I have finished AP Cal BC, which is the highest math level offered in my school. My school does not have Multivable Cal, linear algebra or differential eq… If I want to take that higher level math, I must go to community college and it does not count in our school transcript and GPA. On the other end, my school does offer AP stat and I can take that. Which option is better for college applications? I know many elite colleges require 4 year math.
Whichever is of more interest to you. Even if your school does not include the community college class in your high school transcript, you will still submit that to colleges so you will get admissions “credit” for it. Both are fine options depending on your interests and your intended major (one might be more useful than the other depending on major).
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Agree that both options work just fine. Consider things like your personal interests, if the logistics of taking a CC class work, and how each option would fit with the rest of your academic and extracurricular courseload.
Can you take both?
I believe the OP is a HS sophomore. I don’t see any advantage to doubing up in one subject at this time.
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If the OP is a sophomore, then they should continue with college math at whatever nearby institution offers it. They can do AP Stats later on.
Yes, I am a Sophomore. I am kind of leaning to take stat, as the difficulty is apparently lower than college math, which leaves me more room for ECs. In this way, I may have some EC awards before the senior application season.
However, I also have the concern that the college will think I did not continue with higher-level math and challenge myself. From cal BC to stats, I think it is backward in math.
If I take stat in my Junior, I will do college math in my Senior. So I am basically comparing two options: 1) keep moving math to a higher level, which is one of my future college application interests. 2) hold a little bit in junior year and use the time to shoot more awards in my EC.
BTW, I do plan to take AP Physics and CSA, as well as other English and history APs. So although I did go backward in math, the general courseload does not.
But if that’s all that your school offers, they will not penalize you for this. You are expected to max your rigor within the context of what your school offers. If your school does not offer, say linear algebra, they will not expect you to have taken it (of course you can through CC, though, if that is of interest).
For applying to college, any college courses you take in high school (and grades if completed before college applications) will need to be reported to colleges you apply to. The colleges you apply to will account for them in some way when evaluating your application.
In terms of usefulness of your various options based on your potential college major:
| Major | Multivariable Calculus | Linear Algebra | Differential Equations | Discrete Math | AP statistics | Calculus-based Statistics |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Math | Y | Y | Y | y | N | y |
| Statistics | Y | Y | y | N | y | Y |
| Computer Science | y | Y | y | Y | N | Y |
| Physics | Y | Y | Y | N | N | N |
| Chemistry | y | y | y | N | N | N |
| Biology | N | N | N | N | y | y |
| Engineering | Y | Y | Y | y | N | y |
| Economics (pre-PhD) | Y | Y | Y | N | y | Y |
| Economics (not pre-PhD) | y | y | y | N | y | y |
| Business | y | y | y | N | y | y |
Y = yes
y = sometimes yes
N = no
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Also it could depend on what college options you’re aiming for. If you want to go to a public school, taking advanced courses in HS will get you credit and allow you to take courses such as upper division CS/Math/Physics in your first year in university. On the other hand, if you’re aiming for privates, you’ll often not get credit for community college math courses and end up having to retake them. In that case, AP statistics may make more sense.
I would advise exhausting the courses at your high school first. If you can do that AND take a higher level math class at CC, great! But the benefits of staying at the high school, in terms of other scheduling, class rank, etc make AP Stats seem preferable.
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Your plan to take AP Stats as a junior then a higher level math class at a CC as a senior sounds like the better plan.
You could follow up with 1 semester of calculus-based stats and one semester of the other classes in the chart above (MVC, linear algebra, discrete math) depending on what you intend to major in.
For Economics&Business, whether you need MVC depends on whether you intend to major in Finance, Risk Management, or Econometrics/any field of Econ that requires a lot of math. For most business/econ major, Calc1&2 + applied stats (calc-based or algebra-based) would be entirely sufficient, except at Wharton where there’s a specific math curriculum that’s designed to be hard to skip, with the 1st level starting at Calc2 and the exemption only extended to students who’ve taken calc further than BC.
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This chart is very helpful. I am surprised that AP stat is so “useless”.
It’s not useless - it’s, in fact, very useful to every day life. It’ll also help if you intend to be premed or study social science (you’ll have to take a class in biostatistics or quantitative skills for social science/business, etc) and you’ll have quite a bit covered already. However, as you correctly guessed, it’s not a high-level, abstract math class. You’ll still have to work hard to do well but you should do fine with the concepts (note that some find statistics harder than calculus though, but you’ll figure it out quickly and adjust the time you spend on it.) Dedicating more time to your EC’s junior year is a good idea.
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Yes, Junior year might be the last chance to get some EC achievements before application. Nowadays it should be more valuable than a higher-level math class, correct?
Considering you WILL be taking higher-level math senior year (and your senior schedule will appear on your application), it’s basically win-win for you.
In addition, since AP Stats is the logical next-course for you within the context of your HS, then what you’re doing will be considered logical.
Both UC and some private colleges are my target. How to find out if CC classes can be accepted at a specific private college?
I have not started to study the application process. Just curious, since CC class won’t be in my HS transcript, where to list it in the application?
They’ll want the syllabus so hold on to that.
In addition, math and world language almost always have a placement test and chemistry or English often do, too. So even if your CC credits aren’t recognized, you can just “place” into whatever applies to your actual level with regards to the college you chose to attend, keeping in mind “Calc2” is not the same everywhere 