Is multi varibale really hard class? We are thinking AP stat vs multi variable for senior. My s is majoring humanity and is AP stat good enough or multi variable will have better shot for selective college as most rigor math in high school?
Even doing multi variable during summer in community college doable?
Thanks
Humanities majors will not need multivariable calculus generally, except where it is a general education requirement (e.g. MIT).
However, if the humanities is philosophy, then more practice in logical thinking may be helpful, so math courses with proofs can be desirable. If a discrete math course is available, that may be the most helpful in this area.
Statistics is generally useful, although a student good in math may find that a calculus-based statistics course in college is more useful than AP statistics or other non-calculus-based statistics.
If the student applying as a humanities major has completed calculus then I think APStat would be fine senior year (assuming the rest of the schedule is rigorous).
You will never know why you get into a school or don’t get into a school.
Personally, I would not have my student advance math during the summer. Math isn’t something to rush through - and many selective colleges don’t admit by major. And not a single one will require multivariable calc.
What level of math is he doing Junior year?
This is not an easy course. Summer courses are very truncated…meaning they cram a full year of a course into about 9 weeks. I would not suggest taking this in the summer.
and related…the vast majority of college applicants never take a summer course at.all.
What is your school counselor recommending your son take during his senior year?
Your son needs to do well in whatever course he takes. And I hope he is looking at a variety of colleges, and not just “selective” ones.
The standard at our HS is for kids who are on the advanced track take AP Calc in 11 and AP stat in 12. There is no issue getting into highly selective colleges even for STEM majors. Do whatever the kid wants.
With math classes, in addition to aptitude and interest, I think a lot of how a class ends up being perceived is a function of preparation, pace, and the clarity of the teacher.
MVC, aka Calc 3, can be an enjoyable, not particularly hard, extension of what you learned in Calc 1 and 2, aka AB and BC. But this assumes someone with a decent aptitude and interest in math, getting the preparation needed from Calc 1 and 2, and a reasonably well-taught class at a reasonable pace.
Given that, first, I would not see the point of taking MVC in the summer.
Second, I don’t think colleges will think it is strange a person who was not necessarily interested in majors like Math, Physics, or maybe Engineering would take AP Stats instead of MVC as their next math class after Calc BC. Stats is an extremely useful subject for many, many disciplines.
That said, nor would I actually discourage MVC, if the student had actually enjoyed Calc BC. In part that is just because I think learning more math is never really wasted, it always contributes to your understanding of the world no matter what majors or professions you choose. But also, AP Stats is . . . let’s say a “rudimentary” stats class. Again, fine to explore an interest, but I would usually suggest then taking a college stats class anyway, possibly calc-based stats for someone who is comfortable with calculus.
Like this is sort of random, but I just looked up the Data Science major at WashU (where my S24 is a sophomore), and they actually have a Statistics for Data Science majors required sequence, and that requires MVC as a prereq:
That’s not to say your kid actually needs to consider being a Data Science major, or generally needs MVC and a stats class that requires MVC. But my point is if a person found that sort of sequence interesting, it would in fact open up more possible majors, or just being the sort of person in any field who was very comfortable with statistics and data science and such as relevant to their field. Not a bad thing in our modern world.
OK, long story short–either is fine for college admissions purposes. But if this kid enjoyed Calc BC and felt comfortable with MVC as a next step, I wouldn’t discourage it in terms of continuing their math education.
Multivariable calculus is ordinarily a semester (15 week) long course in college. However, it may be taught in high school over an entire school year.
OP- the world isn’t running out of math. Unless your kid will die of boredom without taking a summer class, there are at least a dozen things kid can be doing this summer that does not involve accelerating in math. Maybe two dozen.
No kidding.
Also, it depends on the college, but sometimes you will want to be taking one or more math classes to fill some requirements. From what I know, it is extremely rare for a HS MVC course to prevent you from taking MVC again in college. Which may sound wasteful, but I think often you will actually get a lasting benefit from that.
If you instead take a college MVC class in the summer, though, I think that complicates that being an option. And again, why? If the idea is colleges will want to see that when doing admissions, I am sure that is not remotely true.
Of course if this kid absolutely loves math and wants to do that with their summer, then fine. But only under those circumstances would I consider it.
100%
I’d actually add that unless the student can articulate a clear and compelling motivation for accelerating in math that is not tied to college admissions – taking summer MV Calc is as likely to harm as to help them.
Your student should avoid creating an impression that their choices are driven primarily by what they think colleges want to see.
They could certainly AP Stats, because it’s the most rigorous math course offered at their HS. But it’s really a matter of what’s interesting to them or supports / is aligned with their possible career goals.
I’d suggest helping them use the summer more wisely: This is precious time in their lives, perhaps an opportunity to dive deep into their authentic interests, explore something new, challenge themselves, work, contribute to their family or community or personal growth.
My current senior took MVC at a university first semester and is taking linear algebra now. But this kid is an aspiring math major who had an excellent BC teacher and so was very well prepared, and took AP stats alongside BC junior year. In our school system, MVC/LA at a university is the only math available to a kid in this situation. Kid has really enjoyed the fast pace and challenge of these classes, but, again, the kid has a passion for math. Friends who followed the same path but aren’t as math-focused did not enjoy the MVC class or proceed to LA.
So I agree with others that there is no reason for a humanities-interested student to take MVC in the summer. The question of whether to take it during the school year is really down to the student’s interests, which is to say, do they enjoy challenging math? Or would they rather use their time and energy somewhere else?