Mrs.W Posted October 22, 2019 Share Posted October 22, 2019 We're trying to figure out what DD should do for math next year. She's currently taking trig/pre-calc at a private school, but we'd like for this to be her last year of taking math there and they only offer calculus after trig/pre-calc. She wants to major in history and English, so it seems like statistics would be a more applicable course to take senior year, but I don't know what colleges think about the rigor of statistics vs. calculus. I was looking at possibly having her take AP Stats through Potter's School (would love to hear anyone's experience with them for stats, or other providers). She's decent at math and would probably do fine with calculus (if she took it at her current school, I would guess she'd squeak by with a low A, but maybe not and then she'd lose her 4.0), but she wouldn't be happy about taking it. So, we're 90% convinced that stats is the way to go, but I wanted to double-check on how that looks for college applications. She will be dependent on merit aid, and I just don't know what colleges expect/prefer or what competitive students do these days, if that makes any sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted October 22, 2019 Share Posted October 22, 2019 My daughter also took Precalculus in 11th grade and faced the same decision. I offered her a choice and she elected to take AP Statistics. She went on to apply to ten colleges and was accepted by eight, waitlisted by the ninth, and not accepted by the tenth (an Ivy League college). The college she attended was fairly selective. My daughter majored in Classics/Latin and minored in Geology at college. I (not she) was vaguely regretful that she did not take Calculus as she had to forgo taking several Geology classes which had a Calculus prerequisite; however, she commented several times that she was grateful for having taken Statistics as that knowledge proved useful. In fact, she named Statistics as one of the two most valuable classes she took in high school! The Statistics class she took was an AP class offered by Pennsylvania Homeschoolers and taught by Carole Matheny. Regards, Kareni 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs.W Posted October 23, 2019 Author Share Posted October 23, 2019 3 hours ago, Kareni said: My daughter also took Precalculus in 11th grade and faced the same decision. I offered her a choice and she elected to take AP Statistics. She went on to apply to ten colleges and was accepted by eight, waitlisted by the ninth, and not accepted by the tenth (an Ivy League college). The college she attended was fairly selective. My daughter majored in Classics/Latin and minored in Geology at college. I (not she) was vaguely regretful that she did not take Calculus as she had to forgo taking several Geology classes which had a Calculus prerequisite; however, she commented several times that she was grateful for having taken Statistics as that knowledge proved useful. In fact, she named Statistics as one of the two most valuable classes she took in high school! The Statistics class she took was an AP class offered by Pennsylvania Homeschoolers and taught by Carole Matheny. Regards, Kareni Thank you! That is very encouraging! That brings up another small concern I had--what if she changes majors and needs calculus, but I guess she could always just take it at college. Not ideal to go into it cold, but I know kids who have done that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 You are welcome, @Mrs.W. If your daughter has some colleges in mind, you might check their admission requirements and their degree requirements for history and English majors to see what they say about math. Regards, Kareni 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourisenough Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 My older two daughters each took AP Stats after pre-calculus. Knowing they would be nursing majors, it was an obvious choice as their AP Stats credit earned them credit for the required college Stats class. I’m not so sure about my current sophomore. She’ll definitely take pre-calc next year, but may double up with AP Stats and then take Calculus senior year. Or she may pick one (Stats or calculus) for senior year. She is an aspiring ballerina, so if she’s successful (lands a professional contract with a company), she won’t even attend college in the traditional sense. At this point she has no idea what she would study in college, so I don’t know how to advise her. I guess time will tell. Good luck with your decision. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs.W Posted October 23, 2019 Author Share Posted October 23, 2019 15 hours ago, fourisenough said: My older two daughters each took AP Stats after pre-calculus. Knowing they would be nursing majors, it was an obvious choice as their AP Stats credit earned them credit for the required college Stats class. I’m not so sure about my current sophomore. She’ll definitely take pre-calc next year, but may double up with AP Stats and then take Calculus senior year. Or she may pick one (Stats or calculus) for senior year. She is an aspiring ballerina, so if she’s successful (lands a professional contract with a company), she won’t even attend college in the traditional sense. At this point she has no idea what she would study in college, so I don’t know how to advise her. I guess time will tell. Good luck with your decision. I can't even imagine trying to do both pre-calc and AP Stats in the same year with an intense ballet schedule (mine is in ballet too, but doesn't plan to continue after high school). I guess it just depends on what other classes she's taking. Best wishes to you as well--tough decisions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 Is yours one that does better with a live class or is she ok self-paced? If so, a few people have mentioned being happy with AP Stats that wasn't live. Maybe @mirabillis? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 We ended up doing Statistics. It seemed much more useful (dd is going into medicine). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirabillis Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 My ds took AP Stats and AP Calc AB together junior year. Good for a math-savvy kid. Not hard at all. Loved the Edhesive AP Stats class too! As to what colleges are looking for, no idea - we're in the middle of college apps for kid #1 right now... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs.W Posted October 23, 2019 Author Share Posted October 23, 2019 2 hours ago, RootAnn said: Is yours one that does better with a live class or is she ok self-paced? If so, a few people have mentioned being happy with AP Stats that wasn't live. Maybe @mirabillis? She's fair with self-paced, if I force it. That's what we do with ACT prep. But I think we'd both prefer something live for something like AP Stats. We have a credit with TPS right now because of a dropped class, so that's why I was thinking of going that direction, but I'm open to other programs as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs.W Posted October 23, 2019 Author Share Posted October 23, 2019 2 hours ago, mirabillis said: My ds took AP Stats and AP Calc AB together junior year. Good for a math-savvy kid. Not hard at all. Loved the Edhesive AP Stats class too! As to what colleges are looking for, no idea - we're in the middle of college apps for kid #1 right now... My daughter is definitely more of a humanities kid and her schedule will be packed next year, so we're going to have to pick one or the other. I'm sure it would be helpful to have both, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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