We are looking at grade 12 course selection for my rising senior. He will pick a not-STEM Humanities major (econ/history/poli sci/linguistics).
He has completed PreCal GT (A grade), AP Stats (4), AP Calc AB (4) through junior year. For senior year, we are considering Business Calculus instead of AP Calc BC - mainly because he is taking other APs related to his major and we don’t want to overload him. Business calculus also seems more interesting to him, content wise.
He has some highly selective schools on his list (along with many safeties too) so wondering if doing Business Calculus (that seems more interesting to him) would be ok vs AP Calc BC. We also have the option of doing Business Calculus at the local community college which would make it a college level course vs doing Business Calculus at the school.
I don’t think Business Calc will teach much (if anything) beyond Calc AB regardless of where the course is taken. If aiming for highly competitive colleges, I’d recommend Calc BC as the next math class.
Perhaps don’t take math if graduation requirements have been met and take AP Physics 1? (see other post by OP)
It sounds to me like there are a number of scheduling questions that should be discussed with the guidance counselor as soon as possible.
It sounds to me like this kid instead of continuing to push along the most rigorous path in all the core areas wants to start focusing instead on specific areas of interest, and would specifically like to back it down a bit in math and science.
And my personal feeling is that is perfectly fine!
The problem is I cannot in good conscious promise that will have no impact at all on which colleges admit this kid. It might make no difference at all. Or it might make a difference to one or more particularly selective colleges. Frankly, the odds are against the latter scenario, including because even if you take all the “right” courses the odds are very much against admission to the most selective colleges anyway. But there is some possibility, however small, that such choices will make a difference.
And my reaction to that is–so what? Having a healthy, fun, interesting, well-balanced high school experience is really important. Maybe-possibly-but-probably-not improving your chances of getting admitted to a highly selective college, to me, simply is not worth as much in comparison.
So my two cents is this is one of those maturity moments where we shouldn’t deceive our kids about possible tradeoffs in the paths they choose. And then we should support them whatever path they do choose.
Calculus for business majors is typically a less rigorous course or sequence mostly repeating what he saw in AP calculus AB, although there may be a few new topics in the later part of the course or sequence.
Depending on the content of the course, the second semester of the college calculus for business majors sequence may be worthwhile in terms of new material, but you need to check the course description and the college’s AP score placement recommendation. The first semester of calculus for business majors is likely to be an uninteresting low rigor repeat of what the student has already learned, and therefore of low value from both an educational and college admissions point of view.
FWIW at my S’s college (he was in the business school), an AP score of a 4 or 5 in CalcAB waived students out of business calc. Unless things have changed business calc covers more or less the same topics as CalcAB with some business related examples/applications tossed in. I recommend looking at the syllabus for both courses and discussing with the guidance counselor and math teachers at the HS.
That said, I would not have the student take a courseload that is not comfortably manageable simply to impress admission officers at elite colleges – unless there is a hook, the top colleges (with admission rates typically under 10%) are all reach schools.
Setting aside that “we” are neither registering for courses nor applying to college, Business Calculus is duplicative of AB, and even a step below. I’m surprised the school allows it. If he’s planning on econ, calc 2 would likely be a major requirement. If he’s taken AB as a junior, he’s obviously above average in math, so BC spread out over a year should be a piece of cake.
Thanks everyone for your thoughts. We are now leaning towards doing both Business Calculus and Physics 103 (equivalent of AP Physics 1) from the local community college. We believe that doing Business Calculus at college level (vs at school) will show more rigor and same for Physics (and he will be able to avoid the known not-good AP Physics 1 teacher at school). We did get positive feedback on the teachers at the community college.
The physics sounds like a good plan but I do not think any admissions officer will be impressed by taking business calc after successfully completing CalcAB as the course will be largely repetitive. That said, your S should take the schedule he feels will work best and I wish him a happy and successful senior year.
How much does your high school facilitate the dual enrollment? My rising senior and I just got home from our community college after a meeting with their dual enrollment coordinator, as she’s maxed out the high school’s math curriculum and wants to continue with calc 3/multivariable. It’s for an asynchronous class, distance learning, with proctored exams on campus on specified dates. Coordinator was not able to tell us the test center’s hours for fall. Meanwhile, there are like 10 other steps she needs to do before the class starts on September 5, and this is the semester when she’ll be working on her application, in addition to cross country and an otherwise demanding schedule. DD seemed totally overwhelmed after the meeting, and I’m wondering if she should just skip it altogether, at least for fall semester. If you haven’t already enrolled, my advice is to be sure that you’re clear on what you’re getting at the community college and how easy or difficult it is to get set up as a DE student there.
I would recommend taking AP Calc BC. As a side note, the AP exam score is helpful, but the class grade he got would probably be more informative!
AP Calc BC would really be the “natural course of action.” It is usually the highest level of math in HS, which can look great on a college application. Since he’s a senior, he can consider not taking the exam in May but still taking the course.
Again, we likely need to see the syllabus to give a good understanding of what is in Business Calculus. However, taking a CC course when the hs already offers a natural next step will look like (because it is) a work-around to avoid higher level mathematics. I personally do not think it will show rigor; it actually may do the opposite. But, it does align with his interests.
In the grand scheme of things, for a humanities student, the difference between the 2, in the eyes of an AO, is really minor.
In this case, I’d encourage him to just do what makes sense to him. Follow his heart, not what we project that an AO might think.
