Course selection: junior year AP Stats, senior year AP Calc

College Admissions
,
1

hi,

wondering how top tier adcom would look at AP stats junior year followed by AP calc instead of other way around (ie, does sequence matter?). nonSTEM major at a STEM school.

my thoughts are as follows:

pros: balance courseload (jr year would have 6 APs total; senior year w/AP calc total 3). would be helpful for AP research being taken jr year.
cons: doesnt looks as “rigorous” for junior year?

thanks.

2

It is unclear how the ordering of the two courses would be viewed, especially since you are intending to pursue a non-STEM major. We provide a detailed comparison of AP Stats vs. AP Calc in response to another thread. The 2015 data shows that the 5-rate for AP Stats was meaningfully lower than the 5-rate for either AP Calc exam. As a result, it is not clear that AP Stats is “easier” than AP Calc, though it seems that most online sources regard it as less rigorous for STEM majors. If you use the stats material in your junior year AP research project, you can try to justify your decision on that basis.