Engineering prospective applicant: Take AP Statistics instead of AP Calculus BC in senior year (after AP Calculus AB in junior year)?

[fretfulmother]

That’s reasonable; I don’t think late bloomer is a negative. It’s as opposed to “bad at math” i.e. now catching up.

[happy1]

However, I don’t see taking AP Calc junior year as being a late bloomer in math. In any event, this discussion is not the OPs question.

[chuckml97]

When we were touring ENG school at USC, the admission director made it very clear. They only consider students with calculus in high school. And they “prefer” students to take as much advance math classes as available at their high school. Only if there is no more, then take AP Stats. I assume other selective ENG school AOs have the same preference. Good Luck.

[fretfulmother]

OK, I think I must not have been clear. The way I see it, there are two possible scenarios:

1. the “typical” progression at OP’s HS is to do AB in 11th and then BC in 12th. In this case, as many have explained, it will be wise to do BC in 12th to continue the progression and keep up the calculus.

2. the “typical” progression at OP’s HS is for students to take either AB calc or BC calc, and OP opted for AB and now is thinking of AP Stats next year. In this case, I think Stats is not a terrible idea, and would indeed “round out” their math background - maybe there are other math electives there as well.

However, in case (2) above, the question would be open: why did OP opt for AB instead of BC calc? This is what I was thinking “late bloomer” is the better option, because it was either that they didn’t make it into BC because of not being top-track at their school in math, OR it could have been because their previous/middle-school/algebra wasn’t yet advanced and they’re advanced now (“late bloomer”).

I do not think it is in any way “toxic” in this or any CC thread to try to suss out the best possible approach for kids who come to us. They know that this is a community that includes people who want not just average-student advice, but competitive-student advice. The list of schools wasn’t necessarily the fanciest-schmanciest schools, but was pretty competitive.

That said, I’m sorry OP if you felt put down by anything I said.

[somethings]

@Noko528

Can I take AP Statistics in my senior year instead of AP Calculus BC. Will I be “penalized” by colleges for less rigor or can it be evidence of a broader skill set?

As mechanical engineering applicant, yes you can take stats instead of BC next year, and likely you will be “penalized”.

@Noko528

My concern is that I may be bored since AB content is half of BC content.

Good. then you can complete the assignments quickly and use your time on college applications. You’ll need the time. And likely you can get an easy A for the fall semester. This is the strategy some of my students take.

[sbinaz]

@CCName1

I would absolutely take AP Calculus BC.

Beyond any argument about the utility of stats vs calculus, and beyond how an AO might view the courses, YOU are going to need to take calculus and advanced math classes in a college for mechanical engineering!

You should try to be as prepared as possible, and taking a year off of calculus would be akin to taking a year off of Spanish when planning to major in Spanish. You might not lose of those skills, but you will likely be rusty when you start college, and that is not a good position for someone in a major notorious for early weed out courses.

I agree.

[mikemac]

@Noko528

My concern is that I may be bored since AB content is half of BC content.

In a post a few months ago you wrote

I found school and homework boring and I didn’t do them, so I had a B average over the 2 years. Now my grades have improved to the Aminus/Bplus range and with steady improvement to even higher grades, I estimate that my GPA will be 3.2-3.3 when I graduate.
Match me. Student with high ACT and low GPA, Interested in Mechanical Engineering

So I’ll make 2 comments

First, given your overall GPA and its welcome rising trend you’ll want to take every opportunity to show adcoms who will be sitting there looking at your transcript that any earlier problem is gone and that you can do well in rigorous classes.

Second, I can say from personal experience that when you study Calculus a second time you get a deeper understanding. I worked in the tutoring center in college and one of the classes I was assigned was 1st-year Calculus. So of course I had to reread the chapters they were studying. The first time thru a fair amount of my time was spent just on the mechanics of learning theorems, differentiation, solving integrals, etc. Since I already had learned these I was able to refresh my knowledge quickly and then get a sense of the bigger picture.

[Noko528]

The tentative list given was intentionally meant to show a spread of potential reach, target and safety schools. The final list may look different depending on my stats.

I appreciate your comments and those of others, and was not put down. The answers given in this thread have been blunt but also super insightful and realistic, and I appreciate them.

[DavidRoman]

fretfulmother - for the record, I don’t think anything you said was toxic and your advice was spot-on. My $0.02 is that any engineering candidate should take BC calc ahead of time if the option is available to you.

[tsbna44]

If you have under a 3.5, your last four will be what happens. Not the first four.

But you need a budget because Bama, for example, you need a 3.5 ( I believe UW) for merit.

So BC won’t matter for schools you can likely get into but it will for preparation - being off a year from calc is not good.

If you are reaching though and I’m wrong, yep you’ll need BC.

Good luck.

[VirginiaBelle]

Absolutely take BC Calc. AP statistics is algebra based and a throwaway class for most engineering schools. Georgia Tech, for example, does not even give credit for it at all. Not only will BC Calc help you in your engineering classes, you may be able to place out of two of your math classes. Not to mention schools will be looking at your rigor for preparation for engineering, and AP statistics will look like you took the easy way out, which is not advisable.

[OctoberKate]

At my son’s STEM school (WPI) incoming engineers need to take a math placement test to determine which Calc class to put them in. AP exams given guidance, but the placement test is more fitted to the school curriculum. There, the MechEs need to take Calc 1, 2, 3 and 4 plus differential equations. Lots of kids seem to struggle with Calc 2 and 3, which (based solely on anecdotes from the parents facebook page) seems to be because their calc foundations just weren’t that strong to begin with. Even if the first part of BC calc is repetitive for you, it will be really useful for you in college. It might give you the strength to place out of some of the lower Calc classes, which could open room for something else, or, if you still need to take those classes, it should make them that much more comfortable for you as you’re adjusting to college life.

At our HS most kids go either from Precalc to AB or Precalc to BC, but there are some students who did AB in 11th grade who then opted for BC in 12th so it’s not like it would be unheard of. Plus, you may get a different calc teacher who, even on subject matter you’ve covered before, could hit different highlights or cover concepts in other ways that either make more sense to you or that could expand how you tackle math in the future.

FWIW, my kid is a MechE and CivE double major in college - and while statistics isn’t required for the MechE degree, it is required for the CivE degree. He actually enjoyed taking it in college because it was a much easier class than his heavier lift courses. Sometimes it’s nice to have one easier class to lighten the load. So if you do need it in college, it might be a welcome gift to have statistics then.