Super selective colleges and choosing not to go through Calculus BC?

[Ann.without.an.e]

DD does quite well in math but she also greatly dislikes it.  She simply isn't a STEM girl. She can excel in it, even at the AP level, but she just doesn't love it.  She loves English, History, and Foreign Languages.  She has requested to stop at Calculus AB since she will never be a science or math major in college anyway.  She also wants to apply to super selective colleges.  She will have the test scores, she will have plenty of AP classes/scores under her belt (including Calc AB, AP Chem, and AP Bio), and she is a fantastic tester.  She is a gifted writer who has a huge list of awards, including national recognition.  All of this to say, she would be perfectly fine to stop at Calc AB, right?  I wouldn't think that a college would scrutinize this if her resume overall is stellar.  

Just wanted to double check this thinking with ya'll ?❤️ 

[regentrude]

You can get into super selective colleges without any AP classes. And you may be rejected with oodles of APs.

(DD got into a school with an 8% aceptance rate without having any AP courses, just DE, and none of those in math)

[Ann.without.an.e]

8 minutes ago, regentrude said:

You can get into super selective colleges without any AP classes. And you may be rejected with oodles of APs.

(DD got into a school with an 8% aceptance rate without having any AP courses, just DE, and none of those in math)

 

See, this is what I was thinking.  Oldest DD was such an over achiever.  If AP Calc BC was the highest math, she was doing it, etc.  Younger DD has a passion for learning, she is super smart, and very talented but she isn't as willing to jump through hoops just because it is "what you are supposed to do".  She is more rogue and more stubborn ?.  She has always blazed her own path and had her own drummer.  We love that about her ❤️ 

[kokotg]

Every selective college we've looked into has said they want to see 4 years for the 5 core subjects and to see that you're challenging yourself, given the options available to you. I would consider AB Calc for a non-mathy kid to be plenty challenging. My husband teaches calc at a public high school and he regularly has students accepted at Georgia Tech with just AB, so even for kids who want to go into engineering or sciences at selective schools, AB is fine. 

[GoodGrief]

Yes, that is fine.

[Mabelen]

I need to hear this, I think? Pigging back from your post, my 14 year old dd, like your daughter, is good at math but she doesn't particularly like it. She is in a competitive public school district. She could get to AP Calc BC if she did an extra year of math, which is easily doable by just taking 3 trimesters of math for two years instead of just two trimesters. She doesn't know what she wants to major in. She loves music, but she is scared of leaning that way professionally because she is aware how tough it is to make it. She also likes art, and science, particularly astronomy. My concern is whether getting only to AP Calc AB will be detrimental to college admissions if she decides to go for a science major, when many of her school peers will have AP Calc BC. I don't want her to do things just because everyone else is doing it, bu at the same time, I really don't want to handicap her in relation to her peers! She is not planning to apply at super selective colleges, but the UC system is fairly competitive, especially for science majors. ? What to do?

For your daughter, who is very clear that math and science are not in her future, just AP Calc AB sounds like a great plan. The rest of the package is solid, particularly those national writing awards! Good luck!

[katilac]

I think it's always a mistake to tailor the student's education to the goal of getting into a super-selective college. 

[merylvdm]

My oldest didn't even want to do Calculus - she did Statistics as her final year math. And she was accepted to Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Emory and UNC Chapel Hill. So definitely no need to make her do it!

[Mabelen]

3 hours ago, merylvdm said:

My oldest didn't even want to do Calculus - she did Statistics as her final year math. And she was accepted to Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Emory and UNC Chapel Hill. So definitely no need to make her do it!

What major did your daughter apply for?

[merylvdm]

20 hours ago, Mabelen said:

What major did your daughter apply for?

Film :) She is now working on her PhD in Media and Communications. She managed to find a History of Math class at college to fulfill her math requirements.