I recently talked to my Math teacher and the Math Supervisor about taking Multivariable, but they both recommended I should not because colleges will not accept. They told me they received a letter from MIT stating that they are no longer accepting students with Multivariable, and if given an option to choose from an AP Calc BC student and Multivariable, they will always choose the AP Calc BC student. The supervisor told me that colleges feel the high schools are not doing a good enough job of teaching Multivariable Calculus and they want students who have not done it, so they can teach the students their way. However, I read on other websites and forums that students with Multivariable Calculus are being accepted into top universities. I am completely confused as to whether I should take it in my senior year or take AP Statistics instead. I am sophomore in Precalc and will take AP Calc BC next year. Any advice is accepted.
They’ll accept YOU (if you have the ecs, test scores, etc), what they might not accept is the credit, meaning you’ll have to take Multivariable again in college. Go ahead and take calc bc then multivariable.
Three kids in my son’s Stanford OS X multi variable class were accepted at Yale, Harvard & Stanford. I don’t think you have anything to worry about. The IMO gold medal winner from our town who is at MIT was way beyond that in his senior year.
Taking the highest level math you can be successful at is always a plus. You are confused and being told an odd and incorrect story. Exactly what @snowfairy137 said - they may not apply the credit, it has nothing to do with acceptance. My engineering students had Multivariable as seniors, much better and made them way more competitive than Stats for their major. You would more likely be “penalized” for not taking the highest math you can take if you are going into STEM. MV can only be a plus, not a negative. Also, be sure to take the math 2 subject test, that does help with credit.
<<<<<They told me they received a letter from MIT stating that they are no longer accepting students with Multivariable, and if given an option to choose from an AP Calc BC student and Multivariable, they will always choose the AP Calc BC student.
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I highly doubt that they received a letter from MIT stating that. That is insane.
They *may * have revived a letter saying that multivariable calculus will not be accepted for credit at X college, which is very different than not accepting a student.
Not valid as others have said. It also fails the basic sniff test as there are quite a few tippy-top HS students advanced enough in math to not only have taken multi-variate calculus in HS, but gone well-beyond it.
If MIT had such a ham-fisted admission policy, they’d likely end up rejecting plenty of students who are highly likely to become future topflight math/STEM scholars/scientists in academia and/or private industry such as a HS classmate who is currently a tenured math Prof recently promoted to full Prof at his elite university or the salutatorian HS classmate who completed a BS/MS in EE in 4 years at MIT and after working a few years…returned to MIT to complete his EE PhD and is the head of a New England area tech research firm.
I can almost guarantee that either you or the teacher misunderstood. As others have mentioned, they will probably not give credit (unless a particular college also offers an internal exam for credit), but many applicants to top colleges are accepted with MVC.
I will tell you that at Harvard, it is almost impossible to get placement beyond, or credit for, MVC (or any post AP Calc class), most likely because, as you said, they feel that students should learn their way of higher math. Instead, they “encourage” a student to take one of Harvard’s Honors MVC sequences (i.e. Math 25 or 55) instead. However, ~20% of the incoming class have taken MVC or beyond.
http://features.thecrimson.com/2017/freshman-survey/academics/
This is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard on here.
If they want to teach you their way (and that’s actually fairly common), they don’t accept the credit. That’s all.
As others have said, either you misunderstood or your teacher is ill informed. Be aware that many high school teachers and admins know very little about competitive admissions, so the latter is a real possibility.
I suspect MIT doesn’t give credit for it, but you may be able to test out. In any case, learning MV now will benefit you later. Learn it as well as you can. Also know that at top colleges many students have already taken MV before they arrive. It is not unusual.
There are multiple approaches to that class at different schools. Some are proof based while others are problem intensive. Some schools allow a calculator, and others do not. Some schools require you to memorize a lot of formulas, while others don’t require so much. Each school seems to believe that their approach is a bit superior. For this reason, they often want you to learn it their way. Still, the more you know at the beginning, the easier your path will be.
Well then, thank goodness my D18 isn’t applying to MIT, because she’s taking MVC now. :))
My son took multi-variable calc senior year - that must be why MIT rejected him! (OTOH Harvard seemed to think he was okay.) In the end he went to Carnegie Mellon where they gave him a math placement test and he took whatever level of math they recommend based on that. I don’t believe he got credit for any math beyond BC Calc, but it hardly mattered as he wasn’t interested in graduating early and the sequencing of courses would have made that very difficult.
This just shows how easily people can misunderstand. (Assuming this is a serious question.)
Maybe they meant it won’t guarantee acceptance, they won’t accept you just for having it. But I can hardly imagine OP’s math teachers even getting a letter from MIT, much less, of this nature.
Agree lots of advanced kids are in post-AP math and have a fine shot. OP needs to learn what matters. Or MVC or not won’t be the problem.
I checked out MIT’s website on transfer credit and there’s nothing there that says they won’t take multivariable calculus. They say they won’t grant credit for AP Calculus AB but you can get advanced standing if you score a 5. They do grant 12 hours of credit for AP Calculus BC.
Credits for classes taken in college are granted on a case-by-case basis, which is the same at every school. Also
which essentially means whatever college you take the classes at needs to give you an official transcript.
The math department at MIT has a more detailed page on what you need to do to seek transfer credit for classes taken at another college http://math.mit.edu/academics/undergrad/first/transfer/index.php
My bet is that if MIT categorically did not accept credit for multivariable calculus, they’d just put it on the website. That would cut down the amount of work they’d have to do auto-rejecting requests for transfer credit on multivariable calculus.
Also, honestly, the logic doesn’t make any sense. Let’s for example imagine a student who lives in Columbus, OH, who takes multivariable calculus at nearby Ohio State University instead of the AP Calc BC class at her HS. She’s performing at a very high level! Why should she be denied admission to MIT simply because she took multivariable calculus at a top public university?
Even if colleges were not accepting credit for multivariable calculus, having been previously exposed to multivariable calculus will only help a student who has to take it again.
Let’s also acknowledge the fact that a student would not be choosing between Calc BC and MVC. Calc BC is integral calculus and the equivalent of Calc II at most colleges; MV calc is the equivalent of Calc III at most places. So a student who is taking MV calc/calc III is already beyond Calc BC.
Which is what OP stated that in the original post. S/he is a sophomore, planning to take BC as a junior, and is looking at MVC vs. AP Statistics as a senior.
Of course, for the OP, the resolution is simple - call MIT.
To the OP, take Multi and Stats or just Multi your senior year. Or, if you are afraid to take Multivariable then take AB junior year an BC senior year plus or minus AP Stats.
MIT offers an Advanced Standing exam for 18.02 Multivariable Calculus. If you learn the material up to their standards, and pass the exam, you do get credit for it.
http://web.mit.edu/registrar/classrooms/exams/ase_exams.html
http://registrar.scripts.mit.edu/yourexams/
As you can see the exam for 18.02 is scheduled on September 22.
That’s proof that MIT will still accept you if you’ve taken MVCalc. QED
Did they show you the letter?
This claim does not meet the smell test, as mentioned above.
What it might actually be is that if the multivariable calculus course is a high school course (not a college or dual enrollment course), it will not be accepted for transfer credit (unlike AP scores or college courses), at least not unless you take a math placement test at MIT or whatever college you eventually attend.
My daughter took Multivariable Calc, linear Algebra and discrete Math at the local Community College and was accepted to MIT last year, she even got credit for some of it. I am sure it was a misunderstanding.
My daughter’s first year roommate had taken MVC as a senior in HS. She didn’t get credit for it (their school didn’t give credit for anything), but she tested out of it and went on to be a math major.