My 14 year old freshman daughter has a D- in Algebra

[Anonymous]

^ true. But so what?

Plenty of colleges available

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The daughter is taking Algebra 1 in 9th grade, which is the grade level standard. This isn't like taking it in 7th or 8th grade and then realizing it's too hard.

What I meant was that she won't get accepted to GWU, Georgetown or anything like that.

You do realize there are lots of successful people in the world who didn't attend these schools, right? And are you also aware that entrance to a competitive college doesn't guarantee a successful and happy life? It's a big, wide world out there. There's more to life than going to a top college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a regular C - D math student.

Me too. Went to top law school and have succesful career. But, talk to the teacher and get DD some support.

Those days are over

You're really showing your ignorance, Chicken Little.

Huh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a regular C - D math student.

Me too. Went to top law school and have succesful career. But, talk to the teacher and get DD some support.

Those days are over

You're really showing your ignorance, Chicken Little.

Huh?

Meaning "those days are over" is an ignorant comment to make when referring to being able to go on to law school and a successful career after not being a particularly strong math student. Math and STEM aren't for everyone, nor are they everything. The sky will not fall if a student isn't strong in math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How could one be a poor math student and go to a top law school?

I had good overall grades and did well on the LSAT. Don't necessarily need math for law school or at least it was not a necessity or heavily considered when I was in law school. Anyway, I was using it as an example and is not something to run with...

but most of those who went to top law schools, did so based upon great college grades and LSAT scores. The LSAT when I took it had only a few math equations and there were directed to demonstrate skill at solving logical equations. Today I doubt I could even get into my own SLAC. The SAT/ACT scores and grades and AP courses demanded are way beyond what I had finished in public high school. So the point being made is that it is a lot more difficult to get into a great college than it used to be. You do need to be strong in math and have great scores to get into a top university. Hence you need to have good math skills. It wasn't that way when I went through the system. The only math course I took in college was statistics, but my LSATs and grades were good. Now the hurdle is getting into a great college or university, and unfortunably, that no. is 3% at some of the elites. The first 3% go out the door via EA, legacies, URM, and atheletes. That leaves the remaining 3% of 35,000 applications from all over the world for the regular admission cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a regular C - D math student.

Me too. Went to top law school and have succesful career. But, talk to the teacher and get DD some support.

Those days are over

You're really showing your ignorance, Chicken Little.

Huh?

Meaning "those days are over" is an ignorant comment to make when referring to being able to go on to law school and a successful career after not being a particularly strong math student. Math and STEM aren't for everyone, nor are they everything. The sky will not fall if a student isn't strong in math.

New poster: I think what is being sad is that unless you've been through the college application process yourself for your kids recently, you may have no idea how much it has changed since when you went through it. It has changed dramatically. No longer do you hand scrawl out three applications and mail them in with a $50 check and assume one of them will come through. Now kids routinely apply to as many as twenty colleges (I've heard of more) and sometimes only get into one. I've read some very sad stories in the college forum here about kids who counted on a safety and even that safety didn't turn out to be a safety.
Read Andy Ferguson's "Crazy U: One dad's adventures with the college admissions process". The college admissions process is stressful. You need to start planning in freshman year and also plan summers accordingly. You must do well on the PSAT, the SAT, the ACT and take as advanced courses as your higih school will offer (Langley high school and McLean high schools, for example, offer 20 AP courses in every subject, so long after calculus you can be taking computer math, linear equations, statistics, coding while still in high school. These are the top students that the top schools seek. The first question my DS was asked on tour for colleges was "have you had calculus"? No - we hadn't planned that far ahead. So it was nip and tuck but DS did get in and is taking "remedial calculus" now in college. Most high schools should provide a calculus class and advanced classes beyond that. My DD is now taking calculus as a junior in a private high school.

[Anonymous]

The OP posted her query 2 years ago.

I wonder what happened with her child in terms of academics. OP? You still around?

[Anonymous]

Really if a selective college gets 35,000 applicants and accepts 3000, that is still 32,000 rejects. That would be some Ivies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a regular C - D math student.

Me too. Went to top law school and have succesful career. But, talk to the teacher and get DD some support.

Those days are over

You're really showing your ignorance, Chicken Little.

Huh?

Meaning "those days are over" is an ignorant comment to make when referring to being able to go on to law school and a successful career after not being a particularly strong math student. Math and STEM aren't for everyone, nor are they everything. The sky will not fall if a student isn't strong in math.

I'm guessing Chicken Little wasn't good at math. Too emotional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a regular C - D math student.

Me too. Went to top law school and have succesful career. But, talk to the teacher and get DD some support.

Those days are over

You're really showing your ignorance, Chicken Little.

Huh?

Meaning "those days are over" is an ignorant comment to make when referring to being able to go on to law school and a successful career after not being a particularly strong math student. Math and STEM aren't for everyone, nor are they everything. The sky will not fall if a student isn't strong in math.

New poster: I think what is being sad is that unless you've been through the college application process yourself for your kids recently, you may have no idea how much it has changed since when you went through it. It has changed dramatically. No longer do you hand scrawl out three applications and mail them in with a $50 check and assume one of them will come through. Now kids routinely apply to as many as twenty colleges (I've heard of more) and sometimes only get into one. I've read some very sad stories in the college forum here about kids who counted on a safety and even that safety didn't turn out to be a safety.
Read Andy Ferguson's "Crazy U: One dad's adventures with the college admissions process". The college admissions process is stressful. You need to start planning in freshman year and also plan summers accordingly. You must do well on the PSAT, the SAT, the ACT and take as advanced courses as your higih school will offer (Langley high school and McLean high schools, for example, offer 20 AP courses in every subject, so long after calculus you can be taking computer math, linear equations, statistics, coding while still in high school. These are the top students that the top schools seek. The first question my DS was asked on tour for colleges was "have you had calculus"? No - we hadn't planned that far ahead. So it was nip and tuck but DS did get in and is taking "remedial calculus" now in college. Most high schools should provide a calculus class and advanced classes beyond that. My DD is now taking calculus as a junior in a private high school.

