<p>My daughter is currently taking Latin I as her elective in freshman year. She takes French as foreign language. She has the opportunity to take AP Statistics as a sophomore (because she is doing algebra 2 in freshmen), but she has to choose between Latin and stats next year as she can take only one elective. She wants to pursue the sciences in college, but if she doesn't continue Latin next year, it will be harder to take Latin in later years. Does it make more sense to continue Latin, or take Statistics? She is good at Math ( has already qualified for AIME). She is saying she will just take the AP exam for stat taking the course will be complete waste of time. Does taking AP exam without doing the course in school adds any value?</p>
<p>Has she taken an AP class as a freshman? My thought is that AP stats as your first class of that rigor may not be better than continuing with the Latin.</p>
<p>AP statistics is often seen as equivalent to the least rigorous semester-long statistics course for social studies majors, and may not be accepted for subject credit for a science major; it is often discussed on the AP test forum as being a relatively easy to self study AP test.</p>
<p>On the other hand, knowledge of statistics is useful in many fields, and for general knowledge. But she can take an introductory semester long statistics course in college, or a more in-depth sequence using calculus in college, if she likes.</p>
<p>Perhaps just let her take the course she is more interested in, which appears to be Latin.</p>
<p>If I was in that situation, I would take Latin. Because Latin is cool.</p>
<p>It’s parallel to this mentality: <a href=“http://zogotunga.com/science-advocate-vs-scientist[/url]”>http://zogotunga.com/science-advocate-vs-scientist</a> Warning: profanity in comic.</p>
<p>Is this a one year decision - as a junior or senior can she take stats or will her only electives be Latin every year?</p>
<p>I would take Latin, especially if she wants to major in the sciences but really for any major. It’s also been said that having a Latin background helps tremendously on the standardized tests (PSAT, SAT, ACT). </p>
<p>Our son is a strong math student (National Math test finalist) and the ad comms at the colleges he is considering all suggested taking another year of a foreign language over AP Stats his senior year. He is planning on majoring in math or a math related field and the math department chairs at the same colleges all said to take another year of Spanish, in his case, vs AP stats as AP stats won’t really help him as a math major in college.</p>
<p>Latin. Latin expands the mind, broadens perspective. There are many opportunities to take statistics in college, often in a course aimed at her specific field of study.</p>
<p>Although many students do it, taking a language after skipping a year is not easy.</p>
<p>If she is interested in continuing with Latin, I think Latin II is the better choice. There will be other opportunities to take statistics, either in high school or college.</p>
<p>I would suggest latin too. She can take stat at any time in 11, 12 or in cc.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. It really helped in making the decision.</p>