I am a sophomore in high school and I need to decide my junior schedule.
The thing is, I have zero interest in math. With extra help and a lot of studying I am capable of succeeding in my math classes (I have an A in my Algebra II Advanced class right now after getting a tutor, although I ended with a C+ last marking period). My math teacher told me I have two options for next year:
1.) I could take honors pre-calculus junior year, and then take honors calculus senior year.
2.) I could take honors algebra III junior year, and then take AP Calculus senior year.
I am planning on majoring in English or a related field in college; I have no interest in math or science or any STEM-related field. I excel in humanities and arts classes. However, I do want to take on a rigorous courseload for junior and senior years-- especially for senior year to focus on after college decisions are made.
My mom is adamant that I take AP Calculus, but my math teacher and my tutor (who is also a math teacher) recommended that there is no point in me taking AP Calculus if I’m not interested in math.
My school math teacher said that AP Calculus should be taken by students who are actually interested in math and want to learn more, but aren’t overly concerned with acing the class and getting an A.
I could likely maintain a B if I took AP Calculus senior year. Is it true that colleges would rather see me get a B in this class than an A in honors Calculus?
Please read this whole thing and give me advice. I want to take at least one rigorous course in math or science, because I think it would be a good challenge. I want to take strong, challenging classes. However I also don’t want to take time away from pursuing what I actually like, and devoting hundreds of hours studying intently for a subject I don’t even like. Please provide more information if I said something incorrect in my statement and offer your best advice. Thank you
What type of colleges are you aiming to get into?
I am aiming to get into moderately competitive and selective colleges; probably liberal arts colleges like Kenyon College. I don’t really think I could get into an Ivy League school.
Your math teacher is correct - there is no point in taking AP Calculus if you don’t like math. Competitive colleges frequently look at “unweighted” GPAs and getting a B in your AP class will bring your UW GPA down. What is your mom’s rationale for insisting you take the AP track?
She just wants me to take the most rigorous courses offered at school as possible. And she says I will have to take Calculus in college anyway so I might as well take AP in high school. Also, I think she is miffed that I would choose the “lower” of the two options for next year (Honors pre-calculus over honors Algebra III), since my math teacher said he couldn’t decide which one to recommend me for.
Thoughts:
If you do Honors Precalc and AP Calc, then if you do well enough on the AP test you may place out of having to take Math in College. Look at colleges of interest to see if that is the case.
What classes are your peers that are applying to those colleges taking?
Can you take Precalc and Calc? or Honors Precalc and regular Calc?
Or AP Statistics?
What is the difference between precalculus and algebra III?
What is the difference between honors calculus and AP calculus (AB or BC?)?
Most colleges do not require calculus for majors that do not require it (exceptions include MIT, Georgia Tech, USNA, but you are probably not interested in those), but most do have some sort of quantitative reasoning requirement (e.g. at Kenyon, a course like one of these: http://registrar.kenyon.edu/qr.htm ).
Colleges don’t necessarily want people who take the most AP classes. It’s about matching the rigor of your schedule to your ability.
If you have a good mix of other high level/AP classes in your schedule and decide to do honors instead of AP for your math classes, it shouldn’t have a major effect on what colleges will consider you unless your top choices are extremely selective schools. Especially if you have no interest in math, a class as challenging as AP Calc would just add a lot of unnecessary stress to your life!
My best advice is to take AP classes that will play to your strengths, and stick to honors for subjects that you struggle in. It’s hard to say whether colleges will consider a “B” in an AP class better than an “A” in honors, because so many factors besides that go into the admissions considerations. I would recommend worrying less about taking the hardest possible class in a subject you don’t enjoy or hope to pursue, and instead focus on building a résumé of extracurriculars, volunteer work, etc. that reflects your interests and passions.
In my experience, people who love math, and who had easy A’s or A+'s in trigonometry, algebra, and precalculus, find college level calculus to be relatively easy. Everyone else seems to find calculus very difficult.
I agree with your math teacher and with @CaMom13 and @ellalexa. I think that the point is to match the APs that you take to your interests, your abilities, and your intended university major. I don’t see any point in your rushing to take AP calculus. Given your stated lack of interest in math, I expect that you would find it quite difficult. I am also concerned that taking it might backfire in the sense that getting a poor grade in an AP class that you didn’t want to take is not going to help your university applications.
Senior year is also relatively difficult and stressful for high school students. You need to deal with applying to universities, visiting universities to figure out which ones you are interested in, and many related efforts. This is a lot of stress and effort. I don’t think that you need to add a difficult math class that you don’t want to take into this.
You might want to have your math teacher and/or guidance counselor help you to talk to your mom. You could at least make sure that they know what the situation is.
@bopper
I am honestly not sure what kind of colleges my peers want to go to, but the general consensus seemed to be that people who wanted to pursue math in college wanted to take Algebra III and people who didn’t were leaning towards Precalculus.
I could take precalculus and calculus. I’m not sure about AP Statistics. I thought AP Statistics was considered more of an elective? Or does it count as like a “real” math course?
@ucbalumnus
I am honestly not sure about the difference between Algebra III and Precalculus. I believe Algebra III must be more different because that leads to AP Calculus while Precalculus just leads to Honors Calculus (in my school). AP Calculus is the hardest while Honors Calculus is steps below it.
If Kenyon requires that then I guess I should take AP Calculus since I will have to take it in college anyway?
@ellalexa
Thank you for the comment! I do want to take a good mix of AP courses junior year, which means I should take at least one AP math or science course. But since I hate both math and science, I just don’t know what to do. I don’t think I could get away with taking zero APs for math and science, so I am considering taking AP Calculus.
@DadTwoGirls
Thank you for your comment. I agree in that I think it’s pointless to take APs in subjects I find difficult and have no interest in, but could I get away with taking zero APs in science or math subjects? I should take at least one right?
The Kenyon list of Quantitative courses makes it clear you have a lot of choices: Rocket Science (ie., Physics for non scientists), Elements of statistics (a very gentle introduction to statistics), Statistics in Sports, Statistical Analysis in Psychology (applied statistics) or Political Analysis (applied statistics), Environmental Lab, Intro to Environmental Chemistry (science), or even History of Math in the Islamic World…
In short, you won’t need calculus.
Taking Honors Precalculus-> Honors Calculus would be 100% fine as long as you’re ok taking one of the above classes. If you really wanted an AP class, Honors Calculus + AP Stats together would work, but senior year you should double up on subjects that especially interest you. OR you could take Honors Precalculus junior year alongside AP Stats, taking Honors Calculus senior year so you have more time for other subjects while keeping a high level of rigor (calculus as a senior, regardless of level, is considered strong.)