AP Stats AND Calculus with Applications vs. AP Calc AB

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't think even a STEM kid needs AP Calculus on their transcript. My DC (HS '22) was admitted to 8 engineering programs with Calc with Applications on the transcript, which they took as a senior.

For your non STEM kid, who seems to want a social studies major, I'd definitely recommend AP Stats. The knowledge they gain will go into their future studies and potentially will count for 1 class. Your student could even take Calc with Applications as a 2nd math if you are really concerned about not having calculus.

Not all majors require calculus. If the social studies major does require calculus, it won't be the same degree as Engineering calc.

Wow! Good to know. My non-stem DD is taking Calculus with applications. we had her take it because we did read that colleges want to see calculus, though she hates math with a passion.

I am surprised (and glad) that engineering programs are not demanding to see Calculus on your kid's applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do they want to go? My kid who did not take ANY Calculus in HS but took AP Stats and Stats seminar still got into a good Data Science program with merit - but DC wasn't interested in Ivies or Top 50 USNWR. DC will still have to take Calc in college for major but it didn't prevent them from getting in. It was also helpful that they weren't stressing about Calc during Junior year when they were also taking a full load of other AP classes. FWIW, the kid thought they were going to be liberal arts until they took AP Stats.

Did not know Data Science works for kids weak at math, is there a lot of statistics? College Statistic has tons of calculus

. DC not weak in math - advanced all the way through - just didn't prefer normal math (thought it was boring) - but loves Stats - and does very well in it.

You are saying your strong math kid did not take any calculus in HS because it is boring 🤔

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do they want to go? My kid who did not take ANY Calculus in HS but took AP Stats and Stats seminar still got into a good Data Science program with merit - but DC wasn't interested in Ivies or Top 50 USNWR. DC will still have to take Calc in college for major but it didn't prevent them from getting in. It was also helpful that they weren't stressing about Calc during Junior year when they were also taking a full load of other AP classes. FWIW, the kid thought they were going to be liberal arts until they took AP Stats.

Did not know Data Science works for kids weak at math, is there a lot of statistics? College Statistic has tons of calculus

. DC not weak in math - advanced all the way through - just didn't prefer normal math (thought it was boring) - but loves Stats - and does very well in it.

You are saying your strong math kid did not take any calculus in HS because it is boring 🤔

. Yes - and they weren't interested in STEM (at the time) so there was no point in pushing them into a class that they had no use for (at the time) and could use that time for interests they did have. AP Stats rekindled interest in math and Stats seminar solidified, so here we are- a kid that has incredibly strong verbal skills with solid math skills - a decent combination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not take AP Stats and use the other period to take something that actually interests DC (instead of either calc option)? Life is too short to make yourself miserable for a speculative "slightly better chance" of admission to a "slightly better school" (by some metric that you probably don't understand and probably wouldn't agree with if you did) that won't alter your life path regardless. Plus, I'm dubious that a transcript with calc offers an admission boost over an authentic transcript, anyway.

+1 Thanks for saving me the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't think even a STEM kid needs AP Calculus on their transcript. My DC (HS '22) was admitted to 8 engineering programs with Calc with Applications on the transcript, which they took as a senior.

For your non STEM kid, who seems to want a social studies major, I'd definitely recommend AP Stats. The knowledge they gain will go into their future studies and potentially will count for 1 class. Your student could even take Calc with Applications as a 2nd math if you are really concerned about not having calculus.

Not all majors require calculus. If the social studies major does require calculus, it won't be the same degree as Engineering calc.

Wow! Good to know. My non-stem DD is taking Calculus with applications. we had her take it because we did read that colleges want to see calculus, though she hates math with a passion.

I am surprised (and glad) that engineering programs are not demanding to see Calculus on your kid's applications.

Just to clarify - my DC did have Calculus on the HS transcript, but it wasn't AP Calc. I wanted a foundation for freshmen year math.

[Anonymous]

If you suspect your kid is going to have to take calculus in college, strongly recommend they take it first in high school. College classes tend to be very large lectures and move fast. It really helps to have some foundation with the subject.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do they want to go? My kid who did not take ANY Calculus in HS but took AP Stats and Stats seminar still got into a good Data Science program with merit - but DC wasn't interested in Ivies or Top 50 USNWR. DC will still have to take Calc in college for major but it didn't prevent them from getting in. It was also helpful that they weren't stressing about Calc during Junior year when they were also taking a full load of other AP classes. FWIW, the kid thought they were going to be liberal arts until they took AP Stats.

Did not know Data Science works for kids weak at math, is there a lot of statistics? College Statistic has tons of calculus

. DC not weak in math - advanced all the way through - just didn't prefer normal math (thought it was boring) - but loves Stats - and does very well in it.

