Will a B in College Summer Class Hurt or Help?

Applying to College
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<p>I am an incoming senior in high school and I am looking at the Ivies. I am only in Honors Precalc next year for math and although I have heard that whatever math level I am in will not be a deciding factor in college admissions(since it is the only area where I am not in the top course available at my school), I cannot shake the feeling that they would be more impressed if I took a Calc class.</p>

<p>If I want to, I can take a Calculus class at a community college this summer. However, I already had to miss an entire week, and will have to miss yet another week after this week. The teacher does not really seem to care, but he is not the type of guy to help students very often either. </p>

<p>So, if I were to get a B in a community college Calc class, would this help or hurt my transcript? It would not affect my high school transcript since it is not for high school credit, but I am still concerned. I want them to see that I was willing to try and proficient enough in math to take and pass it, but I do not want there to be a B hanging around to hurt me unnecessarily. Obviously I will aim for an A, but between my trips and internship and ACT/SAT/SATII studying, I am trying to prepare myself for all possibilities, and I do not want to take the class for weeks and then drop it out of fear of a B.</p>

<p>(Just to clarify, my high school Honors Pre-Calculus Program is pretty much on par with a community college level Calc 1 course, so I am probably not horribly unprepared for the material. But with that said, I am not fantastic at math and it will be a challenge for sure, just like every other math class I've taken. But where would I be if I did not challenge myself right? That seems like it would be a good thing.)
Please help me out, I am really conflicted about this.
Thanks!</p>

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<p>bump
please help!</p>

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<p>I think that, even if you were to get a B, it would still look impressive, since you took the initiative to take the course outside of school.
however, I’m confused. are you saying that you’re doing precalc next year? I don’t think you’ll be able to do calc without taking precalc… or at least it’ll be REALLY difficult. not to mention that it would be useless for you to take precalc next year since you’re already learning that stuff over the summer for your calc class… :/</p>

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<p>Pre calc isn’t that necessary for calc. I’ve heard of many stories of my friends and their friends doing amazing in pre calc and completely sucking in calc, and being amazing at calc despite doing poorly in pre calc. In other words they aren’t related.</p>

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<p>^really? than what do they teach in precalc, if it’s not prepping for calc? I’m not being sarcastic, honestly want to know</p>

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<p>I took Trigonometry last year with an A. I was fairly good at it I think. I have heard both of your opinions before, so I am hoping that 609Represent is correct. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>My school will not permit me to take this class as a way of getting high school credit to take a higher level class next year, so I am stuck. :(</p>

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<p>@stressedouttt: Pre Calculus does NOTHING to prepare you for the first semester of Calculus (in other words, Calculus AB). The second semester, on the other hand…I have a feeling you’d need Pre-Calculus for that.</p>

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<p>Ok. well then I will not be taking Calculus this summer. I hope that will not hurt my chances at the Ivies. The Harvard website says not to rush into calculus, so I will listen to that advice, and prepare for the sat 2 instead…</p>