<p>If I have a B in AP Calculus even though I skipped precalc, will I basically have a slim chance of getting into this school?</p>
<p>Did any current students get a B in Math or Science in high school? In what class?</p>
<p>Did any current students get below a B for any class grade?</p>
<p>Thanks. :]</p>
<p>I was wait listed and got a B in geometry my freshman year. I also got B’s in English and a C spanish. The rest of my math/science grades were A’s though</p>
<p>where your classes AP or honors?</p>
<p>my school offers very few honors, so they were all either normal or ap, chemistry being the exception… i had ap lit junior year and now im in normal, so they apparently don’t care too much about that lol</p>
<p>to answer your original question, try to avoid getting a B on any upper level math/science course. if you can’t help it, at least try to supplement it with a 5 (if it’s AP) or do really well on a subject test. if they have doubts about your ability to handle high school coursework, i think your chances of getting into mudd are pretty slim.</p>
<p>To repeat what unleashed said, get a 5 on the AP exam as if your life depended on it. It makes it look like you know the stuff, but perhaps that you just slept through an exam or something like that. Even if you got an A in the class, a 4 on the AP Calc AB exam would make adcoms really think.</p>
<p>ahh crap. well i suck at testing (i take a while do work things out, even if i know the material)</p>
<p>I didn’t think it would matter since I would take Calc BC next year and that has a subscore for AB.</p>
<p>I got a B+ first semester in AP Calculus, after skipping precalc. I currently have a similar grade.</p>
<p>I have never gotten below a solid A in any high school math course before this, and I have only gotten a A- in AP Chemistry last year (although no one understood our teacher so we ended up all not passing except my best friend who got a 3… and mind you, she’s a harvard legacy and has straight As, so she wasn’t too happy either.)</p>
<p>Will getting a B+ in AP Calc AB this year hurt me (and possibly not doing great on the exam) if I get an A first semester (and second) senior year and get a 5 on the AP BC exam?</p>
<p>Also- can you answer if you have gotten a B or less in any other courses?</p>
<p>Not passing the chemistry AP exam already worries me A LOT about your chances. A LOT. What year are you exactly? As far as the AB calculus exam, I believe the adcoms would expect mudd applicants to be able to get a 5 on the exam without much effort. If you have to work hard for generic AP high school math then Mudd might be a miserably difficult experience for you. </p>
<p>Personally, the only Bs I got in highschool were for English Lit and Economics, both during my senior year (one after acceptance), and reminding you that I went to PDHS taking a schedule of 11 AP exams throughout. I dont know how Sacred Heart compares (Im guessing thats where you go) to other schools in the valley at this point, but just keep this in mind.</p>
<p>Sacred heart goes up to 8th grade- Xavier College Preperatory is the new catholic high school that opened less than 3 years ago. I am a Junior in High school. Okay well hopefully I will be fine on the exam… you see, we’ve been practicing from these tests that are like the exam but supposedly a lot harder (They are from Andover). Apparently the test is much easier, and from what I have seen this is true. So we shall see. :]</p>
<p>Well like I said- only one person passed the exam so it seems it was correlated to the teaching. I am planning to take a course in Chemistry this summer at the community college so i am more prepared. I feel i can excel in it, I just had a bad experience with the class.</p>
<p>FWIW, I got in with a 4 in AB (HS didn’t offer BC), but I took two additional math classes at the local university. So, Blackroses, taking and doing well in that CC chem class this summer will, I think, be a huge asset</p>
<p>When you apply, you might want to make special note of the chem thing.</p>
<p>Good to see you around again Miss Blackroses!! I am pretty confident if you know calculus even decently, a 5 on the AP exam will be easy to get. Remember, this isn’t like the SAT math where getting 1 question wrong drops your score 100 points or something (exaggerating, but you know what I mean).</p>
<p>I think the question is not whether the calculus grade would hurt your chances, it’s what will help them. Doing well in math/science classes is a crucial indicator, as you can imagine – more so than standardized tests, in my honest opinion. I seem to recall you’re a junior. A good idea for you might be to take AP Physics C and prove you can ace that class, and that you actually know what you’re talking about. Schools want to see what you can do, and red flags should be cleared! Write a little note to them if there’s space on the application, explaining yourself. </p>
