they’d view it the same as a college MV course unless they’re very familiar with your high school.
A Bio major will need statistics more than MV but… AP Statistics is NOT a college statistics class and will not count as such. It’s a class designed for academically strong students who aren’t good at math, or for students who aren’t quite on the Honors/AP track but want to try one course to see what it’s like. AP Stats can be taken in addition to MV for a strong student but shouldn’t replace it.
For biology, your child would be done if s/he presents the results of the BC exam.
For premed, s/he would be placed in Calc 2 and that’d be the only math class s/he’d need. Strictly speaking premeds only need Calc 1 /one calc class taken in college but many premeds who major in science may need to take math for their actual majors.
A KEY class will be biostatistics. Taking a second, calculus-based statistics class will also matter.
A student bringing in a 5 on BC may be able to take calculus 3 (multivariable calculus) at many schools.
Note that many medical schools do require college courses (as opposed to AP credit) for calculus and/or statistics. Calculus 3 should count, although some pre-meds think (not always correctly) that they can get “easy A” grades by repeating their AP credit by taking calculus 1.
College courses taken while in high school do count toward GPA for medical school application purposes.
^I know, but many universities do not offer “Calculus 3”.
Also, traditionally, premeds “retake” their last math class in order to have an “easy A”.
Their transcript only needs to have one calculus course. Mostly if premeds “validate” Calculus 1 OR Calculus 2 on their transcript, they’ve fulfilled their calc requirement (then they need to take statistics/biostatistics). For a student who took MV, it’d make sense to “validate” Calc 2 rather than Cal 1. After MV, Calc 2 should be easy.
Actually, a student who’s taken Calc BC should get an “easy A” in Calc 1… otherwise something’s wrong with the BC class!
Right now there’s a student whom I’d advised to take Calc 2 (considering his placement test, HS preparation, and math-based EC’s.) The premed adviser over-rode my recommendation, stating that all premeds took Calc1 because they all needed to review. He’s currently at 99% average with hardly any work and while he doesn’t consider it a total waste because he finds some examples thought-provoking, this is patently unfair to the other students and not a good use of his time.