I'm a high school student in my last year and i plan to do architecture.
I am just wondering whether taking an extra first year uni level Calculus (on top of normal highschool calc) would be a big plus when applying for architecture schools.
Will it be beneficial or a little bit over the top (time consuming)?
It can't hurt, and it may allow you to test out of it in college. Get as much of your education done while it's "free" rather than paying for it. If you end up changing majors, more is always preferable to less (Mies was wrong). Having said that, you'll never use it in practice.
Last night, I was working on a concert hall where we have these large spline based quadratic forms that are used for sound - we use calculus to define points on that surface to determine the framing - With Rhino,Maya and Revit, the designers define a lot of interesting forms - it's up to use in production, to figure out how it is to be constructed.
If you apply to lets say Columbia, where there is a huge emphasis on parametric, then Calculus is a big plus.
Besides, it re-wires your brain so you can do all sorts of design gymnastics in a nano-second.
I think that the big advantage of taking Calculus now would be to get it out of the way so that you are not trying to do it at the same time as your architecture studio (if you find math more challenging/time-consuming than just any other class, that is.) It might also be easier for you to learn calculus in a smaller high school class setting compared to the typical 100+ person university lecture. (I learned that the hard way.) With that said, it most likely won't impact your admissions to architecture school either way. Your portfolio is a much more important factor.
not necessary to school or practice anymore (YMMV), but like zenakis points out it makes it easier to think about some things that otherwise don't come to mind, which is a good thing. I'd do it for fun myself.
out of curiosity, is there a big difference between uni calculus and high school calculus? there wasn't much difference in my case way back when, so didn't bother with it in uni - took numerical mathematics instead (was required for architecture school at the time).
I would absolutely take it. We were just reviewing the acoustics with my online class. To understand logarithm you need to take calculus. The calculus is the study of change. Architecture is entirely study of change, from temperature differences to degree days, to logarithmic equations, integrals, tables, graphics all almost always something to with calculus. Good luck and have fun
Feb 9, 12 9:18 am ·
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First year uni Calculus for a high school student wanting to do architecture?
Hello
I'm a high school student in my last year and i plan to do architecture.
I am just wondering whether taking an extra first year uni level Calculus (on top of normal highschool calc) would be a big plus when applying for architecture schools.
Will it be beneficial or a little bit over the top (time consuming)?
Please help me with this issue
Thank you very much
It can't hurt, and it may allow you to test out of it in college. Get as much of your education done while it's "free" rather than paying for it. If you end up changing majors, more is always preferable to less (Mies was wrong). Having said that, you'll never use it in practice.
Last night, I was working on a concert hall where we have these large spline based quadratic forms that are used for sound - we use calculus to define points on that surface to determine the framing - With Rhino,Maya and Revit, the designers define a lot of interesting forms - it's up to use in production, to figure out how it is to be constructed.
If you apply to lets say Columbia, where there is a huge emphasis on parametric, then Calculus is a big plus.
Besides, it re-wires your brain so you can do all sorts of design gymnastics in a nano-second.
I think that the big advantage of taking Calculus now would be to get it out of the way so that you are not trying to do it at the same time as your architecture studio (if you find math more challenging/time-consuming than just any other class, that is.) It might also be easier for you to learn calculus in a smaller high school class setting compared to the typical 100+ person university lecture. (I learned that the hard way.) With that said, it most likely won't impact your admissions to architecture school either way. Your portfolio is a much more important factor.
Be ready for architecture to 'do' you!
not necessary to school or practice anymore (YMMV), but like zenakis points out it makes it easier to think about some things that otherwise don't come to mind, which is a good thing. I'd do it for fun myself.
out of curiosity, is there a big difference between uni calculus and high school calculus? there wasn't much difference in my case way back when, so didn't bother with it in uni - took numerical mathematics instead (was required for architecture school at the time).
I would absolutely take it. We were just reviewing the acoustics with my online class. To understand logarithm you need to take calculus. The calculus is the study of change. Architecture is entirely study of change, from temperature differences to degree days, to logarithmic equations, integrals, tables, graphics all almost always something to with calculus. Good luck and have fun
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