My D 2024 will be choosing her classes for senior year in the upcoming weeks. She is not a “mathy” kid, and is currently taking trigonometry in 11th grade. Her next year options are AP statistics or regular calculus (her school offers AP calculus but she is not in the honors track to be allowed to enroll). She is probably going to be applying to hospitality management programs. I know some programs “recommend” calculus. She could possibly take both classes but I am not sure she could handle both at the same time. Just looking for any opinions! My older daughter is in STEM and took Ap Calculus in 10th grade so this is kind of new territory for me.
Which one does she want to take more? Seriously, probably the better question as she can take whatever math she needs in college depending on where she ends up and what she ultimately decides to major in.
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Hospitality (bad major, but that’s another topic) - will require many business classes.
I would look at the curriculum of schools she’s interested in.
I looked at a couple and saw college stats classes - so in that regard, I might veer there.
But it’s dependent I think of the types of classes she’s interested in.
I think it really doesn’t matter. Neither of my kids were very mathy and they both took regular precalc senior year. It didn’t seem to affect their admissions. FWIW, my non-mathy son attempted AP Stats senior year and dropped it after a month because he was getting a D. I know many here will tell you that AP Stats is easy, but you need to consider what your kid’s strengths are.
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AP stats is not as easy as students think- at least at my DD school. Her class is super time consuming and she has exams pretty often. She’s taking this class with AP calculus BC. She likes stats because it’s practical and she’s doing well but it’s not as easy as some people think.
Stats is more useful for her.
It depends on which schools she’s applying to. For rigor it’s Calc. AP stats for most kids is looked at as an easy class (not for all). If she exhausted rigor at her school then stats is fine. My son took it at a local university in the summer just because but no way would take it over Calc.
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Truth is outside of Cornell - and this isn’t going to cut it there - rigor at colleges for Hospitality majors - is going to be less of a concern. At some it will still be - your Va Techs, Purdues, etc. but much less.
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She is planning to apply to Cornell… and calculus is listed as a recommended course. So that is why she wants to take it.
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Even so kids change majors etc. It will set her up better. She can always take stats in college. It’s a useful class but not for getting into college.
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Based on this, take the calculus
. Otherwise I was about to suggest Stats given the interest and major and not on the honors math track.
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My suggestion is to take calculus for the following reasons:
–If your D feels she is a viable candidate for a very selective college (ex. Cornell) that recommends calculus that is a good reason to take the course in HS. Keep in mind that she will be competing with other very strong applicants and the vast majority of them will have taken all of the recommended coursework.
–If calculus is required as part of her major (she can check online course catalogs) it would be beneficial to have some calculus (not AP is fine) in HS. As a personal anecdote, my S did not take calculus in HS. When he started calculus freshman year he was surprised to find that he was one of (I think) three people in a class of 40 or so who had not taken calc in HS (As a point of reference he went to a college ranked between 50 - 100). So while calculus was review for over 90% of the class the material was all new to him. He spent a ton of time at the math center, at office hours etc. to keep up. He got through the class but it was a difficult way to start college. FWIW he also took two semesters of statistics in college with no HS background and had no problems.
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Thanks for the feedback. I guess calculus is the way to go.
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Then take Calc.
Considering how many people on these forums recommend that college frosh grade-grub by retaking their AP calculus credit (even with a 5 and the college’s recommended placement in a higher level course), that experience is not surprising.
Entry-level statistics courses in college usually just have math prerequisites (algebra 2 for non-calculus-based, calculus for calculus-based).
FWIW the OP’s D will be in a non-AP level calculus class and will need to re-take calculus in college if it is a required course. (Your “bigger question” of re-taking a class one can use an AP credit for is a whole new thread.)
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I think your child should take the non-AP level calculus.
In college I took three semesters of calculus and three semesters of statistics (Intro to statistics, scientific sampling, experimental design and analysis). The statistics classes were much more applicable to real life. It’s beyond me how hospitality management uses calculus, and the hospitality management program at UNLV doesn’t list it as required or recommended. But if your desired school says it’s a recommended course, then you should go with it.
Beside Cornell, which is a long shot anyway, what do the other colleges recommend?
How difficult is the nonAP calc class at your HS?
How did she do in precalculus? How is she doing in Trig?
Stats is way more useful than calculus of a non-mathy kid; it will enable her to read information presented to her in a critical and useful manner. She will be able to critically analyze data and have a better feel for whether it seems credible. Plus there are many majors that require some sort of statistics in college(even psych majors often have to take psych stats), so previous exposure will help her understand potential material later.
She could always study calculus her own. I can recommend a great book and there are plenty of internet resources.
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