<p>My S is a sophomore and is planning to take AP Calculus at his high school in the fall. However, he learned from a college advisor/family friend that taking the courses at a community college might be more challenging and interesting for him. He is excited about doing this and we will enroll him in the local community college for the fall. My question - will taking Calculus at a JC do more for him in terms of college admissions than taking AP Calc in high school? AP Calc and AP Stats are the top math classes at our high school. S is interested in applying to a number of highly selective colleges and thinks he wants to be an engineer.</p>
<p>Regardless of the admissions impact he should try to get the best calc course he can for the knowledge gained. Many students who have taken AP calc and sign up for the 2nd seemester of calc at UW find it much more difficult than those who had their 1st semester of calculus there. A mother told me her gifted D and a friend ranked calculus courses with AP, local yokel college, UW regular (not to be confused with the honors courses level) and their elite college in ascending order. Your case would depend on the caliber of the local college- does the HS or it teach more? If the locals know the college is better, go for it.</p>
<p>He may want to consider doing both.</p>
<p>as wis75 suggested, it is impossible for us to answer a question like this without knowing much more about the AP course at the HS (AB or BC?), its success rate (score distribution - ask guidance - they get the info. If most of the kids don’t get 4 or 5, the course is probably not very good, either poorly taught or dumbed down), and without knowing more about the CC. Is the CC high school extended, or do most kids go on to decent 4 year colleges? What text? </p>
<p>Finally, many colleges will not grant college credit for courses at community colleges, especially if the CC course was used to meet a HS requirement too. But they do grant AP credit. </p>
<p>You might also explore CTY/epgy math offerings.</p>
<p>You also might want to look at the overall math sequence at that community college. How far can he go there before he uses up their offerings? Would he prefer two full years of credits in calculus at the community college to AP calculus and AP stats?</p>
<p>And while it is true that his community college math credits might not transfer, just about any math department in the country can offer him a placement exam and then allow him to enroll in the (presumably) upper-level course that he is qualified for.</p>
<p>My S is a junior and thinking of being a science major in college. He took AP Calc BC as a sophomore (5 test score) and then, rather than doing AP Stats, he went more rigorous and took the JHU CTY online Linear Algebra class, which he’s getting an A in. His senior year, he’ll take the online class in Multivariable Calculus. CTY has been around for a long time, so I believe most major universities will be familiar with their “product” (classes.)</p>
<p>FWIW, my H, a math professor, says Linear Algebra is often used as a “weeder course” for engineering students.</p>
<p>See how your HS treats college courses. They might give unweighted credit (4.0 for an A instead of 5.0 he’d get from AP, thus bringing down his GPA). They might not give any credit for a course that they also offer (since they offer calculus).</p>
<p>In terms of on-line courses, here’s one offered by Suffolk University- with a full range from pre-calculus to engineering level Multivariable Calculus, Differential Equations, etc. University credit with no high stakes test. </p>
<p>[Distance</a> Calculus at Suffolk University • What About AP Calculus?](<a href=“http://www.distancecalculus.com/aboutapcalc/]Distance”>About AP Calculus- Distance Calculus @ Roger Williams University)</p>
<p>I’m sure there are others.</p>
<p>A lot of CC calc classes are geared toward business majors. In general a CC calc course will not be as rigorous as AP Calc BC. If your S wants to go into engineering/ hard science I would say the CC calc class would not be the best option. At least in our area the CC is considered easier than the AP high school classes.</p>
<p>In our area the CC calc classes offered in high school are definitely easier than the AP alternative. My daughter’s college viewed her CC calc as a transitional program between pre-calc and real college calculus. Her high school ditched the CC calc this year in favor of the AP curriculum. Wish I could be more specific but I’m not a science/math guy so I’ll leave it at that.</p>
<p>The community college class will last a semester and the AP will last all year. Perhaps some math experts might debate the value of taking it one way over the other. And this will sound really snobby, so I know it don’t slam me for it: in our area community colleges do not attract the most talented students and the AP math classes do. This is important from the perspective of having like-minded students around to discuss class topics.</p>
<p>Our kids’ community college offers calc for social sciences, calc for business and calc for science and engineering. I emailed back and forth with the professor to ensure quality and he provided a rigorous course. Quality at a cc can vary all over the place, even between professors.</p>
<p>I also chatted with the guy that runs the online math program at Suffolk. UIUC runs a similar program using the same materials but the UIUC course is less than half the price. UIUC uses student mentors while Suffolk uses professors and provides more support. Our son took Vector Calculus and Linear Algebra at UIUC and they were tough (as advertised).</p>
<p>If you’re going to go the CC route, ask the professor a few questions about the course. Check the prereqs for science and engineering courses at the CC (if any) and see if the calc course is required for them.</p>
<p>You can download and view university calculus courses (and a ton of other math courses) at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs:</p>
<p>[UCCS</a> | Department of Mathematics](<a href=“http://www.uccs.edu/~math/vidarchive.html]UCCS”>http://www.uccs.edu/~math/vidarchive.html)</p>
<p>Might make for a good supplement to the AP course.</p>
<p>
Um… this prof must be confused engineering with something else, may be CS? I was an EE major when the world was younger than today, no LA required. Just did a quick check on Chem E., same. No LA required.</p>
<p>Linear algebra is used extensively in signal processing, hence its relevance to modern electrical engineering.</p>
<p>Depends on the level of the course. </p>
<p>Linear Algebra was the easiest course I had in college 30 years ago–the only class I ever skipped on a regular basis, though I knew some very smart kids that had trouble with it for some reason. That was at the level of simple vector and matrix manipulations, inversions, determinents, etc. My son had a simliar course last year that wasn’t required and that his advisor didn’t think would even count as a technical elective for his engineering program. I think they may throw it in to some degree with differential equations.</p>
<p>Linear algebra notation is used in EE and other fields to easily describe sets of linear equations and operations. It is the essence of the MATLAB programming language which is one of the most widely used languages for performing engineering investigations. At this level, I don’t consider linear algebra very hard at all. I wish I had a more rigorous background in linear algebra and other mathematical fields, though.</p>
<p>Ditto to Post #9 “And this will sound really snobby, so I know it don’t slam me for it: in our area community colleges do not attract the most talented students and the AP math classes do. This is important from the perspective of having like-minded students around to discuss class topics.”</p>
<p>Classes don’t just teach subject matter; students learn ways of thinking from other students. The conversations and life assumptions surrounding the subject matter in a highly geared AP Calc B/C class will be very different from the chit-chat of students in a terminal math class at a community college. </p>
<p>Consider social environment and peers as well as subject matter.</p>
<p>In the community college in our area, the calculus sequence is geared to students who are planning to transfer to UCLA or Berkeley in engineering (and who end up doing so). It’s by no means easy.</p>
<p>Back to the linear algebra/engineering side discussion - my s does not need linear algebra for EE - the last math needed is differential equations. He is a fast track math person and retook MVC first semester and did DifEq second semester freshman EE. </p>
<p>His specialized math and science high school classes were leagues ahead of community college calc and math classes and in fact more difficult so far than his college classes but as Cardinal Fang points out some community college classes are going to be the more challenging - depends on the individual circumstances.</p>