<p>I have 2 questions.</p>
<p>1) I've been a straight A math student basically all of my high school career, except for sophomore year precalc, I got a B and a C (ouch! :(). Honestly, I don't think there's an excuse, I just didn't work hard enough... I take responsibilty for my crappy/dumb decisions. </p>
<p>Anyways, I bit the bullet, and asked to be kept on the track for Calc BC, multi var, and diff eq. I've gotten A's in Calc BC so far (should have an A this sem too, unless something goes wrong). I'm also planning on taking MV Calc and Diff Eq next year... </p>
<p>How much will my C hurt me at top colleges (top 15, including ivies)? Considering I have a pretty strong math background... (770M SAT, retaking for 800, missed AIME by 1 pt, will retry next year, etc) I honestly just screwed up, and I don't know what to do :(, I don't think that C represents my real efforts, and it just frustrates me :(. Is there anything I can do to negate it? Any I should include in my app?</p>
<p>2) I have the choice of taking MV Calc/Diff Eq next year, versus AP Stats/Discrete Math. Obviously MV/Diff are harder... but Stats/Discreet are still AP and I still get the honors credit for them... I'm wondering if I should just take Stats/Discrete, because I'm not 100% sure I can make A's in MV/Diff Eq, and Stats/Discrete are known as blow off courses at my school...</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>"Discrete Math" is a dumb class in my school, so I don't know what you're talking about with that. That said, I think most people would agree AP Stats is a joke. Multiple colleges I've been to mentioned the gap in difficulty between AP's, and two cited only and specifically AP Stats as an easy one that has nothing to do with college statistics.</p>
<p>Stats and Discrete are pretty easy, but they are still given the honors ranking at our school... So they're still above the average normal class. Although Discrete is easy, it's not a dumb class, most people take it after Calc BC or AB (since it's not in the normal math curiculum, and it's still honors).</p>
<p>Anyone have any ideas about the C in precalc? :(</p>
<p>It will hurt, yes. But not too much. But really, DON'T retake the SAT to get an 800 on math. 770 is great; you will look obsessive you retake that. Now if you CR and Writing is low, its a different story...</p>
<p>Yeah, my CR and Writing are a bit lower (760 CR, 690 W), I figure I'll just retake it since I can do better. I'm just concerned that C is going to keep me out of a lot of good colleges (most importantly MIT). My Asian ethnicity doesn't exactly help the situation either :(.</p>
<p>So regarding the Stat/Discrete vs MV/Diff eq, I'm basically asking, is it better to take the tougher class and risk a B, or is it better to just get an A for sure in an easier class?</p>
<p>An A in MV calc will offset a C in precalc.</p>