How much of a benchmark is Calculus?

[Anonymous]

I am helping a niece with her high school course selection and future college prep. She is in another state. If she continues the math progression she is on, she will end up senior year with AP Pre-Calculus.

My kids are older and all ended with Calculus + but just by following the standard, or relatively common, progression. I wonder if she will be at a big disadvantage -- and so does she. She is asking if should she double up with math classes so that she does end up with Calculus senior year?

This is a good student, good grades, and activities, but won't be shooting for Ivies or the strongest SLACs. More like the next level LACs?

Does the hive mind think PreCalculus is fine, assuming non-stem major? Or should she double up?

TIA!

[Anonymous]

What yr is she in now? She doesn’t sound like a strong math student so doubling up wouldn’t be a good idea. The only summer class I think is doable is geometry. If she can do that- I think it would be a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Rising sophomore.

I think she has gotten As in Math but that the schools she has attended didn't push any acceleration and neither did the parents.

But, yes, I am concerned about two core classes instead of one and an elective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rising sophomore.

I think she has gotten As in Math but that the schools she has attended didn't push any acceleration and neither did the parents.

But, yes, I am concerned about two core classes instead of one and an elective.

If you are looking to go to a T20 university or LAC top performance she will be evaluated in the context of what she has available at her school. I top students at her school finish with Calc in their senior year she should do so as well. However, schools will also look at what was available to her. If she came from a middle school that did not provide sufficient math education and her HS did not provide opportunities to accelerate it typically will no be held against her outside of the very top schools.

[Anonymous]

Look at her high schools matriculation online? If they post a link to it. Especially for the most recent year. And then you can do is feed it into a paid AI AI bot and and ask it to examine the results? Especially for the types of schools you were looking for. Also have it look at the course offerings and examine her trajectory?

It may tell you that she would need to be in the top quarter to get into a school like Davidson?

Generally Davidson does not require calculus for humanities majors (in our experience). But she should max out on as many social studies classes as possible and take no free periods to show rigor in humanities.

[Anonymous]

The correct answer is:

What math classes are offered at her school and what are other students taking that would be above her path. If it is above her path, it could matter depending on the school’s she is actually looking at.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rising sophomore.

I think she has gotten As in Math but that the schools she has attended didn't push any acceleration and neither did the parents.

But, yes, I am concerned about two core classes instead of one and an elective.

If you are looking to go to a T20 university or LAC top performance she will be evaluated in the context of what she has available at her school. I top students at her school finish with Calc in their senior year she should do so as well. However, schools will also look at what was available to her. If she came from a middle school that did not provide sufficient math education and her HS did not provide opportunities to accelerate it typically will no be held against her outside of the very top schools.

This

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rising sophomore.

I think she has gotten As in Math but that the schools she has attended didn't push any acceleration and neither did the parents.

But, yes, I am concerned about two core classes instead of one and an elective.

Am I right that this means she took Algebra 1 this past year in 9th, plans to take Geometry in 10th, Algebra 2 in 11th, and AP Pre-Calc in 12th?

If so, would she be willing to take Geometry this summer? Like, for real - via a state-approved course, not self-study. Assuming she passes the assessments/state requirements at the end, I assume her school would allows her to jump to Algebra 2 sophomore year, then Pre-Calc, then Calc.

The other idea would be to take that real, state-approved course this summer, not report it for a grade or credit, but learn as much as possible in order to have an easier time when doubling up on Geometry and Algebra 2 next year.

DD has a friend who doubled these classes in 10th, and she says she regrets it because it was too much work. But if she had a rigorous summer preview of Geometry, my guess is it wouldn’t have felt so burdensome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The correct answer is:

What math classes are offered at her school and what are other students taking that would be above her path. If it is above her path, it could matter depending on the school’s she is actually looking at.

This. It's FINE to only get to pre-calculus in HS if that's all that her HS offers (which is true of most public schools in the country) but if she's interested in highly rejective schools she should take the hardest path.

[Anonymous]

My sense is that the further down you go in terms of selectivity, the less likely it is to matter.

But like many other choices re high school courses and ECs, this is a question of trade-offs and risk tolerance. Will Davidson hold it against her as a humanities major? Probably not. But maybe they will. How does she feel about taking that risk? What would it cost her to reduce that risk by doubling up? How does she feel about that?

If you’re mentoring her about college, I think this is a great topic to introduce. The hard truth is that there are few clear answers and minimal certainty about how her choices now will actually impact her results in a few years.

But in the end, it’s HER life, and I think it’s appropriate for high school students to take ownership and think about these things in an active way. It’s not easy. In our case, our DD would much prefer certainty. But the conversations about it re various decisions have helped her feel more empowered and engaged with her academic and EC choices. Sometimes she chooses the better-safe-than-sorry approach, sometimes she doesn’t. But she’s grown tremendously as a result of the process!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The correct answer is:

What math classes are offered at her school and what are other students taking that would be above her path. If it is above her path, it could matter depending on the school’s she is actually looking at.

This. It's FINE to only get to pre-calculus in HS if that's all that her HS offers (which is true of most public schools in the country) but if she's interested in highly rejective schools she should take the hardest path.

I think this is basically the answer. If calculus is offered and the student does not get there, they likely will not have taken the “most rigorous” curriculum offered at their school. That wouldn’t necessarily be outcome determinative at a selective college, but it would be a headwind. When OP mentioned a lack of interest in the “top LACs” for example, perhaps you only meant the WASPs and maybe Bowdoin and Wellesley. Well if you drift down to Wesleyan, they make available in their admissions data what percentage of admitted applicants took calculus - generally around 80% year to year.

https://www.wesleyan.edu/admission/class-profile.html

I suspect calculus moves the needle quite a bit through the top 25ish LACs. Applicants can get by without it, but if the HS offers it, it will be a negative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rising sophomore.

I think she has gotten As in Math but that the schools she has attended didn't push any acceleration and neither did the parents.

But, yes, I am concerned about two core classes instead of one and an elective.

If possible, she should take geometry over the summer and get on track so that she takes calculus senior year. It will open up more college options for her. If Calculus AB and/or BC are offered at the school, and she declines to take them, it's going to be a significant ding for competitive colleges.

[Anonymous]

Precalculus is fine for a non highly competitive art or English major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am helping a niece with her high school course selection and future college prep. She is in another state. If she continues the math progression she is on, she will end up senior year with AP Pre-Calculus.

My kids are older and all ended with Calculus + but just by following the standard, or relatively common, progression. I wonder if she will be at a big disadvantage -- and so does she. She is asking if should she double up with math classes so that she does end up with Calculus senior year?

This is a good student, good grades, and activities, but won't be shooting for Ivies or the strongest SLACs. More like the next level LACs?

Does the hive mind think PreCalculus is fine, assuming non-stem major? Or should she double up?

TIA!

Does the school have honors math courses? (AP Precalculus is not an honors class, unless the school adds on an additional honors component beyond the base AP curriculum, which is half a course, by design.)

Does your school have honors/advanced courses in other subjects?

Does she have standardizes test scores? Serous hobbies?

Is she overcoming personal adversity at home?

In other words, besides serving your own ego, what makes her a mathc for the schools you imagine a match for her?

[Anonymous]

At the schools where dc applied calculus was a prerequisite for business programs/majors. If she's not interested in business, probably not a problem.