<p>Next year as a senior I can take either ap calc ab or ap stats. I hate math. It causes me so much stress. I am also terrible at it. I would rather take ap stats. Do I have to take ap calc to stand a chance as a business marketing major at top non-ivy colleges (ex: U of M, UNC, UVA, Northwestern) </p>
<p>How many apclasses have you taken? </p>
<p>The following things are true:</p>
<ul>
<li>All of those colleges are selective, care about rigor, and have access to thousands of applicants who take the hardest math courses available to them.</li>
<li>I’m not finding this “business marketing” major at Michigan or Northwestern (not finding that anywhere outside of MBA programs), but any undergraduate business degree worth its salt is going to require calc and/or stats at some point. </li>
<li>An “I hate math” attitude is going to throw up red flags no matter what your intended major.</li>
</ul>
<p>You do realize that a ton of the business and economics classes are math and calculus, right? So if you plan on doing business, you better start liking math…</p>
<p>I will have 6 or 7 aps. I realize I will have to take both stat and calc eventually. I don’t totally hate math. But it is definitely not my strength. The math department at my school is awful and would rather wait and take calc in college. I am going to have a lot of hard classes senior year and I really don’t think I can handle taking calc on top of that right now. I am just wondering if taking ap stat instead will kill my chances. Thanks </p>
<p>U of M has it in. It is a major within the ross school of business. Northwestern doesn’t. If I went there I would probably major in something else (communications?) </p>
<p>In that case I would take the ap stats with the intention of trying to get a good enough score on the test for college credit if possible. That way it is one less math class you have to take in college, and although challenging would most likely be easier in high school. Go to the college websites and see what ap score you would have to get for college credit and make that a goal. I disagree with a comment above. Some business classes use calc and stats, but not a ton. Stats is big in marketing for instance. If you need to get a head start look at an online course for calc, or work with a tutor over the summer. In my personal opinion, you will use stats more in business. Can you or have you taken ap Econ?</p>
<p>I would really put my money on AP Calc…yeah, AP Statistics has an intimidating name, but a lot of colleges acknowledge that AP Calc is the more difficult of the two and thus the academically-stronger students take it. I’m taking AP Calc right now and my grades are really, really good and I’m not the best at math. It may be my teacher and the syllabus, but there appears to be 3 topics for AP Calc. They are:
-Derivatives
-Weird math stuff (optimization, related rates, etc.)
-Integrals</p>
<p>Derivatives and integrals are extremely important for college, so I would suggest to do what I’m doing and taking AP Calc in high school, then re-taking it in college if I feel that I need a stronger feel for it. </p>
<p>If you really hate math, try taking another look at it. I know that throughout my school experience, I never really liked math. I took the classes just to get by academically and to be able to take other courses as they had math prerequisites. All of this changed when I took AP Calc. This year, I truly tried to enjoy math. If I didn’t understand a concept, I went over it until I knew it inside and out. I went from getting a 53 on a quiz to beating everyone else by 7+ points on a major test (I got a 100). </p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>I would suggest taking calc because if you get a good enough score on the AP exam, you could skip that class in college. Whereas, it would be harder to find an AP Stats equivalent at college because many college intro stats courses go further into the material–well, from my own experience, at least. When I took AP Stats and looked for course equivalencies at the colleges I got into, and the one I currently attend, they gave me “credit” for the AP score (boosting my class standing) but it did not substitute the intro-level stats course. </p>
<p>Not sure if the schools you listed are similar in that regard, but you may want to check on that. Especially if you’re going to end up taking both eventually, I’d take the one that lets you place out of one college math class.</p>
<p>A quick check of u of m shows a score of 4 and up on the ap stat test will get you college credit/class exemption from what I read. Double check this of course. FYI, my d did not take ap calc and got into ut-austin mccoombs business school oos. She did have ap stats and ap Econ and was very active in deca. ;
</p>
<p>
What’s going to hurt you in the long run isn’t whether or not you take calculus in HS, its your attitude/approach. </p>