I'm the PP and yes, we just went through the college admission process this past year so I am quite familiar with the entire process. DC is now a freshman at a very good college. All of what you say is true only if the student is trying to get into a top school (Ivy, highly selective SLAC). For the majority of other colleges, this is just an exaggeration. Good students are sought after at many schools, whether their strengths are in math, the humanities, foreign languags, or what have you. I have more kids coming through high school in the years ahead and plan on urging them to take classes they are good at and will succeed in, whether or not that happens to be statistics or calculus.

[Anonymous]

^^^languages^^^

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It took me forever to get FOIL in 8th grade algebra. Literally...took the test about 5 times.

I took fairly advanced math classes (as in took them a year ahead of schedule) but opted out of calc entirely and took statistics instead. I did get a few Ds and Cs in math. But those were outliers on my report card.

I got into a respectable school.

Are you me, PP?? This is my exact story. I was a "straight A" student who got a D in Algebra and a D- in Calc (forced to take it in college). I ended up taking Algebra over again which put me back a year in math but I did end up with B's in Geometry and B/C's in Algebra II. Needless to say, since the SAT was mostly Geometry and I was a great student, I did very well on my SATs and got into some great universities. Obviously, I did not go into a math / science based field...but my life was certainly not ruined because I was not good at math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a regular C - D math student.

Me too. Went to top law school and have succesful career. But, talk to the teacher and get DD some support.

Those days are over

You're really showing your ignorance, Chicken Little.

Huh?

Meaning "those days are over" is an ignorant comment to make when referring to being able to go on to law school and a successful career after not being a particularly strong math student. Math and STEM aren't for everyone, nor are they everything. The sky will not fall if a student isn't strong in math.

New poster: I think what is being sad is that unless you've been through the college application process yourself for your kids recently, you may have no idea how much it has changed since when you went through it. It has changed dramatically. No longer do you hand scrawl out three applications and mail them in with a $50 check and assume one of them will come through. Now kids routinely apply to as many as twenty colleges (I've heard of more) and sometimes only get into one. I've read some very sad stories in the college forum here about kids who counted on a safety and even that safety didn't turn out to be a safety.
Read Andy Ferguson's "Crazy U: One dad's adventures with the college admissions process". The college admissions process is stressful. You need to start planning in freshman year and also plan summers accordingly. You must do well on the PSAT, the SAT, the ACT and take as advanced courses as your higih school will offer (Langley high school and McLean high schools, for example, offer 20 AP courses in every subject, so long after calculus you can be taking computer math, linear equations, statistics, coding while still in high school. These are the top students that the top schools seek. The first question my DS was asked on tour for colleges was "have you had calculus"? No - we hadn't planned that far ahead. So it was nip and tuck but DS did get in and is taking "remedial calculus" now in college. Most high schools should provide a calculus class and advanced classes beyond that. My DD is now taking calculus as a junior in a private high school.

I just posted and, obviously, hadn't read the entire thread. This is scary and sad. What about kids who want to major in English or Music? Do they still need Calc???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a regular C - D math student.

Me too. Went to top law school and have succesful career. But, talk to the teacher and get DD some support.

Those days are over

You're really showing your ignorance, Chicken Little.

Huh?

Meaning "those days are over" is an ignorant comment to make when referring to being able to go on to law school and a successful career after not being a particularly strong math student. Math and STEM aren't for everyone, nor are they everything. The sky will not fall if a student isn't strong in math.

New poster: I think what is being sad is that unless you've been through the college application process yourself for your kids recently, you may have no idea how much it has changed since when you went through it. It has changed dramatically. No longer do you hand scrawl out three applications and mail them in with a $50 check and assume one of them will come through. Now kids routinely apply to as many as twenty colleges (I've heard of more) and sometimes only get into one. I've read some very sad stories in the college forum here about kids who counted on a safety and even that safety didn't turn out to be a safety.
Read Andy Ferguson's "Crazy U: One dad's adventures with the college admissions process". The college admissions process is stressful. You need to start planning in freshman year and also plan summers accordingly. You must do well on the PSAT, the SAT, the ACT and take as advanced courses as your higih school will offer (Langley high school and McLean high schools, for example, offer 20 AP courses in every subject, so long after calculus you can be taking computer math, linear equations, statistics, coding while still in high school. These are the top students that the top schools seek. The first question my DS was asked on tour for colleges was "have you had calculus"? No - we hadn't planned that far ahead. So it was nip and tuck but DS did get in and is taking "remedial calculus" now in college. Most high schools should provide a calculus class and advanced classes beyond that. My DD is now taking calculus as a junior in a private high school.

I just posted and, obviously, hadn't read the entire thread. This is scary and sad. What about kids who want to major in English or Music? Do they still need Calc???

PP was the Chicken Little/"sky is falling" poster. Do not feed into the hype. Stay sane and try not to succumb to the craziness that some parents love to drum up around the college process.

[Anonymous]

Ivy leagues aren't just about getting a 2400 on the SAT or a 36 on the ACT. There are so many applicants who will have equally high scores so the colleges will have to pick the person who has something different about him or her.