Anonymous
Post 02/05/2026 20:37     Subject: Calc AB or BC for senior - future Econ or Data Science major?
Anonymous wrote:If most strong students at your school take BC, you need to take BC.


This is the answer for college admissions. but I still lean in favor of letting him do what he wants and letting the college chips fall where they may.
Anonymous
Post 02/05/2026 19:27     Subject: Calc AB or BC for senior - future Econ or Data Science major?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:AB is fine for Econ, but it really depends on how selective the schools are. By the way, schools will only see the 1st semester grades if he’s applying RD or gets deferred.

ED and EA schools typically won’t see those grades. My kid took BC in 12th, got a B, and got admitted into most schools they applied to. I think AB would have been fine too!


Agree. You will want to think through what schools are on the table for consideration. Taking AB when BC is an option very well may be limiting as it can be perceived as not stretching to take advantage of what is offered - particularly if classmates are doing so. It appears Econ is really popular these days as the alternative to business programs and thus can be pretty competitive. While DC wants to take it 'easy', the reality is the competition is not. If not going for a particularly selective school, then it won't matter. Most students don't have BC walking into college.



I don't know about this. Sara Harberson (maybe I have the name incorrectly spelled) just posted about this. She said the #1 AP class that almost every kid walks into college with having taken in high school is Calculus BC. She just posted this a few days a ago. I'm assuming she's getting this data from either College Board or a similar place, so I'm guessing taking Calculus AB can be seen as a lesser math course and would render your kid on the not fully competitive side.


Incorrect. She says almost every kid getting into a selective college has taken AP Calc AB. It is posted right on her instagram page a few days ago.
Anonymous
Post 02/05/2026 18:48     Subject: Calc AB or BC for senior - future Econ or Data Science major?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:AB is fine for Econ, but it really depends on how selective the schools are. By the way, schools will only see the 1st semester grades if he’s applying RD or gets deferred.

ED and EA schools typically won’t see those grades. My kid took BC in 12th, got a B, and got admitted into most schools they applied to. I think AB would have been fine too!


Agree. You will want to think through what schools are on the table for consideration. Taking AB when BC is an option very well may be limiting as it can be perceived as not stretching to take advantage of what is offered - particularly if classmates are doing so. It appears Econ is really popular these days as the alternative to business programs and thus can be pretty competitive. While DC wants to take it 'easy', the reality is the competition is not. If not going for a particularly selective school, then it won't matter. Most students don't have BC walking into college.


I don't know about this. Sara Harberson (maybe I have the name incorrectly spelled) just posted about this. She said the #1 AP class that almost every kid walks into college with having taken in high school is Calculus BC. She just posted this a few days a ago. I'm assuming she's getting this data from either College Board or a similar place, so I'm guessing taking Calculus AB can be seen as a lesser math course and would render your kid on the not fully competitive side.

Harberson is wrong (as often seems to be the case)

In 2025, 285k students took the calc AB exam vs 160k took the BC exam.
https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/about-ap-scores/score-distributions/ap-calculus-ab
https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/about-ap-scores/score-distributions/ap-calculus-bc
Anonymous
Post 02/05/2026 17:16     Subject: Calc AB or BC for senior - future Econ or Data Science major?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:AB is fine for Econ, but it really depends on how selective the schools are. By the way, schools will only see the 1st semester grades if he’s applying RD or gets deferred.

ED and EA schools typically won’t see those grades. My kid took BC in 12th, got a B, and got admitted into most schools they applied to. I think AB would have been fine too!


Agree. You will want to think through what schools are on the table for consideration. Taking AB when BC is an option very well may be limiting as it can be perceived as not stretching to take advantage of what is offered - particularly if classmates are doing so. It appears Econ is really popular these days as the alternative to business programs and thus can be pretty competitive. While DC wants to take it 'easy', the reality is the competition is not. If not going for a particularly selective school, then it won't matter. Most students don't have BC walking into college.



I don't know about this. Sara Harberson (maybe I have the name incorrectly spelled) just posted about this. She said the #1 AP class that almost every kid walks into college with having taken in high school is Calculus BC. She just posted this a few days a ago. I'm assuming she's getting this data from either College Board or a similar place, so I'm guessing taking Calculus AB can be seen as a lesser math course and would render your kid on the not fully competitive side.
Anonymous
Post 02/05/2026 17:13     Subject: Calc AB or BC for senior - future Econ or Data Science major?
How many kids in his school will take Calc BC? Those are who he will be compares to for admissions. If he is not motivated to do BC I prob would not push. At our school it is a lot more work than AB.
Anonymous
Post 02/05/2026 15:09     Subject: Calc AB or BC for senior - future Econ or Data Science major?
Take BC hands down. At this point, think of it as prep for college math. Those Calc 2/Calc 3 college math classes have a lot of students who already took it in HS so in our experience, the classes move along quickly and the curve can be tough if you’re taking a class for the first time when many others have already taken it.
Anonymous
Post 02/05/2026 14:59     Subject: Calc AB or BC for senior - future Econ or Data Science major?
Anonymous wrote:If most strong students at your school take BC, you need to take BC.


This.
Anonymous
Post 02/05/2026 14:19     Subject: Calc AB or BC for senior - future Econ or Data Science major?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:FCPS DS is taking AP Precalc BC (prepares kids for AP Calc BC) in 11th grade. He has an A-, could turn into an A by the end of the year but could also be a B+.

He likes math and is potentially interested in a math field. However, he wants to take Calc AB in 12th grade because he thinks BC will be too much effort as a senior when he wants to relax. He also said the teacher recommended all seniors take only Calc AB, regardless of their grade. He wasn't that clear on why.

I can see a scenario where he gets into college in December and then even keeping a C in BC could be really hard. I don't want to worry about that in the spring.
On the other hand, if he's trying for a math-oriented major, won't it look bad that he did well enough in Precalc BC and then decided to move "down" to AB?

What do you all think? Do you think it matters?


If he wants to relax as a senior then I assume he's not going for competitive schools?


OP. Lol, you would think that, right? No, he wants competitive schools. He will have 4 APs senior year (plus a post-AP CS class), none of the "easy" ones. But he sees switching from BC->AB as a way to reduce his workload. Personally, I struggled in math, and for advanced math, I feel like it's possible to get completely lost if he's not invested in staying focused later in the school year. (I understand that it's a concern that he's already thinking about slacking off, but I guess these kids work hard and so I get the burnout a bit.)


The people he is competing with when it comes to admissions are his own classmates, so he should see what they are doing.
Anonymous
Post 02/05/2026 14:15     Subject: Calc AB or BC for senior - future Econ or Data Science major?
If most strong students at your school take BC, you need to take BC.
Anonymous
Post 02/05/2026 14:13     Subject: Calc AB or BC for senior - future Econ or Data Science major?
My DC was just admitted to UVA with AP Calculus AB senior year. Took AP PreCalc and AP Stats (elective) junior year. Interested in Econ/business.
Anonymous
Post 02/05/2026 13:57     Subject: Calc AB or BC for senior - future Econ or Data Science major?
I say, protect the gpa! Last year, my kid was worried about ab vs bc. They took ab (worried about managing apps, workload and q1 grades which many schools request). Now a freshman at an ivy and accepted to several flagships. Applied for econ/ir. I think its the whole package,and not 1 course in isolation. Also, when looking at flagships, gpa seemed most important. And be aware that each school recalculates differently. For ex, at umichigan a b-/b/b+ is all same value. So much better to get the a- vs b+.