Importance of Calc BC vs AB for admission to top engineering schools

Hello,

My son is a rising senior and has excellent grades, challenging courses (several AP), good standardized scores and extra curriculars. He is considering applying to some highly selective programs in engineering and/or business. He is currently on track to complete Calc AB before graduation, but his school does offer Calc BC.

Would not being in the BC track put him out of contention for admission at to some of the top engineering or business schools? We heard as much from one school and want to get a broader opinion.

Thanks

Short answer - it depends.

What is the track at your son’s school? Are the options AB vs. BC, or is AB a prereq for BC at that HS?

If he can take BC without doubling up during the school year or taking a class over the summer and opts not to, then it would not be surprising that an AO from a “highly selective program” raises an eyebrow. However, if taking BC requires some type of acceleration, and the kid opts not to accelerate for a valid reason, then it would make no difference in the admissions process IMO.

While some selective programs will require that calculus be taken in HS, there is no college in the US that requires BC, so it’s really all in context.

skieurope - thanks for the reply.

A, B, and C are semester-long courses at this HS. Effectively, AB is a pre-req for C. He does not have the option of taking anything over the summer, so he would have to double-up on calc in order to complete A, B, and C. Doing so would imply a stressful semester and dropping another course that he is interested in taking - either music or econ.

We have heard “if you are interested in engineering, take the most challenging math courses offered in your HS”. By doing AB only, he would be taking a very challenging course load (including advanced physics), but not the “most challenging math”. So, confused on how to advise him from an admissions perspective (not thinking of college credit etc).

AP AB is not that hard. My reco is to take AP BC for top engineering programs if his HS allows him to take BC w/o AB.
You might have to fight the admin to get this done but it is worth it. Double up AB/BC will be a waste of time because there is overlap in some materials. For places like CMU, GTech or ther highly competitive programs, AP AB “alone” will be a disadvantage because most applicants to these schools will have AP BC. I have students taking AP AB online during this summer (not for grade, but just to keep up the background and hit the ground running with BC during the fall). It is definitely doable if the student is spending time and effort. There is a AB subscore in the AP BC test, and most kids do well there. AP BC is one of AP classes with the highest percentage to get a “5”. So be ready to have this in the bag when applying to competitive engineering programs. BTW - Youtube has many helpful AP AB videos and there are workbooks for AP AB available on Amazon. Take the time now to get prep and ready for AP BC in fall. JMHO.

He’s a senior to be so admission won’t know his scores when he applies. Does you son have any hooks - legacy, urm, first gen etc.? If he doesn’t, he should take BC, all his peers will have taken it or be taking it.

Correct. But what that means is taking AP Calc vs. AP Statistics, as an example. It does not mean that one needs to take every single math class offered, especially if doing so would require omitting another core class.

Others may disagree, but IMO, and this is coming as a STEM major, you really can’t effectively double up on calc - it’s sequential. It’s like doubling up on Spanish 2 and Spanish 3.

Going back to a valid reason as I said in my initial post.

No, “most” applicants will not have this. Many will, but not most. Keep in mind that every HS/district can set up a math curriculum as it sees fit. So in some HS’s AP Calc BC is the next class after precalc. Others offer Calc AB and Calc BC as a 2 year sequence. No college is going to reject an applicant based upon how a HS structures its course of study.

That’s an option, as I mentioned at the beginning. However if doing so interferes with another summer activity, he might want to think twice. Few colleges are looking to populate their classes with students that have nothing better to do outside of school but engage in further academics.

@theloniusmonk, no hooks really. Just well rounded in terms of academics and extras.

Thanks to all of you for the replies. Certainly gives us some things to think about.

Meaning a three semester calculus sequence? Do you mean that he will start the sequence in 12th grade?

If so, then there is no realistic way to complete all of it within one year at the high school (doubling up does not make sense since the material is typically taught in a sequential manner).