I am a current high school junior who is deciding what to do about math next year. I took AP Calc BC my sophomore year and then proceeded to take a semester of Calc III and a semester Linear Algebra this year. The reasonable next step would seemingly be to enroll at a local college for a higher level math class, but commute time and lack of similar scheduling requires me to take a study hall in addition to the class. I really don’t want to take up this amount of time in my schedule because I have a couple of required classes left (Econ, AP Lang) and some classes that I really want to take for enjoyment and challenge. I also have a pretty decent amount of extracurricular and would like to really invest my time into those while concurrently being challenged in school, rather than solely being burdened with a bunch of work. So I guess my question is, how would colleges view this? I am by no means trying to have a “lazy” senior year, I just want to be able to balance my life out and be able to put time into other classes at the same time. Would taking no math class at all look really bad? Would taking AP Stats instead be a good use of my time? I would have to drop AP Gov to take Stats, and although that would be less fun, I am okay with that. I’d greatly appreciate any thoughts.
Is any of the following at a reasonable time of day at the college?
Differential equations.
Discrete math (may be in the CS department).
Calculus-based introductory statistics.
?
There are a few colleges that want to see a math or math-heavy course in your high school senior year (e.g. Washington public universities), although sometimes courses like computer science or physics may be allowed for such a requirement. So check any college that you are interested in to see if it has such a requirement.
My DS did an online math course his senior year. He did it with Global Online Academy and it was rigorous. He did Multivariate Calc but I think they have Diff Eqs and Linear.
Yes, since you are so far ahead in math, it would not look bad to not have math senior year. If you feel you need Stats, maybe take that online. I don’t think you should drop AP Gov.
I’m in a different situation—I’m taking Calc BC as a sophomore next year, but because I live in a rural area I won’t be able to commute junior year to take any other classes.
I’ve heard good things from a couple local students about UIUC’s NetMath online. Linear Algebra and Probability Theory are the two one-semester courses it looks like you could take.
I’m taking Physics E&M too, which involves math concepts somewhat… I’ll probably end up finding something online, but I don’t want to completely overwhelm myself.
Some schools are starting to say they want to see math taken in senior year such U Mass Amherst - Mathematics: 4 including math in the senior year of high school so perhaps contact a few schools your interested in and see if it makes a difference to them since credit/level wise your set. If it might, can you take AP Stats at your high school?
Talk to your GC…You have taken 4 math classes in HS (and high level ones). If they feel you should have math next year, then take AP Stats if that makes your life easier.
Email all your colleges (especially matches and reaches), list all math classes taken so far and ask whether this fulfills the 4 years of math requirement, because the next courses in the sequences aren’t offered and you could just take statistics senior year, whereas not taking statistics would allow you to take …
I would also vote for AP Stats. The stat world is filled with allot of jargon, so it is important to have a good grasp on the fundamental concepts and the way data is presented across different disciplines, even though on the outset statistics is not seen to be as a tough as calculus or differential equations.
The issue is that if OP takes AP stats (which, while being math, is clearly not part of his/her math sequence) s/he won’t be able to take AP Gov, which isn’t important if s/he’s taking another social science but matters more if s/he isn’t as they’d be missing a social science class senior year, also seen as necessary…
All in all, I agree statistics is a necessary math “thinking tool” (in my opinion, much more important to students’ education than calculus or even precalculus) and would likely be fun/easy for OP considering his/her skills with math.
@skieurope I am also a TA for very involved Constitutional debate team/class (I took the class this year and will still put plenty of time in time outside of school, at competitions, at Nationals in DC, etc.) so even though I’m not actually in the class, I feel like that and Econ are enough for social studies… but I’m also not totally sure haha.
