<p>What colleges actually require freshmen to have taken calculus in high school?</p>
<p>It seems that many high school students in these forums are obsessed with how much math they need in high school (trying to complete calculus as juniors -- two grade levels ahead), even though very few colleges actually require freshmen to have had calculus in high school (much less anything more advanced). (However, completing at least precalculus is at least strongly recommended, to avoid having to take remedial math courses in college.)</p>
<p>The few that I know of that assume calculus in high school as preparation for the freshman curriculum or as a requirement or recommendation for admission:</p>
<p>Caltech
Harvey Mudd
Olin
Washington University in Saint Louis (engineering majors only)
University of Pennsylvania (engineering and Wharton only)
MIT (recommended, but freshman curriculum starts with beginning calculus, though accelerated, so it is at least theoretically possible to for a student with only precalculus to enter MIT without being "behind" in math)</p>
<p>Every engineering program I have looked into has students starting at Calc I at a minimum. However, if you can test out of it with AP credits you start further ahead which can help ease your schedule a little.</p>
<p>Cornell’s engineering school expects students to come in having taken AB Calculus or the equivalent. </p>
<p>But you don’t have to take it in high school. You can take it in the summer session of pretty much any college during the summer between high school and college.</p>
Yes, and students with Physics AP credit who are starting with electricity and magnetism should ideally be proficient with multivariable calculus – div, grad, curl, and all that (there is a book by that name).</p>
<p>I picked one at random, Wharton, and looked at the requirements. I don’t see where you’re getting that they require, or even start, with Integral Calculus. </p>
<p>Math 103 looks to be what is normally referred to as “Calc 1” and 104 what is normally referred to as “Calc 2.”</p>
<p>The guide says to start with either 103 or 104 first semester Freshman year.</p>
<p>Just checked UVA engineering also and apparently they do indeed assume Calc AB knowledge (slightly more than “Calc 1”) for first semester freshmen in their sample schedule. However, the math courses for Engineering students are in a separate department from the Math department, and it appears that they do indeed have a class similar to Calc AB so I would assume that they have a number of entering freshmen without Calc AB.</p>
<p>It’s not that colleges REQUIRE Calculus for entry, but that it gives kids a “leg up” to go ahead and take it. Better if your first exposure to it isn’t in Engineering school. At Texas A&M, what they told us was to start your freshman year with the last math class you completed. For example, if you have the equivalent of Calculus I & II, you would probably start with Calculus II. By having these classes ahead of time, it makes college cheaper, easier, and less time consuming.</p>
<p>Also, if your child started with Algebra in middle school, and then follows the normal progression, and is required to take 4 years of math in high school, Calculus I & II is where they end up. At least that’s what happened with my kid.</p>
<p>I tried looking up the percentage of high school students who took calculus before graduation and what I could find was all almost a decade old.</p>
<p>The impression I get is that back in the 70s and 80s around 5% or less of high school studnets took a full year of diff and int calc. That’s how I remember it. I also don’t remember anyone in my school taking only differential calculus. Either you took both, or you didn’t take any calculus - Cal I in the fall, Calc 2 in the spring. Somehow we managed to produce scientists and engineers in this time period.</p>
<p>OIf course I know times have changed and kids are much more accelerated now. But I bet it is probably still under 20% of HS students who take a full year of calc.</p>
<p>Re: Penn admission requirements to Wharton School and School of Engineering.
See last two sentences under “High School Transcripts.” Calculus required for Wharton; Calculus and Physics required for Engineering.</p>
<p>Last I checked, UT Austin’s engineering division only required students to be ready to take calculus, although having an good enough AP calculus score fulfills this requirement. But so does a good enough score on a math placement test that covers precalculus concepts, placing the student into beginning calculus.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>However, those honors courses do not mean that calculus in high school is required, since not all students will take the honors courses.</p>
<p>Olin absolutely requires calculus for admissions, and it needs to be both Calc I & II, since they don’t offer those courses at all. The first semester math course is Modeling and Simulation, which assumes Calculus I & II. The default 2nd semester course is Linearity I, which is DEs and Linear Algebra.</p>
<p>In addition, Olin requires that you have Physics for admission, but they aren’t as specific about what physics you actually need. The kids who haven’t had electricity & magnetism have more work in the first week or two since Modeling & Control is all about circuits.</p>
<p>Those without any programming experience have to work harder in Modeling and Simulation, which involves a good bit of MatLab.</p>
<p>So, they obviously accept some students with no programming background and with just a mechanics course.</p>
<p>cromette: Right on about the middle school thing. It is very much the norm for the higher performings kids to take Algebra 1 in seventh grade with a smaller number of sixth graders taking it too. I think this is a nice option to have and two of my kids have done it but it leads to me a question…</p>
<p>Have any of you had children start on an accelerated math track in 6th/7th grade but by 11th and 12th grade, have them decide they really aren’t all that into math? They were put in the position years earlier to naturally progress through AP Calc BC. Without pulling out the course handbook for our high school, I think AP Stats is counted as a math course but would it look strange to college admissions folks if a child just stopped with their calculus in 11th grade, never going to the next course available at their school?</p>
<p>I think whether stopping after calculus in 11th grade would look funny depends on what the student is interested in, what they fill that hole in their schedule with, and where they apply.</p>
<p>Here students that tested strong in middle school, starting alg in 6th grade, finishing calc AB in jr year that don’t want to go on to calc BC their sr year take ap stats. It seems to work fine for the students headed into humanities (ie not applying to engineering schools) and they are successful at competitive schools if their transcript otherwise show course rigor in core subjects.</p>
<p>Stopping after calculus BC in 11th grade (two grade levels ahead in math) would be understandable in the common situation where more advanced college math courses (multivariable calculus, linear algebra, differential equations) were not available due to scheduling or commuting considerations.</p>