does class selection affect admissions

Hey guys, I’m an incoming junior in hs. I just transferred from a high school in Texas to one in California, and the college i want to go to is UCLA. However, a lot of the AP’s are taken so only a few are left. I’ve already finished math up to precalc- so alg 1, geometry, alg 2 and precalc- and although I was planning on taking Calc AB or Stats this year, those are full and all that’s left is Calc BC. I was planning on just taking AP Comp Sci instead as I’m REALLY not that great at math, but my academic advisor keeps telling me it looks bad for colleges if I don’t take another math even if I plan to take Stats for my senior yr. It kind of sounds like BS to me, but I really don’t know what to do. Should I take Comp Sci or Calc BC? or just a reg math class. I’m really trying to boost my GPA here. Thanks so much!

With an acceptance rate of 14.1% for 2018 Freshman applicants, you want to have a competitive application which means 4 years of Math in HS along with good HS course rigor. I know you do want to bump up your GPA, but what other AP classes are available to you for Junior year to help your GPA?

Your HS does not require AP Calculus AB before you take BC? What were your grades in Pre-Calc and do you feel confident you could do well in AP Calculus BC? If not, can you just take Regular Calculus this year and take AP Calculus BC or AP Stats Senior year?

What is your intended major?

This is what UCLA considers in their application review:

* LOS ANGELES

  • Very important: Academic GPA, Application essay, Rigor of secondary school record, Standardized test scores
  • Important: Character/personal qualities, Extracurricular activities, Talent/ability, Volunteer work, Work experience
  • Considered: First generation college student, Geographical residence, AP/IBHL exam scores
  • Note: GPA, test scores, course work, number of and performance in honors and AP courses most important. Essay considered. Strong senior program important. Extracurricular activities, honors and awards also reviewed.

I have two attending UCLA. If your goal is UCLA, I agree with your academic advisor. The UCs will compare you to the other students applying from your school. You won’t be penalize for classes not offered, but not taking advanced classes that are offered will make your application less competitive.

Agree a regular calculus class and AP stats as a senior, if Calc BC will be a struggle.

You can also talk to your advisor about taking classes at your local community college. My kids took a few classes online. The UCs will give an extra grade bump for California community college classes.

If you’re just starting your UC exploration. Google “UC GPA”. The UCs recalculate your GPA and will not use the GPA your school calculates. Only UC approved classes will provide the grade boost.

Regular Calc will be just as hard as ap Calc ab or bc. Calc is Calc. Ap Calc is equivalent to college intro single variable calculus. Given the state of Ucla you want the toughest schedule possible. You should have 4 years of social science, 4 years of math, 4 years of English, and 4 years of science.

If calculus BC at your high school is suitable for students who have just completed precalculus, it should be a good course for you to take. Students like you who are ready for calculus in 11th grade (two grade levels ahead) should be top students in math who should be able to handle calculus at college speed like calculus BC.

Does your school allow students to enroll in calc bc without ab first? What grade did you get in Precalculus and was it regular, accelerated, honors?

@MYOS1634 Most schools allow bc without ab as bc is just ab plus some extra stuff at the end. Doing both would mean a lot of overlap. Bc isn’t really a true college Calc 2 experience as it omits some key topics.

^actually, “most schools” don’t. You can’t assume.
Some schools treat AB-BC as a sequence: calc1, calc2. They require AB before BC because the content differs and there’s little overlap.
Some schools treat AB and BC as separate tracks, each with its own content, with BC being a fully college-paced class including AB plus the C content, and AB being slower paced. Students xhoose one or the other.
Students (and posters) can’t assume anything until they’ve asked how their school handles it.

I concur with @MYOS1634. The California HS’s in my area all require AP Calculus AB before BC. The best answer is it depends upon the HS’s policy.

@MYOS1634 I was mistaken to assume but in terms of actual content if you look at the ap Calc syllabus on college board bc will cover all of ab. Unless the school varies from the college board and makes bc just the Calc 2 stuff. But that breaks college board policy on equity for the ap exams and is a topic for another thread.

My high school let us just go straight to Calc BC and the instructors just said that the BC is like AB, but with the additional “C” part. I would understand if a high school didn’t let someone do that and we only could if we were at the upper end of our honors precalc class. If you are really not that good at math but are good with computers, I would think AP Comp Sci would be a better option.

@itsyaboiUCLA it depends on the ap com sci. Is it principles or the real one? If it’s principles I’d say ap Calc bc. Especially if the op is an intended engineering major ap Calc is much better than ap CS.

Instead of trying to game admissions (which you are unlikely to be able to do) why not figure out why you’re not doing well in math?

You write as if math grades are some fixed thing; you’re good at it or your not. My bet is that you could do much better but you’ve never been taught proper study habits. Let me ask you this: do you review the chapters and old homework before tests? Do you put in some extra time studying before tests? Both these sound reasonable and it’s what a lot of kids do, but they actually are poor ways to prepare!

Read the book “Make it Stick” this summer that talks about what is known about learning, with lots of tips for HS and college kids. You’ll learn about ideas like self-testing and distributed practice. Then apply the book.

For your class get a book like the “Calculus Problem Solver” (it’s similar to a SAT review book but focuses on calculus, there are similar books for many topics). Go to the chapter that matches what your class is studying that week, cover the answers, start working. When you can readily solve problems in practice you will readily solve them on tests and the grades will take care of themselves. This is self-testing.

Next is forgetting. A lot of kids study just before the test, but that is an ineffective strategy of massing all their study in one chunk. The way learning works is you learn something and then immediately start to forget it. If you want to keep what you’ve learned then you need to practice it again and again. Once you get a tennis serve down you’re not done. Same with the piano or violin. You need to practice to keep up proficiency, practice even more to improve. Academic learning uses the same neurons and follow the same biology.

Third is reviewing for a test. You shouldn’t review for a test! Solve new problems. The problem with reading thru old notes, homework, etc. that most kids do is that it confuses recognition with recall. It all looks familiar but on a test students discover they can’t recall it. Don’t find this out on the test, do sample problems before you’re doing them for keeps.

If you can commit to several hours study for AP Calculus each week (reading the chapter, homework, practice on your own) spread over several days of the week you will do just fine.