College outcomes for average math students
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Anonymous
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I was reading the other thread about all the private school kids doing after school math so they can be on advanced math track. My kid is just at grade level and I’m not enrolling her in extra math because she has other activities she wants to do after school.
If you just had a kid who just does ok at math, but excels in other areas, how were your college placements? Do they have to do advanced math to get into top 50 schools? |
Anonymous
| DC was and still is just average at math. Made it to calculus AB, struggled in the required calculus course required for major in college too. Strength is in the humanities and other areas. Is now at a top 20 SLAC. |
Anonymous
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Depends how good they are and how rigorous the courseload is in other areas.
There are C math students that are C students across the board. There are C math students that are top of the class in the humanities. |
Anonymous
| Isn't the point of advanced math (from an admissions standpoint) to be able to take AP Calc, AP Stats, etc. courses in junior/senior year? Or at least take the relevant AP exams in order to demonstrate "rigor" to the admissions committee? |
Anonymous
I don’t understand the relevance of this to my question. I want to know whether kids can still get into top colleges without demonstrating “rigor” in math. Like surely not every kid needs to be outstanding at math. Some are going to be excellent lawyers or writers or actors or artists … can’t those kids just be ok at math? |
Anonymous
| Getting into "top" schools is a crapshoot. Why force a kid to advance in a subject that they don't particularly like, just for the shot at what is still an uncertain outcome? |
Anonymous
I’m the OP and I am not forcing my kid to do extra math. I posed the question on this thread because I want to know if there are examples of parents who didn’t force advanced math and their kids had good college placements. If advanced math is a minimum for top colleges, I can at least be informed about that as I let my kid be just ok at math. |
Anonymous
Many elementary math programs don't contain enough practice for a kid to stay on grade level. They'll miss benchmarks for math fact fluency in early elementary and then slowly end up further and further behind. Doing "extra" math is often work that used to be assigned as homework and is needed to stay on grade level. It's not really about being advanced. |
Anonymous
OP you are asking a very broad question, but generally yes. The very top colleges will want you to have taken the highest, most rigorous math classes available at your high school. At most privates, that is at least calculus and usually an even higher track math path. But there are many other factors to consider so don't hang everything on this. If your child is just so-so in math in middle and even elementary school, chances are, she's going to stay that way. |
Anonymous
| I would also like to know the answer to this. So far it sounds like people are saying that they have to be advanced in math, but I’m assuming it somewhat depends on the school and the courses available (our private school does not have APs and the most advanced math class is pretty small, so I doubt if that is required for admission to top schools) |
Anonymous
How many students from this private do you think will end up at the truly top schools? |
Anonymous
| So if your kid has a math disability, can they pretty much forget about a top college? That would be so stupid of colleges because kids can be gifted in other ways and there are thousands of professions that don’t require advanced math. But I already have become so disillusioned with higher education I don’t even care. |
Anonymous
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Remember there are thousands of colleges. Only a very small percentage of students, who typically have top grades, top rigor and lots of money, can attend the top schools. This board makes it sound like those are the only options.
My child was a good but not great student in HS, went to an average state school, and yet got a great job out of school after having a nice four year experience. |
Anonymous
Why not just let your kid be who they are, explore their interests, and then find a college that fits them? But in order to actually answer your question, you'd probably need to talk to the college counselor at your child's school to get an idea of where they fall in terms of classes and how that translates to college acceptances. |
Anonymous
It depends what you mean by a "top college." |