Does it matter when you take certain AP classes in high school?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Do colleges (especially elite) care whether you take certain classes at a different time than some other students but get a good grade in the class and exam (ex. AP Calculus)?

2

Colleges care if you took the course, and how well you did on the exam. For example, if you took AP Calculus BC in sophomore year and got a 5, it would not be and more special than taking AP Calculus BC junior year, when most people take it, and getting a 5 on the exam.
At least, this is what I’ve been told at school.

3

However, in relation to the above post, taking it Sophomore year opens up more room for advanced courses junior and senior years. If you take BC sophomore year, and then give up on math, that looks 10x worse than taking it as a senior. However, if you then go onto multivariate and beyond, it looks much better.

4

I don’t think one looks worse than the other. A lot of people don’t have the opportunity to take multivariable calculus in high school. (Even if there’s a nearby college with a dual-enrollment program, students might still have problems with money or transportation.)

Is that really true? I thought it was usually taken by seniors.

5

@halcyonheather‌ I’m just giving an example, so it doesn’t necessarily have to be true. Sorry if I confused you.

6

Thank you all so much for your responses! Unfortunately my school doesn’t have multivariate so Calc BC is the highest level of math at my school.

7

Only a very small percentage of seniors take calculus, and an even smaller percentage takes BC. However, those are over-represented at the most selective colleges (about 2/3 Harvard admits have taken calculus in any form - those who didn’t either have something extra such as two AP foreign languages or the class wasnt offered at their school/at a nearby institution.)
Colleges don’t really differentiate, for admission purpose, between AB and BC, unless you’re a STEM applicant to a highly selective college.
The only colleges that require a year of calculus from all applicants are CalTech and HarveyMudd (although, obviously, you better have a good reason not to have taken calculus if you’re applying to MIT).
Some high schools consider that AB= Calc1 and BC= Calc2, so they offer these two as a sequence. Other high schools consider that AB= Calc1, BC= Calc1+2 and offer both together.
It does matter whether you take AP Human Geography as a freshman (to try and see what Ap classes are like = good), as a senior who’s already completed 4-8 “core” APs (as a “fun” complement = good), or as a junior whose only AP class it is (= good if you’re applying to a directional or not very selective university, bad if you’re applying to a Top 50 university/LAC.)