<p>If my top schools are Yale (favorite so far) and other similar (Ivy, Stanford, etc.) schools, what math courses should I have completed by the end of high school?</p>
<p>Currently, I am a junior in the IB diploma programme, although I've also taken AP Statistics. At my school, the only IB Math available is the SL course. Will this be enough to prepare me for college? I have room in my schedule to double-block AP Calculus AB and IB Math SL next year...but I'm unwilling to, since that would mean giving up either AP Government and Politics or AP Spanish.</p>
<p>Which two of the three--AP G&P, AP Spanish, or AP Calculus--are most important if I want to succeed (read: not die from coursework indigestion) at Yale? I am Chinese American, and I'm technically highly fluent in Mandarin, so is AP Spanish all that important? (Please don't take this to mean I'm only taking AP Spanish b/c colleges want 4 years...I absolutely <em>love</em> Spanish. I've wanted to take AP Spanish since 7th grade...)</p>
<p>For the record, I hope to major in philosophy and economics, although my main goal is law school.</p>
<p>personally, I’d take AP Calculus because it really isn’t that hard. People told me it was a difficult class but I took an AP practice test MIDWAY through the course and still was able to get a 5 (and I do not consider myself a genius by any means) and that was with only half the information taught to us. It is actually intuitive and fairly interesting if you like math at all. Otherwise, do what you want and don’t stress out senior year…</p>
<p>I would say AP Calc and Spanish are the most helpful for college work. AP Gov. will do nothing for you. Compared to college courses in political science and government it’s pretty shallow. </p>
<p>Although you should try to take all three if your schedule allows it. You can never have too may APs!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Yale isn’t going to care which ones you take, as long as your guidance counselor says that you have taken the most rigorous curriculum available. You may want to check with the GC to make certain he or she will check that box (and not the merely “rigorous curriculum” box). There are no minimum math requirements for admission to Yale, and Yale has math courses to fit students at practically any level – international competition medalists and kids who know nothing much beyond basic arithmetic. Full IB diploma students seem relatively popular with elite college admissions departments these days.</p></li>
<li><p>I suspect that whether you take IB Math SL or AP Calc AB, or both, you will wind up placed in the mainstream intro calculus course at most elite colleges. A 5 on the AP might get you out of math requirements, if that’s what you want . . . but right now you don’t.</p></li>
<li><p>Economics at lots of top colleges (not so sure about Yale right now) is very, very mathy, and if you really want to study economics you probably want to get as much math as you can as quickly as you can. (At the University of Chicago, they advise people who want eventually to get PhDs in economics to major in math as undergraduates.) </p></li>
<li><p>If you really want to take Spanish AP, please don’t change your plans because you are trying to look good to colleges! They won’t respect that, you won’t respect that, no one will. And, in any event, it definitely helps you to have a high level of achievement in a foreign language other than Mandarin.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Coming from someone who got into Stanford, Caltech, and Cornell: if you really want to succeed, take all the advanced math courses at a nearby college.</p>
<p>I hate how the IB program forces some kids into taking IB SL math. AB Calculus is by far more important than IB math. I took HL my junior year and it was a joke in terms of utility after high school. If it were me I’d say take both, but I’m going to major in science/math. You might need to ask kids with similar goals who faced the same decision. (Incidentally, a good friend of mine had the exact same choice to make, with the same intended major(s), and he chose to only take SL).</p>