My daughter has a 4.0 unweighted with 5 APs after her junior year (max would be 6) and taking 4 next year.She is struggling between taking a 5th year French class, which would be AP French and a heavy load or Multivariable math, which is where her interests lie. She will be taking AP Calc AP Gov, AP Physics and AP English (whatever it is Senior Year). She is taking Senior Portfolio (Art). She is taking 7 classes now and does not want to take 7 next year. She’s looking at Tufts, Harvard, GA Tech (in state) or a SLAC in the Northeast with interest in Neuroscience or Biology. School counselor thinks she should take 5th year of language. We toured Tufts, Harvard and Smith, and they all said to take whatever interests you. She is conflicted. Any thoughts on which way she should go? She does not want to minor in French. Thanks!
And I’d agree with them, in general, but I don’t see how she can succeed if she’s taking MVC concurrently with AP Calc. That’s like like taking French 4 concurrently with French 1. MVC, which is essentially calc 3, builds upon what is learned in calc 1&2
Considering multivariable calc is more advanced than both AP calcs (which is on her schedule for next year), I’m a bit confused. Has she taken any calculus before?
She has a 98 in pre calc now, which is into Calc at this point, and she was recommended for the class. It’s just the way her school is structured. She’s in the highest math she can be in right now.
I would defer to those on CC who know more about the math progression, but going from precalc to mulivariable calculus, which is the equivalent of calc 3, seems difficult even for the brightest of students. AP Calc AB would probably be the best option if the school offers. It shows plenty sufficent rigor to colleges.
I took AP Calc BC Junior year and Multivariable Calculus Senior year. I would not recommend taking Multivariable Calculus concurrently with Calculus. It seems strange that the school would have this as an option, unless it’s a watered down version of Multivariable. I would recommend taking French and saving Multivariable Calculus for college once she has a strong Calculus foundation to build upon. Also, if she takes the AP French and scores well on the exam she may be able to fulfill her language requirement at some schools.
Yes. That makes sense. She goes to a small college prep high school and it’s just the way the math is structured. There is no Calc AB, only AP Calc BC Senior year and apparently the additional class she is looking at is Linear Algebra Fall semester and Multivariable Spring semester. It is all taught by the same teacher. She thought it would look good for getting into Ga Tech (plus she is super interested). You all bring up great thoughts that I will relay to her. Thanks!
It is somewhat normal to skip calc AB, so that will be totally fine for her. And BC calculus is plenty rigorous for any school, especially when you are not pursuing something like engineering which is heavy in calc. Good luck to your daughter!
Only when the BC course covers the AB topics. Many schools split, so the BC class only covers the BC topics. But that appears not to be the case with the OP’s school
Exactly. This is how she explained it to me:)
She is also thinking maybe bioengineering.
Regardless, BC is totally fine for admissions. That will be plenty challening on it’s own. I just think it would be too much to throw in multivariable before you are done learning all of calc 2 (BC). But it’s best to talk with your school about it. They can guide you better than any of us. As for French, I think she is fine to go either way. No college expects more than 4 years, which she already has though it obviously won’t hurt.
I don’t know your child but here’s our experience with MVC. My son took honors pre-Calc in his sophomore year and crushed it. He took BC his junior year and crushed it. He’s in MVC, his senior year, and it’s crushing him. I can’t imagine going straight from pre-Calc to MVC or even linear without BC.
Congrats on your daughter’s very strong academic performance! Regarding your question, I am wondering if possibly there may be some confusion about options? I cannot imagine any scenario for really any student (even math wizards) where it would be possible to go from Precalculus straight to Multivariable (even if taking Calculus BC concurrently). I have never heard of this and it frankly doesn’t make sense. I could understand a math wizard somehow taking a condensed Calculus BC course over the summer and the entering Multivariable in the Fall, but to enter Multivariable in September having not yet taken Calculus seems really odd/unwise/undoable. Is this really possible at your daughter’s school? Perhaps there is some confusion? Good luck!
AP French will show well-rounded rigor. A lot of schools really value that in admissions. I also suspect, based on what folks here are saying about Calc BC and MVC, that schools like GA Tech will assume that the MVC she would take alongside BC is watered down. So she might not get much of an admissions bump from it.
I agree with others that she shouldn’t take multivariable calculus in high school.
If she majors in neuroscience, it definitely won’t be required anyway. A bunch of engineering majors take (or retake) Calc 1 & 2 as freshmen, so she’d be ahead of the game even as an engineering major. Some engineering schools require a 5 to get credit for calc or as a prerequisite for the next course. That’s good because those majors have got to make sure they’re really firm on the math before moving on to the next course.
While linear algebra does not directly depend on calculus, multivariable calculus does depend on single variable calculus (like AP calculus BC).
Thanks everyone!
Could she register for Calc BC and Linear algebra ONLY? She’d have an extra free period Spring senior year, which may come in handy.
MVC taken concurrently with calculus would likely be dismissed as very watered down.
My DS took BC and MVC in the same year. The BC was a year long class and MVC was a 2nd semester class. Basically, you have finished the single variable version before you get to the multi variable version. With AP testing and having to be “done” with BC early, it works.