When I was touring Purdue and attending engineering info sessions, it seems like a lot of people in FYE start off in cal II or III. Ts is due to AP or college transfer credit, but I’m not in AP calc. I have an A in my Calc I class, but I’m worried I’ll be behind next year. Thoughts?
While there is a significant number of students starting in Calc II or III, it is definitely not the majority. You will not be behind if you start off with the normal calc sequence. (FWIW, many students suggested to my daughter not skipping ahead because Calc II is notoriously the hardest of the sequence).
I guess it depends on how you define a lot. Among my daugter’s crowd, the most common scanario was a year of HS Calc and then take Calc 1 as a Freshman. Despite what the AP program likes to tell you, Calc AB isn’t equivalent to a college Calc I course at a top school. I wouldn’t recommend skipping Calc 1 without an A and a 4 or 5 on the Calc BC AP.
My D started with Calc 1 even with AP Calc in high school. She was happy she did - it was difficult, there were definitely topics her AP course didn’t cover in-depth. Also, her friends who took Calc 2 struggled more with their grades and your GPA is really important when it comes to leaving FYE and joining an engineering major program at Purdue.