<p>Obviously if a student were only a B-level calculus student, then Mudd would be death for this student. So you need to convince the officers you can handle Mudd!</p>
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<p>Oh, it’s good to know you’re still up for BC. If you ace BC, you should convince the admissions officers fine. I’d definitely do AP Physics C + BC together to really convince them you’re up to it, because note, the core at Mudd will probably involve much tougher versions of stuff like mechanics and E&M, at least from what a Mudd physics graduate I know has said.</p>
<p>^ Thanks for the input. Two questions though:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If they see a bad score on the AP calc test, the only senior grades th ey will see is off first semester. I don’t think they will see my AP calc BC test grade before admitence so I don’t think I can use that as a factor? :[</p></li>
<li><p>My school is only offering Physics B next year. :[ Self study?.. and how will that even show on my transcript</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Doing well in the first semester of BC at least signals that you are now better equipped with calculus. </p>
<p>Also, is the AP test not in May? You have plenty of time to look things over to do a good job on this one, so you shouldn’t have to think about the BC test. Doing well on the AB AP exam + doing well in your first semester of BC, along with some explanation is good.</p>
<p>Maybe try to take the equivalent of Physics C at a community college. If you go out of your way to show that you care enough to demonstrate your grades in AB don’t reflect your actual abilities, then I think that even signals enthusiasm to the school, and should be noted.</p>
<p>Self-study is great, but as you said, may not be as ideal in your situation since you’re trying to document your abilities for the school to view. </p>
<p>So without reading the rest of what I wrote, my simple philosophy is that you should go out of your way to put good things on the plate for the admissions officers, so the bad is eradicated – after all, admissions officers <em>want</em> to admit you if you show tons of promise. At least presumably.</p>
<p>Take heart, my son actually got a C in AP Calc AB first semester and a B+ second semsester (plus a B in Honors Bio-Chem) and got accepted. He als got a smattering of other B+s in high school. However, in fairness, he did take Ap Calc in 10th grade and got a 5 on the AP test and got A’s in BC calc as a junior (and a 5 on that test as well). He was able to show that first semseter 10th grade was a big adjustment year (first year of high school for us) and he came on strong after that finishing up with straight A’s at the end of junior year and the beginning fo senior year. The point is that even a C is not an automatic rejection if there is other stuff to offset it, but I’d defienitley shoot for a 5 on the AP test and try to show an upward trend.</p>
<p>I had a smattering of C+s throughout HS (I’m not the most conscientious student ever) and an F in Physics freshman year…</p>
<p>^^^^ AND YOU GOT IN?</p>
<p>There is hope!!!</p>
<p>(Unless you had a really unusual hook??)</p>
<p>Thanks also to the previous comment, like i said the fact that i skipped precalc enitrely is a factor. </p>
<p>Mathboy, would you advise taking a AP Physics C equivalent instead of AP Physics B? I think AP Physics B may be useful to have a better overall grounding in physics, even if it doesn’t involve a lot of math and is more conceptual. What do you think?</p>
<p>Hey Blackroses, in my opinion AP Physics C is much better experience. I think AP Physics B covers more topics, and as you say, with less mathematical foundation. The thing is that it’s not how many topics you know, but how good you are at actually working with them and solving problems, all the math included. Not having a background in calculus greatly reduces some of the conceptual things you can translate into actual problem-solving, and if you’re planning on doing engineering, as I seem to recall your saying, I think it’s more the manner of working with things than the actual physics that matters. </p>
<p>Also, if I were an admissions officer and saw a lower than A-level grade in calculus, doing well in Physics B wouldn’t be enough for me to bail you out! I’d want to see AP Physics C, along with a really solid performance, else I’d be worried about your ability to handle Mudd.</p>
<p>Bah, I shouldn’t have posted that. I go to an ultra-competitive magnet school (average Physics C score: 5.00) and I also demonstrated proficiency in Math/Science through science SATs, APs, and Olympiad involvement. Check my posts for my profile if you want.</p>