<p>I am thinking that the LACs the OPs son is applying to take a more holistic approach in reviewing applications and that these schools will overall be impressed by the strength of her son’s schedule. They are not as lock-step in their definition of what constitutes a strong application and for the curriculum that the student will be pursuing, top level high school math will not be a fatal deficiency. The calculus he will have taken will be a firm enough foundation for any core curriculum math requirement or for a liberal arts oriented statistics class.</p>
<p>Whether or not the applicant gets in to the very competitive LACs he may be considering will depend upon the overall strength of his complete application, and this one item alone will not be disqualifying. There will be students with math no further than pre-calc who get in and their will be students with multivariable who are rejected.</p>
<p>The top level schools are looking for that check on the " most rigorous" box. If your high school offers AP Calc, then that’s what the admissions comittee is looking for. If the high school’s “most rigorous” math class is something else, then THAT’s the standard.</p>
<p>The bigger issue is whether an A on a lower level class trumps a B in a more difficult class. I’ve been under the impression that students should strive for the most rigorous classes that they are able to do well in. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer.</p>
<p>I don’t think there will be any problem with him taking regular instead of AP Calculus. All the top schools (even Yale) told students at our school that they don’t expect you to take every AP possible. That said, there is probably a sweet spot for a certain number of APs to take which is variable by school. I don’t think anyone at our high school takes more than 8 or 9 APs and most take far fewer. Other schools it may be the norm to take more and you’ll look bad if you don’t. At other schools they may not even let students take more than a certain number of APs. I think any college in the country would think that four APs senior year is a sufficiently challenging curriculum.</p>
<p>well, I guess my question is, which is better?
C in BC Calc
B in AB Calc or
A in Honors Calc?</p>
<p>BC is the higest level math course in our high school, unless AP Stats can rival that.
I’m taking BC calc, AP Stats and 2 other APs this year.
If I drop BC and go to Honors, will I not be considered as having the “most rigorous courses”?</p>
<p>Also, even if I take Honors Calc, I am definitely going to take the AB exam in May. But then again, the colleges I apply to aren’t going to know that…and I’d be getting results before the AP exams.</p>
<p>My son takes BC this year because last year as a junior he had to go through hell and back to go from pre-calc to ap calc. Believe it or not he was only the 3rd student in the history of the school to do it. I actually had to print off info online to prove how common it was. He switched schools senior year - he literally had nothing to take except english at the former school and the only math class he could take at the new school was AP Calc BC. His opinion, and granted only his because I am no math person, is that it would have been just as easy to go from pre-calc to BC as it was for AB. BC only covers a few more chapters than AB.</p>
<p>So, if you don’t get BC, you probably won’t get AB either. It seems from his experience, you are either blowing the curve, or hopelessly lost.</p>
[quote]
well, I guess my question is, which is better?
C in BC Calc
B in AB Calc or
A in Honors Calc?
[quote]
When someone asked a Vassar rep a similar question, the answer was “An A in the AP course”, the other reps (Yale, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt and a few others) all nodded agreement. But she did go on to add, that you aren’t expected to take every AP out there. If you aren’t a math and science person, getting a B in AP Calc may not be the best strategy, especially if you take something like AP Euro instead and get an A in that. I truly think that taking Calculus, already a year beyond the traditional college prep curriculum, should be fine for a student that isn’t planning on going into the sciences or engineering.</p>
<p>I think it’s hard to predict how you’ll do in Calc. If you’ve always been good at math and have a good teacher, you’ll probably be fine. But I found it hard to grasp at 16 which is how old I was the first time I took it. It turned out I needed it for grad school and took it again at 19 and found it as easy as pie, I even ended up being asked to correct homeworks the following year.</p>
<ul>
<li>BC calculus approximates a year long college freshman calculus course.</li>
<li>AB calculus approximates the first semester of a college freshman calculus course (i.e. it is about half the pace of a college freshman calculus course).</li>
<li>No idea what your school’s “honors” calculus is, but if it is less rigorous than AB, then don’t be surprised if a typical college calculus course feels like drinking from fire hose in comparison.</li>
</ul>
<p>AP statistics is generally not considered an especially rigorous course – fewer colleges give placement or credit for it than AB calculus, and any placement or credit given is generally for the lowest level statistics course that may not be accepted for many majors that require it.</p>
<p>My school’s Honors Calc, is basically the same thing as AB except that you don’t learn all the AB material before May. So Honors takes another month and a half to finish learning the material.</p>
<p>So from what I’m reading, am I correct to assume that if I take Honors Calc, it’s a weak course, and AP Stats isn’t going to cover that gap because that’s a weak course too, and so overall, with only 3 AP classes this year, my schedule will not be considered “rigorous” and top level colleges will say “ok, not good enough” and move on.</p>
No not at all. It really depends on what your peers are doing. Is 3 APs considered a rigorous load in your school? If others seniors are taking 6 APs probably not, but if no one else takes more than 3, you’re fine. Will your counselor check the “most rigorous” box? </p>
<p>My younger son took 3 APs as a senior - he took AP Calc BC, AP Physics C and AP Euro. He refused to take AP English and chose and English elective instead (not even honors) and thankfully dropped Latin all together. He had two sessions of orchestra and a required health class. So 3 APs, one non honors class, two arts electives, one required super easy course. He didn’t get into the schools with acceptance rates under 20% (like Harvard, Brown and Georgetown), but he did get into Tufts, Chicago and Vassar. I don’t know if those top schools might have liked him better if he’d taken more APs as a senior, since his many B+'s also likely did him in, but he was thrilled with the acceptances he did get. Best of all, he really enjoyed his senior year.</p>
<p>For a non-technical, non-science major, AP Stats is a perfect alternative to taking calculus in high school.</p>
<p>(My son didn’t take calculus in high school, but did end up taking it in college because it was a pre-requisite for a required mid-level statistics class in his major. )</p>
<p>AP Stats is the rough equivalent to a one-quarter/semester college course in Stats. </p>
<p>Calc AB is the rough equivalent to a one-quarter/semester college course in Calc.</p>
<p>Since they are one term college courses, both are so-called “AP Lites”. (Others in that category are Enviro, Gov, Psych, Econ, Human Geography…)</p>
<p>If your “honors calc” class goes slower than AB, adcoms will know the difference.</p>
<p>fwiw: Dartmouth is one top college that specifically states on their website that they recommend Calc for all applicants.</p>