Reply to Bad for students, who apply for CS or engineering, to take AP Calc AB and then BC?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If AP Calculus AB is a prerequisite for BC, that seems to be unfair for middle school students that have access to accelerated math only through Algebra 1. In high school they could only advance to Calculus AB. [/quote]

This is why colleges don’t put much emphasis on how far you got in math, and not even elite engineering programs expect math beyond Calc AB. If they required BC or beyond, they’d limit their applicant pool to kids whose parents pushed them into the “right” math track at the “right” middle school. Those parents wish the schools would limit their applicant pool in that way, of course. Imagine being able to secure an elite seat for your kid just by bullying a 6th grade math teacher into giving your kid the right placement! But those parents are not in charge of admissions. [/quote]

This. The fact that students come in with more is not surprising, but it’s not because the AO sorted on that, or because of a check box. For that student AB is sufficiently rigorous.[/quote]

About 5% of students take algebra in 7th grade nationally. That’s about 200,000 students. About 150,000 take Calculus BC. 70,000 get a 5 on the exam. That’s more than enough to fill elite colleges several times over.

That’s why for elite and even next tier colleges Calculus BC is the norm not the exception. Sure it’s not an absolute requirement, but if you didn’t take BC odds are not in your favor.[/quote]

You are making a lot of assumptions with those numbers. Many of those BC students are incredibly bright future engineers and tech kids who ended up at state flagships…Purdue, Georgia tech, UT Austin, UC’s, Illinois, Washington and other state universities.

Ivies are much more holistic and willing to accept students who have not completed BC. [/quote]

Only if you’re legacy, athlete, urm. 90% of Harvard students took Calculus or higher. If you don’t have a hook, you’d better complete BC with a 5.

https://features.thecrimson.com/2023/freshman-survey/academics-narrative/#:~:text=An%20overwhelming%20majority%20of%20the%20Class%20of,level%20of%20coursework%20at%20non%2Dcharter%20public%20schools.[/quote]

Self-reported, certainly includes AB, and it does not follow this is why they ended up at Harvard. Absolutely calc is now an expected HS course for college bound kids, beyond that is slippery slope fallacy.[/quote]

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