<p>On that point I totally agree. AP Stats is a fine class, interesting (in my opinion, way more interesting than Calculus!), etc. You taking it is only a credit to you.</p>
<p>But… consider this from Brown’s point of view. Here you sit, wee applicant, with a buffet of courses before you. Since this is rather like what you will face at Brown, Brown wants to see how you choose from these courses. They WILL be provided with a list of courses available at your school (and usually average AP scores and # of students in the class) from your school’s administration.</p>
<p>Brown looks at what you choose to take. And what it’s really looking for is self-discipline, adventurousness, and hard work. I think Calculus comes in at the Self-Discipline part, not so much the hard work (I don’t doubt that you are a serious student intent on doing extremely well). </p>
<p>Another argument for Calculus, besides how and why Brown places some emphasis on taking a Calculus class (not necessarily AP, as in your situation), is that Calculus will be extremely useful to you in at least a few of your classes at Brown. Furthermore, if you do enjoy Statistics, Calculus becomes as major competent of the subject after about 1 semester, so you would be in a great position to pursue whatever interest you have in Statistics (be it Social Statistics, Demography, Econometrics, etc.) with an understanding of Calculus.</p>
<p>Take it from someone who HATES math.</p>