Hello, I have the opportunity, through summer college classes, and classes presented through my high school, to take calc 4 as a senior. Should I do this, if I did what colleges would I be able to attend? (I know I didn’t provide any information with other classes, but I am also ahead of grade level in those and a solid A student.)
The information you provided is too limited to make any suggestions. However, if you are a STEM-inclined student, taking a higher level class in mathematics probably won’t hurt. If you are on top of your regular classwork, performing well in an extra college class can be a plus factor. FYI, there is a dedicated section on CommonApp where you list any other courses you took outside of your high school.
Always take as much math as you can in high school. Always take summer college classes if they interest you and you can afford them. What state do you live in? You need to give more information about your stats, and desired major and what you can afford to have anyone on College Confidential suggest college matches for you.
It is worth doing only if it is something you really want to do. Sounds like you will be ahead in math either way. Think about if you want to spend your summer taking a math class or if there might be something else that sounds like a more appealing/interesting use of your time. What would be the alternative if you don’t take the summer class?
Keep in mind that the top colleges practice holistic admissions. They are looking for not only top academics but also a person who is involved in his/her school and or community, who is a leader, who has interests etc.
It won’t hurt and I don’t think it’ll make a huge difference if you’re thinking of colleges Suh as Caltech, Harvey Mudd, or MIT.
If your choice is calculus4 or no math, take it.
However admissions at highly selective universities require you to clear an academic bar and once that’s done they look at everything else so your summer time would be better invested into pushing your EC’s to the next level.
My son also took math that was more advanced than is generally available in HS. When it came to college apps, though, it doesn’t appear that the advanced math by itself was what the selective colleges liked - it was what he did with that math.
IOW, just achieving a good grade in a high level math course is probably not going to be enough by itself to tip you into very selective colleges. They’ll like the fact that you are that advanced, but will want to see what else you’ve got. For my son, it was about him using those high level math skills in outside research and projects. When AOs wanted to talk to him about his app, it was always about that research and projects (what he actually did with that math.)
Btw, you don’t need to do formal research at a uni or program for the colleges to like it. We don’t have access to any of that around here and even if we did I don’t think my son would have been interested in just signing on to someone else’s ongoing project. He did his own research and projects.
Can you think of some ways you could use some of your math skills in a real world setting? Is there a problem you’d like to solve or a cause you’re interested in that could use those skills?