OP here. Thanks for all the candid responses. Kid was ready and geared to take AP Calc but for several reasons is realizing that he wasn't prepared well for it. We are encouraging him that he can still put in his best application w/o it. The info on the college websites all state to take the rigorous path that makes sense to you and your interests, and that Calc is strongly recommended for engineers.

I hate that we are stressing over this one decision, but everything seems so high stakes in this whole process.

Maybe one point of consideration is what type of math your child may have to take in college. Even humanities majors often need to take some math. The more overlap between their HS math and college math, the easier their college math will be.

My kid sounds just like yours—humanities-focused, strong ECs and academic profile overall, but math was never a strong suit.

He took calc AB and got As. His school offers AB and BC, and most of the kids applying to selective schools take one of them, so it would have put him at a disadvantage in the context of his school not to. He’s at a highly selective SLAC where something like 80% of admits take calculus.

Anonymous wrote:About half of humanities admits at Princeton did not take any Calculus.

It was about 7.5% per the large Princetonian survey of Humanties-intended first years. What’s your source?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:About half of humanities admits at Princeton did not take any Calculus.

About half of US high schools don't offer it, though. So the question is whether there is an admissions hit if your HS offers it but you don't take it.

I think AP Stat is acceptable for a humanities degree seeker. It is actually more relevant.

If the college major does not require calculus, at the specific institution, that's a decent signal.

Economics (social science) and business often recommend calculus. In that case, I recommend taking calculus to assist with college adaptation. It's typically much more difficult at the college level. Pre-exposure to the material could help.

OP, what caught my eye is that you're saying it's what YOU prefer. That's not cool. You say he's a strong student with excellent ECs. That means he has a good head on his shoulders. Let him make his own decision on something like this. He's earned that.

To answer your question, while it's been awhile one of my kids got into UVA with AP Stats and without taking AP Calc. She did have 10 or so AP classes, though, and from what I recalled they were: Bio, Econ, Environmental Science, Euro and US History, Gov't, English (Lang and Lit), and Spanish (Lang and Lit). I may have missed one or two. Did not take AP Chem or Physics, that I know, but did take both at the intensified level earlier in the earlier years of high school.

I had two other kids apply to and get into UVA-level school, and they both took AP Calc. They both also had 10+ AP classes.

All three had weighted GPAs over a 4.0, but they had blemishes. The GPAs were not perfect and there were plenty of Bs.

William & Mary's admissions website used to explicitly say -- for years -- that they wanted Calculus over Stat regardless of major, but they've deleted that. That has to mean something.

Personally, I think that if your kid has an overall strong record but with a lower grade in AP Calc they're probably just as well positioned and maybe better off than they would be with the same record with no AP Calc and a higher grade in AP Stat. The application isn't going to rise or fall on this one thing. Taking the class may show that the kid is challenging himself and leaving his comfort zone.

I'd let him decide and not treat this as a life or death decision.

Yes, my kid got into all his choices with AP stats instead of AP Calc but the difference was not just that he is a Humanities major versus a STEM major, its that he applied only to European colleges.

If he had planned to go to college in the US he absolutely would have taken AP Calc (AB not BC)

He did not take the AP exam, either.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:About half of humanities admits at Princeton did not take any Calculus.

About half of US high schools don't offer it, though. So the question is whether there is an admissions hit if your HS offers it but you don't take it.

As a contrast, more than 85% stem admits at Princeton took at least some calculus.

Anonymous wrote:About half of humanities admits at Princeton did not take any Calculus.

About half of US high schools don't offer it, though. So the question is whether there is an admissions hit if your HS offers it but you don't take it.

About half of humanities admits at Princeton did not take any Calculus.

Got into UVA with AP stat. No intensified math track and no Calc.

"I would prefer"? What does he want to do?

My kid got into UCLA, UCSD, and CMC as a humanities major w/AP Stat but not AP Calc

Is your question actually if anyone has done it? Would a tiny sampling change tour mind?

Anyone have kids accepted to selective colleges without AP Calculus?

DC is a strong applicant, but math has been a weakness. I would prefer DC take AP Stats senior year as a humanities major. He has strong ECs and awards in his area of interest. He is definitely not studying STEM. The drop deadline is coming up soon so wanted to ask here.