I am currently in the process of selecting classes for my senior year of high school. I am deciding between taking AP Calc AB and AP stats. I would probably enjoy AP calc more, but I was wondering which class would be more beneficial for a nursing degree later on? Would colleges look down on me for taking one instead of the other? Also, I have already taken AP bio and I am considering taking AP physics. Would this be beneficial/advantageous/impressive for a nursing major? My school offers Human Anatomy which I know would be beneficial. Should I double up on science with AP physics and Anatomy or just do one or the other? Also, since I will be taking 3-4 challenging AP’s next year, will schools look down on me if I take a normal level English class so I can focus more time into science and math? Thanks for taking a look at this guys!!!
I would recommend AP Stats over AP Calc AB. The latter offers no benefit that I’m aware for Nursing students. The former is needed at many schools. AP Psych would be good. AP Physio or Anatomy would also. AP Physics probably not needed. Look at the 4 year plan of the schools you may be interested in to see the road map. My D also dialed back the intensity of her senior schedule by taking regular Eng. She took a weighted (DE) business class as well. At her school they have dual enrollment which count the same toward college credit and GPA weighting but without having to take an AP exam later. She was admitted to a dozen direct entry BSN programs for Fall 2018.
My daughter took both AP Stats (jr year) and AP Calc (this year, senior). I think if you took AP Calc, not taking stats would be “forgiven.” You may want to ask some nursing programs if it matters.
AP Stats at least exposed her to statistics, which most/all nursing programs require. You will likely not be able to use AP credit for college statistics, but you will have a background. Some programs don’t have statistics until sophomore or junior year, so it’s questionable what you’d really remember.
I believe AP Calc stood her apart from the crowd - when most people are saying Calculus is not beneficial to a prospective nurse many will not take it. For her future program she had to take a math placement class (everyone in the nursing program had to take it, even if they had math AP credit). She absolutely killed it, and according to the chart would have placed into some engineering math classes - she scored double what she needed to for the one math class for nurses (statistics). The next day she went in and thanked her Calculus teacher, lol.
And remember that much of chemistry uses a lot of math (calculations).
She is also taking a dual-enrollment Physics class right now. Every admissions officer commented on her taking that class. You might want to check into the programs you are interested in. I remember hearing that UConn requires physics, even for nursing majors. I think physics teaches analytic thinking and how to apply concepts and calcuations to the real world - it’s a useful class if you can fit it in and think you’d do okay in it.
I would definitely take anatomy - my daughter took it last year and will bring her notes and flashcards to college. It’s hard to say if doubling with physics would be too much work and stress - maybe ask around to find out the workload? If you had to choose between the two, I’d do anatomy.
Go ahead and drop to regular humanities classes.
So, I guess my answer is statistics is nice but if you take AP Calculus no one will look down on you. If you had to choose between Physics and Anatomy, do anatomy (again, to get a basis for school).
One last thing … people change their minds. If you have Calc and Physics, more doors open to you if you decide nursing is not what you want to study.
Good luck!
I’d still recommend taking a look at the nursing curriculum at a college you expect to attend, and try to take as many of those classes in high school. Even if you do not get AP or dual enrollment credit, it is much much easier to learn material the second time than the first time.
My daughter’s BSN curriculum (which I think is common), involved lots of challenging bio and anatomy classes, only one semester of chem, one semester of basic applied math, one semester of stats, psych, nutrition, a sociology class on social problems, no physics, etc. There may be some nursing programs that require a second semester of chem, but nurses mainly learn chem simply to apply it to their other science classes.
I still say calc is a complete waste of time and energy for a nurse and for 90% of other people. In addition, stats is a big part of all graduate programs.
Thank you for the info everyone!