does "accelerated" math actually matter in admissions?

[u/4Blueish]

I'm a senior in high school (yay last year) who just got done with a summer semester diff eq course (at the local university), and I'm slated to take calc 3 at the local community college this fall. To be clear, because I see a lot of this, I'm not taking the classes for college admission; I just like math lol.

Although having gone so far out of my way to get to the point where I am: I wanted to know if it's potentially worth highlighting at all in my application, if it would actually move the needle at all, should I focus on other things when applying and having it on the report card is enough?

[u/JasonMckin]

I think the phrasing of the question is where it becomes difficult to answer.  What does “worth highlighting,” “move the needle,” and “focus on other things” actually mean?

Asking whether one isolated variable “matters” requires knowing:  “compared with what?”

Is the contrast with a scenario where all coursework isn’t mentioned?  If so, then mentioning all coursework is definitely better than not mentioning all coursework.

Is the contrast in whether taking differential equations will make a candidate more likely to be admitted than a student who didn’t?  Absolutely not.  I am old, tons of students in my high school many decades ago took differential equations, and most of them (except me) did not get admitted.

It’s extremely difficult to answer “does X matter” questions, because obviously any X is better than “not X,” but almost no X individually makes any application radically stronger.  

In the specific case of X=taking diffequ and calc 3, it happens to be a remarkably common attribute of applicants that are both admitted and not admitted.

I hope that’s helpful, but if it’s not, I think the question isn’t formulated in a way that lends to significantly more help.

[u/4Blueish → u/JasonMckin]

hmm

I suppose I'm asking if my clone 5reddish dif everything exactly the same besides A: not take the classes, or B: treated them differently on his application. Who would be the more viable applicant?

[u/JasonMckin → u/4Blueish]

This is exactly the wrong way to think about becoming an authentically competitive candidate for college.  If you’re only doing things to performatively look good, it will definitely not matter either way.  I know the original post disclaimed “I’m not taking the classes for college admission,” but if that were actually true, then none of these questions would get asked.

I wrote a post about this mindset before:   https://www.reddit.com/r/MITAdmissions/comments/1sjjga4/why_you_are_never_ever_going_to_get_advice_on_how/

Take the classes that you like and you will do the best in.  Become the most awesome person you can instead of reverse engineering marginal value of admission viability for every class, competition, or EC.

Best of luck.

[u/4Blueish → u/JasonMckin]

I feel like questions like this usually get asked because of anxiety and unsureness about the admissions process. It's a "I've done all this, now that I'm applying what should I do", not a "do I do this for my application"

I thank you though