<p>I am taking AB right now, my senior year and I got into Bowdoin. </p>
<p>I would strongly advise taking AB first. AB is all the bascis to calculus both differential and integral. BC, at least at my school, starts out with the notion that students already know all the basics and hits the ground running. They start where AB leaves off.</p>
<p>I think top schools like UPenn and Chicago will wonder why you are not continuing in science- (no physics?). These schools state they want to see you take the most challenging curriculum offered, and AP Psych and AP Art History do not show as much intellectual rigor as advanced sciences.</p>
<p>D got in to UChicago early action and Georgetown early action with calc AB as a senior (this year).</p>
<p>I wish I had taken AB. Don’t struggle through BC. It’s not worth it. I ended up getting rejected from a lot of schools due to the so-called “black mark” on my transcript on the BC track (adcoms told me that this was the reason), not to mention the stress it caused me could have been alleviated and resulted in my few Bs becoming As. It’s a personal decision, but BC isn’t for everyone and there’s NOTHING wrong with that.</p>
<p>You can definitely get into many top schools without BC math.</p>
<p>At my school, only people with As in honors precalc. could go to calc BC, theres around 3 BC classes.
BC is probably harder, but it wont be if you really like math.</p>
<p>And to sqdwfe13: I think its a ridiculous idea, sorry. You really should have an A in algebra 2, no matter how difficult your school’s math classes are if you want to take Calc as a junior. I dont know about your school, but the people here who take BC are like, the top of their honors precalc class, and we have a crazy hard teacher. Why do you want to skip anyway?</p>
<p>Competitive schools REALLY want to see the “big three” for sciences – bio, chem and physics. Not taking physics may be more of an issue than AB or BC, even though you have taken two AP sciences. (S2 has/will take the same science sequence as you, but with honors physics as well.)</p>
<p>S2 is taking AP Calc AB as a junior and AP Stat next year. Is a consistent B+ math student with excellent standardized test scores, but is not a big math junkie. Is now pulling an A in AB Calc this semester and gave serious thought to BC vs. Stat. He thought BC wouldn’t be too bad since he has already done AB. However, he concluded that for his major, Stat makes more sense; he looked at the course requirements for his major at the selective schools he’s considering and saw that he’d have to take two or three stats courses in college. It became a no-brainer – get some basic stats background before he gets there. Might be worth it to see what the colleges you’re considering require for your intended major. </p>
<p>It’s not just about your chances of getting into a school, it’s about your ability to handle the work once you are there.</p>
<p>UChicago Econ and Wharton are HEAVILY quant. Not for the numerically weak at heart.</p>
<p>CountingDown: What’s your son’s major?</p>
<p>I took AB senior year.
Still got into Dartmouth ED (unhooked, white caucasian girl from California…)
It was probably the best decision I made; I was able to pull great grades 1st semester senior year, not just in AB itself but also by having additional time to study for other classes (AP lit, AP econ, AP spanish, Physics, AP gov). A lot of the people taking BC at my school got absolutely flattened.
I don’t think AB vs BC made the biggest difference esp. as I was still taking a rigorous schedule.</p>
<p>If you are thinking about sciences or engineering, you will most likely want to take calculus at the college where you end up. That professor will know what you need to know for what you are studying, so going for the higher level doesn’t make sense.</p>
<p>related (now historic) thread
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/146284-senior-year-choice-ap-calc-ab-bc.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/146284-senior-year-choice-ap-calc-ab-bc.html</a></p>
<p>sqdwfe13,
He plans on doing international relations with a bent to the security/strategy side of things. The programs he’s considering want a few stat courses, in addition to some econ classes where at least some exposure to calc and stats would be good. CMU’s Global Politics major in particular is quant-heavy.</p>
<p>Do not underestimate the importance of good grades in the fall of senior year depsite apps and many other demands on time. My vote is for as much sanity during senior year as possible.</p>
<p>Caitylin…The reason we have similar schedule is probably because I go to upland high too…:P</p>
<p>Well, the “only BC teacher” is my problem here…I have him for pre-cal…</p>
<p>I might be able to fit AP Physics in my senior year schedule, but I really don’t want to take it. I have no previous knowledge and I’m not as strong in science. I might need to find a tutor if I struggle in that class.</p>
<p>Well, I might take AB. Thank u for all your suggestions!! I am aiming for school like Uchicago and Berkeley.</p>
<p>Nj<em>azn</em>premed:I have to take AP Art History because it fulfills the visual art requirement for UC’s. It is the only AP class offered for visual art. I would have to take Art of Drawing if I don’t take Art History…</p>
<p>What if I take AP Calculus BC the summer after my senior year? Would colleges see that favorably (if I also took Honors Geometry, Honors Algebra 2, Honors Precalculus, and AP Stats in high school)?</p>
<p>I’m scared from what I’m hearing on here about colleges shutting you out for not having taken Calculus in high school.</p>
<p>last time I checked you are suppose to take the “most challenging classes possible” on your junior year. Unless you want your counselor to check the “very demanding” box instead of the “most demanding” box on your application…
CalcBC is the way to go.</p>
<p>lol. please don’t take BC if you don’t want to. A guy at my school took BC his junior year and failed the class. Had he taken AB, he would have had a much higher chance at his dream colleges. BC is literally one of the hardest classes in my school though. I remember how in junior year, there was 1 A out of about 60 students for the first 2 six weeks.</p>
<p>and I don’t think many of my colleges held it against me when I took the much easier AB course.</p>
<p>Honestly, it depends on what kind of math student you are. I took AB as a sophomore, and BC as a junior [right now]. In our school, everyone has to take AB before BC.BC has been very easy for me this year, since I know everything from AB and there’s only a little bit more to learn. At the same time, however, I consider myself a pretty strong math student and a lot of kids in our class struggle with the BC material. Do what you think is right. It’s more important to understand the fundamentals than it is to rush ahead and just memorize math.</p>