<p>The colleges looking for good students, the companies that hire business marketing majors, they look for people that take responsibility for themselves and embrace challenges. What you’re showing is a passive attitude – you’re at the mercy of what the fates give you. And many people go thru HS, college, and life that way. They’re just not the ones the selective colleges and better employers look for. They’ll infer it by seeing what you didn’t do – leadership positions, ECs, internships, strong letters of rec, etc. because it wasn’t handed to you as an option that you could simply elect to take advantage of but would have required initiative and work on your part.</p>
<p>Sure, it would be better if you had the math teacher from “Stand and Deliver”. But you don’t. So you have a choice. You can moan & groan about the lousy hand you were dealt. Or you could decide to learn it anyway. You are the beneficiary of technology unimaginable 10 years ago. In ItunesU, open courseware, The Teaching Company, Khan Academy, etc. you have access to the best instruction anywhere. Stuck on a problem? There are forums where people will help. Since you won’t be the only student in the class you could work with your peers to figure things out. </p>
<p>I should also point out that the reason you are “terrible” at math is probably because you don’t spend enough time on it. It takes work, and time, to learn it. In a history class you can skim the chapter the night before a test and then recognize enough, surrounded by some clever prose on short answer questions, to get a good grade. Math and science doesn’t work like that. It takes a few hours of work each week to master the concepts and be able to apply them without flipping back to see worked examples. </p>
<p>And that’s something to think about before you take calculus - in HS or college. Many college students find that to get a good grade in a math/science class they have to spend 6-10 hours a week outside of class studying. That’s doing the reading, the homework, and extra problems (one of the “Problem Solver” books is a good source) until they have learned the material. If you’re not willing or able to spend that time on Calculus, then even if Jaime Escalante was teaching your class you still would do poorly. </p>
<p>Business majors typically have to take calculus.</p>
<p>If calculus AB is available in high school, it is a slower paced version that may be a more gentle introduction to calculus than a college calculus course. However, colleges often do offer a less rigorous (though still faster paced) “calculus for business majors” course.</p>
<p>What do you call “terrible”? It you mean “I have to work 1h30 each night on precalc to get an A”, you’ll be fine. If you work a lot and are getting a B, this may mean AP Calc AB may be very hard but since for your intended major you’ll have to take calculus in college, AP Calc AB will ease you into it (because you’ll be clever and 1st semestre freshman year, you’ll take Calc1, NOT Calc2.)
If you’re getting a C in precalc, you may have to rethink your college goals and career unless you can through hard work raise that grade.
Now if you think you can’t get a B in Calc AB (or your high school “regular calc” class), then take Statistics. But be aware that even “Calc for business” is going to be like Calc AB on steroids.
The colleges you mention will prefer CalcAB, but if you don’t have a B+/A- in it, they’ll prefer an A in AP Stats.
Frankly, if you apply as undecided, AP Stats will be plenty fine.
The problem will be for you to handle college calc in addition to everything else once you start college if you stay with your idea of a business major.
I hope you have started your list with 2 safeties (colleges you like, are 100 % sure you can get into, and can afford), have 3-5 matches, and then only added colleges such as Northwestern as reaches. If not, congratulations on having dream schools, now comes the real work: finding matches and safeties.</p>
<p>Thanks so much you have been extremely helpful. Last semester I worked really hard and ended up with a b. and don’t worry basically all the schools I listed are reach/dream schools. But I was just more curious on their policies on it. </p>
<p>Also note that many students find pre-calc harder than actual calc. That’s true at our school, where pre-calc is a known tough course, and a great prep for any level calc course. Our teachers make a recommendation as to which level calc course each student should take, and if you ask, I’m sure your teacher would be comfortable telling you which one they think you’ll do best in, and even if you should take AP Stat instead.</p>
<p>If you want to take AP Stats, then take it. Stats will actually be more useful to a marketing major than calc. As UCB says, if you need calc as a business major, the school will likely offer a calc for business majors course.</p>