Ap stats is a very easy class, not at all comparable to an AP calculus class in terms of difficulty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do they want to go? My kid who did not take ANY Calculus in HS but took AP Stats and Stats seminar still got into a good Data Science program with merit - but DC wasn't interested in Ivies or Top 50 USNWR. DC will still have to take Calc in college for major but it didn't prevent them from getting in. It was also helpful that they weren't stressing about Calc during Junior year when they were also taking a full load of other AP classes. FWIW, the kid thought they were going to be liberal arts until they took AP Stats.

Did not know Data Science works for kids weak at math, is there a lot of statistics? College Statistic has tons of calculus

. DC not weak in math - advanced all the way through - just didn't prefer normal math (thought it was boring) - but loves Stats - and does very well in it.

Ap stats is a very easy class, not at all comparable to an AP calculus class in terms of difficulty.

[Sigh]. All I was saying was it is possible to get into college without taking AP Calc - even getting into a decent STEM program without taking AP Calc because that was our experience. No need to cast aspersions on the relative difficulty of Stats vs. Calc or anything else. Jeez.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you suspect your kid is going to have to take calculus in college, strongly recommend they take it first in high school. College classes tend to be very large lectures and move fast. It really helps to have some foundation with the subject.

+1
I was a strong math student who missed the track to Calc in high school, due to changing districts. My parents and I didn't know enough to push for it. I took calc in college 25 years ago and even then about half the class had taken calc in high school. For classes graded on a curve (is that still the case?), it was a huge disadvantage.

[Anonymous]

For MCPS families - Would calc with applications help prepare student for first semester calculus in college? Or provide enough Calc for college stats?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do they want to go? My kid who did not take ANY Calculus in HS but took AP Stats and Stats seminar still got into a good Data Science program with merit - but DC wasn't interested in Ivies or Top 50 USNWR. DC will still have to take Calc in college for major but it didn't prevent them from getting in. It was also helpful that they weren't stressing about Calc during Junior year when they were also taking a full load of other AP classes. FWIW, the kid thought they were going to be liberal arts until they took AP Stats.

Did not know Data Science works for kids weak at math, is there a lot of statistics? College Statistic has tons of calculus

AP stat is BASIC. It’s using a calculator to find statistics and calculate confidence intervals and p-values for hypothesis tests. The critics thinking piece is how you interpret values and knowing what type of test you need to preform.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do they want to go? My kid who did not take ANY Calculus in HS but took AP Stats and Stats seminar still got into a good Data Science program with merit - but DC wasn't interested in Ivies or Top 50 USNWR. DC will still have to take Calc in college for major but it didn't prevent them from getting in. It was also helpful that they weren't stressing about Calc during Junior year when they were also taking a full load of other AP classes. FWIW, the kid thought they were going to be liberal arts until they took AP Stats.

Did not know Data Science works for kids weak at math, is there a lot of statistics? College Statistic has tons of calculus

. DC not weak in math - advanced all the way through - just didn't prefer normal math (thought it was boring) - but loves Stats - and does very well in it.

Ap stats is a very easy class, not at all comparable to an AP calculus class in terms of difficulty.

[Sigh]. All I was saying was it is possible to get into college without taking AP Calc - even getting into a decent STEM program without taking AP Calc because that was our experience. No need to cast aspersions on the relative difficulty of Stats vs. Calc or anything else. Jeez.

You are suggesting it’s a substitute for calculus, it really isn’t in any meaningful way,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do they want to go? My kid who did not take ANY Calculus in HS but took AP Stats and Stats seminar still got into a good Data Science program with merit - but DC wasn't interested in Ivies or Top 50 USNWR. DC will still have to take Calc in college for major but it didn't prevent them from getting in. It was also helpful that they weren't stressing about Calc during Junior year when they were also taking a full load of other AP classes. FWIW, the kid thought they were going to be liberal arts until they took AP Stats.

Did not know Data Science works for kids weak at math, is there a lot of statistics? College Statistic has tons of calculus

AP stat is BASIC. It’s using a calculator to find statistics and calculate confidence intervals and p-values for hypothesis tests. The critics thinking piece is how you interpret values and knowing what type of test you need to preform.

How’s that AP then, not college level material at all

[Anonymous]

Just take what you want. Have seen so many kids try to game the system, take courses they do not want to take, and then they don’t get into their reaches anyway. What’s the takeaway? That life is about making choices that matter to you, or that life is all about trying to get into certain colleges? Which group do you think deals better with rejection and setbacks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just take what you want. Have seen so many kids try to game the system, take courses they do not want to take, and then they don’t get into their reaches anyway. What’s the takeaway? That life is about making choices that matter to you, or that life is all about trying to get into certain colleges? Which group do you think deals better with rejection and setbacks?

I don’t know about you, but I want my kid to be prepared for college. Course selection does impact that.