<p>Hi guys, I'm in a little pickle right now and I need your help. Right now I am picking classes for senior year, and I have all of my classes picked except for my math course; it is between AP Statistics and Calculus (a community college course taught at my high-school campus). Right now a girl and I are tied with our cumulative GPAs (to decide who is valedictorian), and next year all of our classes will be the same, except maybe for math, as she is taking AP Statistics. Here is the problem:</p>
<p>I am going to apply to Stanford and the Ivies, and I have heard for these schools it is more or less necessary to take Calculus if you want to get in. The problem is, that if I take Calculus, the class will not go on my transcript (as it is a community college course), and it will drop my cumulative GPA 0.002 points below my rival for Valedictorian. Thus, if I took Calculus, I would be taking the hardest course offered at my school, but I would miss being valedictorian (by 0.002 points). If I took AP Stats, me and her would be tied for valedictorian, but my college application would be marred by not taking Calculus.</p>
<p>So, what is more important for admission to Ivies and Stanford: being Valedictorian (vs. being #2), or taking Calculus?</p>
<p>Why don’t you screw her over and take a class for credit over in the summer in your HS. I know our past valedictorian had a three way tie, but since he took more credits over the summer that counted for his GPA he beat the two people he was tied with who didn’t know the policy lol. You can find a way to take calculus AND be val I am sure.</p>
<p>well i don’t know if this the same for you, but I know that community college courses on a high school transcript weight the same as an AP class, at least at my school. But i would ask your guidance counselor also about this. But take the course you know you are going to pass in, I mean are you two soo close in grades that you know she will have the same grade as you?</p>
<p>When you apply for admission and when all admissions decisions are made, Valedictorian status will not have been decided. Being Valedictorian will have no impact on whether you are admitted. Your ranking at the end of junior year is all they will see.</p>
<p>I think Nuke’s idea is sound, if you can get into the summer Calculus class at this point (or an online college-level Calc course along with your HS Stats class during the school year, if you can handle the extra load). You would have to have your college transcript sent to the colleges you apply to… which means you wouldn’t have any compelling reason to report the course for GPA-damaging credit to your high school.</p>
<p>If not… for admissions purposes, definitely course rigor over class rank. They see plenty of Valedictorians every year. They all say they want to see that you’ve taken the most challenging courseload you can. Take the Calculus class.</p>
<p>only 51% of accepted students at Stanford come from HSchools that rank their students, so relax and take the most rigorous classes you can.</p>
<p>[Stanford</a> University: Common Data Set 2008-2009](<a href=“Stanford Common Data Set | University Communications”>Stanford Common Data Set | University Communications)
C10. Percent of all degree-seeking, first-time, first-year (freshman) students who had high school class rank within each of the following ranges (report information for those students from whom you collected high school rank information).
Percent in top tenth of high school graduating class: 92%
Percent in top quarter of high school graduating class: 99%
Percent in top half of high school graduating class: 100%
Percent in bottom half of high school graduating class: 0%
Percent in bottom quarter of high school graduating class: 0%
Percent of total first-time, first-year (freshman) students who submitted high school class rank: 51%</p>
<p>Buddy, you don’t need Calculus to get into Stanford. I almost failed algebra II and took IB Maths Studies and I’ll be on the Farm this fall. Do make up for your lack of calculus by doing well in your other classes, though.</p>
<p>Take Calculus during the summer. You don’t have to include it in your high school transcript (unless your high school will give honors/AP credit for it) because you’ll send the college transcript to Stanford. Also, you can try taking the course through Stanford’s EPGY Program (some people like it, while others don’t). </p>
<p>Then, take AP Stats in the Fall and Spring of your senior year. You’ll be Valedictorian as long as you do well in senior year. Personally, I was valedictorian and I took some classes at a community college during high school. By taking the college classes and not the non honors classes in high school, I had more room for honors/AP courses and music (incl. AP Music Theory).</p>
<p>Neither her or I have ever gotten a B, so it is unlikely that either of us would get a B in AP Statistics. This is especially true since the AP Statistics class at my high school has a reputation of being a joke class, with a very low AP pass rate. </p>
<p>My high school doesn’t offer courses for credit over summer, so that is out. I can’t take the community college calculus course, because I will be away for part of the summer. Are the online courses a legitimate alternative?</p>
<p>BTW, I intend to major in business/economics in college, so…</p>
<p>Also, is it true that colleges only look at the ranking at the end of junior year? Me and her are exactly tied right now, but I was under the impression that colleges looked at the semester 1 report cards just to see how the students where doing, in which case they would see updated ranking.</p>
<p>They will mainly see your grades from the end of junior year. Meaning, they will receive a mid-year report that may affect admissions. However, you will not be affected because you went from number 1 to number 2 and still managed to get all A’s with a difficult course load. It will only emphasize the rigor of your school to your advantage. If you moved ranking AND your grades dropped, that would be a different story…</p>
<p>Are there any legitimate online calculus courses that I could take over the summer so that I could take AP Stats during my senior year?</p>
<hr>
<p>Yes.
Even if you don’t live in Florida, you can still request online classes which are accredited through Florida Virtual school’s “Global school”. I believe there is a fee involved for out of state students, but they offer AP Calculus AB and BC. </p>
<p>I hope all goes well. Check it out , and best of luck buddy! Be sure to not kill yourself with too much of an insane work load though. Is it really smart to take AP Calculus over the summer? I mean that would be intense, considering the summer is supposed to be “relax time”.:P</p>
<p>Being #1 or #2 in your class isn’t really going to make a difference at top schools; they’re looked at as basically the same. You should be more concerned with taking the hardest classes. If that means taking Calculus (which, honestly, isn’t difficult at all), then go for it. </p>
<p>Remember: Princeton and other top schools reject the majority of Valedictorians that apply. Can you imagine what it would be like if a college’s entire class was composed of High School Valedictorians? It would be hell.</p>