<p>I want to pursue a Middle Eastern Studies/IR major, and I have the opportunity to take AP Stats, Calc AB, or Calc BC next year. I currently have an A/A+ in Honors Precal. Is Calculus something that is an unwritten necessity for acceptance to colleges like Wellesley, Tufts, Georgetown, or UChicago for a humanities major?</p>
<p>In my opinion, take Stats, it's just more practical! I'm going into a similar area as well and I haven't even taken precalc. I woud make sure to check each schools graduation requirements because if you need to take a bunch of math classes, it may be hard to get away from calculus. </p>
<p>PS: I applied and got into Wellesley</p>
<p>I agree that statistics is more practical for a humanities major. But I would also caution that taking stats instead of calc violates one of my favorite rules: When faced with a choice, choose the one that leaves open the most options. And that would be calculus. There is alway a chance that something will spark your interest in college, something you haven't even thought about yet. You can always take a stat course if you need one later -- many colleges offer different levels of statistics for different majors -- but calculus is more often a prereq to other courses than statistics. As far as admissions goes, my friend's daughter is at Chicago with a huge scholarship. She did not take calculus her senior year -- but she had some other amazing things going for her.</p>
<p>It's not necessary for what you want to do. But it could be useful if you change your mind about your major, yet it's given by universities too. So it's essentially just a matter of options, as 1Down2togo said. If you take it now, you'll have more options later.</p>
<p>Do you think I would be at a competitive disadvantage if I didn't take Calc?</p>
<p>Not for what you want to study.</p>
<p>Probably not. However, I would keep in mind that statistics tends to be an easy course, even at the collegiate level. Calculus is best introduced in high school; being exposed to it for the first time in college is a bad idea. Also, some schools have core or distribution requirements that force you to take a couple math classes.</p>
<p>I guess my question would be, since you seem to have decided to take a math course either way instead of something else, and since you are shooting for competitive colleges, why would you not take the math course that is favored more by the competitive colleges? </p>
<p>I would understand it if there was another compelling course you wanted to take and could not do both that and calc because of scheduling problems, but if it's between calc and statistics, why not just go ahead and do the calc? It's better preparation for other courses and as others have pointed out, you can always take statistics later -- and perhaps a statistics course geared more toward your future discipline.</p>
<p>I know a student who loves foreign languages. She took her minimum 3 years of math and two of science and stopped. But she's taking two foreign languages at the highest levels at her school (one 4th-year level and one 5th-year), and started a third one as an upperclassman. She also has taken more AP/honors-level humanities/social sciences courses than the students taking lots of math and science typically take. </p>
<p>Her approach makes some sense to me. My daughter disliked and was not especially good at foreign language or history, but she loves science. She took the minimum foreign language and history, but loaded up on high level math and science. She was admitted to a very competitive college, one that is known more for it's science than humanities programs. </p>
<p>I guess my point is, from the very little you have said (so I definitely might be mistaken), it just kind of sounds like you don't feel like dealing with calculus and would rather just take statistics instead because it's easier. If you're going to be applying to competitive schools, you don't want to leave that impression. </p>
<p>Your application will say tons more about you than what teeny little bit you could convey here though, so in the end, how much difference calc or stats will make in colleges' decision process depends on way too many things. If your overall application reveals a pattern of taking on challenges, stats instead of calc should not matter. If it reveals a pattern of taking the easy way out, then it might.</p>