Hi everyone. I am a rising senior and am currently on track to take AP Calc BC, after taking AB this junior year. However, I had a B - final grade for BC. Would it still be worth taking BC this year to look good on applications, or should I take Stat in hopes of improving my GPA to the best I can before applying. Junior year was kind of a hit as my uw gpa is currently a 3.78.
You mean a B- in AB. I’d take stats as you’ve already taken calc.
What major type or schools will you be looking at? In most cases, it’s not gonna make a difference. And maybe you’ll find a love in stats. It’s a data analytics world.
My guess is you’ll end up at the same college either way. And many schools won’t even see your first semester grade before they make a decision on your status.
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However, if you do major in statistics or data science, you will likely have to take calculus and calculus-based statistics.
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It depends. What college majors are you interested in? If you want to go into a STEM field, then it’s probably best to take BC. This will include a review of AB that will hopefully improve your grasp of the material; doing some review and/or tutoring over the summer would be smart too. Dig in while AB is fresh in your mind, fill in the gaps in your understanding, and start college with a good foundation.
If you’re leaning toward a social science or humanities field (or other non-STEM) and aren’t going to need to continue with calc in college, then taking stats is fine and probably more useful.
Checking your posting history… it looks as if you’re interested in going premed? If that’s the case, you will need calculus, and it’s probably better to take the possible GPA hit now than in college, where it will affect your med school applications. In addition to at least Calc 1 (which you likely don’t have yet if your AP score aligns with your grade) you will need calculus-based physics as a med school prereq, and you won’t do well in that unless you have the math nailed down. And at any rate, the first semester of BC shouldn’t be too rough as it’s review at first; and that’s the only semester colleges will see before making decisions.
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What are your intended major and target schools?
Calc BC will be be viewed as more rigorous by admissions officers at competitive schools, and would align better to Engineering, Computer Science, Math, and many science majors.
But if you’re looking at other fields, and/or Calc wasn’t interesting/valuable/enjoyable, Stats is a very interesting subject. And in the context of 4 years of high school, one course isn’t that significant. You did still take a full year of Calculus, which a reported 85% of high school students did not, as of a few years ago.
At this point, a full letter grade difference in a quarter will change your GPA about 0.01. So a max of 0.02 for RD applications. I wouldn’t make the decision on the basis of GPA impact.
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Yeah sorry about that. I’m planning go on a pre-med track. Thank you for the reply.
I’m planning on taking the pre-med track, but I am not certain on the major yet. Thank you for the reply; I am probably going to stick with BC this year.
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I’m planning on a pre-med track, but not certain on the major. It will probably be STEM-related. Thank you for the reply, I am going to stick with BC.
There are plenty of things you can major in, as a premed, that won’t require any higher math beyond BC. You will thank yourself later for getting this over with. Get some support this year so it isn’t such a struggle. (It’s also good practice to be proactive about getting help. There’s no shame in seeking out tutors, study groups, etc. Being comfortable with putting such resources in place will help you succeed in premed classes like physics and organic chem.)