Note 1: Some of the above specify calculus only for some majors or divisions.
Note 2: Some write “recommended” or “would like to see” or some such, which probably means that a student with the opportunity to take calculus while in high school should do so, but they may not want to completely exclude students from disadvantaged or unusual situations who may not have the opportunity to take calculus.
Note 1: Some of the above specify calculus only for some majors or divisions.
Note 2: Some write “recommended” or “would like to see” or some such, which probably means that a student with the opportunity to take calculus while in high school should do so, but they may not want to completely exclude students from disadvantaged or unusual situations who may not have the opportunity to take calculus.
Note 1: Some of the above specify calculus only for some majors or divisions.
Note 2: Some write “recommended” or “would like to see” or some such, which probably means that a student with the opportunity to take calculus while in high school should do so, but they may not want to completely exclude students from disadvantaged or unusual situations who may not have the opportunity to take calculus.
Caltech and Harvey Mudd are not that surprising, due to regular calculus being the prerequisite to their first term required math courses. But they are outliers among colleges and universities in the US.
Well, it looks like Caltech, Mudd, and Olin are the most serious about calculus as a requirement.
Mudd says “one yearlong high school course in calculus is required. Otherwise, you must take a semester-long college course.” A 1-semester college course is typically the equivalent of Calc AB.
The math placement test that every Caltech student takes appears to cover Calc BC material. It is not all that proof based. Students who do poorly on the math placement test take special classes to catch up during the first two quarters. So, someone with only Calc AB might expect to be in the section for those “needing extra practice.”
This year Caltech is adding a short course that introduces multivariable calculus for those not exposed to in in high school, “Classes such as Physics 1b/1c [required], more so in the analytical track, assume previous knowledge of physics notation and multivariable concepts that students may not cover in high school.” Previously, the Physics 1b class had a 1-day bootcamp on multivariable concepts. The new class will let students “learn or brush up on dot/cross products, line integrals, vector fields, divergence/gradient/curl.”
Over the summer before freshman year, entering Caltech students are highly-encouraged to take an online course called “Transition to Mathematical Proofs.” The course covers proofs with real and complex numbers, calculus, set theory, etc. “Highly-encouraged” means they say “our statistics show that students who do not take this course are twice as likely to get a C in freshman math courses.”
Olin: I haven’t looked into Olin’s math sequence yet.
Note 1: Some of the above specify calculus only for some majors or divisions.
Note 2: Some write “recommended” or “would like to see” or some such, which probably means that a student with the opportunity to take calculus while in high school should do so, but they may not want to completely exclude students from disadvantaged or unusual situations who may not have the opportunity to take calculus.
Highly selective colleges often imply calculus is very desired, particularly for engineering students. However, explicit requirements are less common. For example,
Duke says, “For students applying to the Pratt School of Engineering, we require coursework in calculus”
Princeton says, “Four years of mathematics (including calculus for students interested in engineering)”
Columbia Engineering says, “Four years of mathematics (preferably through calculus)”
USC says, “For first-year applicants to all majors in engineering and computer science, four years of mathematics are required for admission consideration, preferably with calculus”
Stanford says, “Our most competitive freshman applicants often have… four years of math (including calculus),”
UVA common data set answer C.5 states 5 years of math credits are recommended for admission, presumably including calculus tho I suppose stats would count as well.
Michigan’s College of Engineering requires calculus for admission. This was explicit in the info session to the point of telling applicants, “if your high school does not offer calculus, we expect you to figure out how to take it anyhow before you apply” via community college dual enrollment or online. I could not verify this on Michigan website: https://www.engin.umich.edu/admissions/undergrad/first-years/admissions/
It seems unfair not to put this requirement in public domain. Maybe it’s there or maybe they are more flexible than they let on.
Agree that any actual admission requirements should be listed, especially for public universities.
If the requirement exists but is unlisted, some applicants may be making futile applications, and some middle school parents may fail to realize that math placement in middle school can result in exclusion from that college. If the requirement does not exist, but is verbally said to exist, the word of mouth could lead parents to push inappropriate math acceleration starting in middle school out of fear that not doing so would result in exclusion from that college.
I am curious about whether the following should be interpreted as calc recommended/required in high school or whether the student is to be ready to start calc in college (I’m guessing the former):