D25 currently has UW 4.0 with a lot of rigor. She’s not sure on her future major but has talked about engineering or possibly something more on the business side of math.
This (junior) year she’s taking:
AP English slang
AP Physics 1
APUSH
AP Calc AB
AP Spanish Lang
Accounting (dual)
For senior year she’s planning:
AP English Lit
AP Physics 2
AP Gov/Econ
AP Calc BC
AP Spanish Lit
TBD - There aren’t any electives that jump out at her so it may be a TA class period or possibly Advanced Accounting (even though her review of this years accounting is “easy but boring”)
AP Stats seems like a worthwhile class she’ll be missing but I’m hesitant to suggest it as her one remaining class because of the totality of that course load.
She’s set on taking a science (AP Physics) because if she doesn’t her class rank would drop. Any logic to pushing stats versus calc bc in terms of acceptance of college credit or anything? Or just a total wash between the two?
Calc BC is more likely to get credit at a private university than Stats.
The workload in stats is likely to be lighter, but that’s teacher dependant.
For admissions it will make no difference.
For college, she will need calc 2 for engineering and stats for business. And depending on the university, she may need both regardless of engineering vs business Personally, I would opt for BC if she can handle the total workload on top of applications.
Depends on the type of school I think. Will the student go after elite / selective schools or otherwise ?. Often time kids get too advanced, take credit in college, and struggle.
I could make a case for neither - the rigor is there regardless.
Stats if a social science were a major option.
But I lean toward BC because I wouldn’t want to be in a position, back in calc after a year off.
A lot will depend on the level of school she’s interested in and whether or not the student can handle the rigor on top of college apps and well, just being a kid.
A student strong in math and intending a major that requires calculus or higher math should choose calculus BC over statistics in high school. Calculus is generally a more important prerequisite for more advanced courses in majors that require calculus or higher math than introductory non-calculus-based statistics. Such majors, if they require statistics, may require calculus-based statistics.