Math up to Prec-Calculus

[Anonymous]

I know that at the most selective colleges 4 years of Math up to Calculus is expected (at a minimum). At what level college is it fine for a non-stem kid to end with Pre-Calculus senior year?

For example, is it okay for students applying to the Colby and Hamilton type schools? Kid is a junior in Algebra II, has a great GPA, all Honors and AP classes, good somewhat niche extracurricular. Teachers and school college counselor seem to be encouraging this kind of school. Do people with more experience think they are within reach?

[Anonymous]

I think it's fine. If the rest of the app is great, particularly for rigor, ultimately this will not be a reason for denial. College admission officers know that the student's math track is determined in early middle school. Middle schools don't always make the right decisions for tracking. All colleges offer calc 1.

[Anonymous]

Different poster with a junior in a very similar situation. DC just wasnt tracked into advanced math in 6th grade and is currently in Honors Algebra 2/Trig with the advanced kids from the grade below. Otherwise, doing well in all honors/APs. I feel so guilty for not pushing it earlier as I'm afraid this will be an issue in college applications. We're not looking at top schools but are looking for merit or honors colleges in probably 60-120 flagships/national universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Different poster with a junior in a very similar situation. DC just wasnt tracked into advanced math in 6th grade and is currently in Honors Algebra 2/Trig with the advanced kids from the grade below. Otherwise, doing well in all honors/APs. I feel so guilty for not pushing it earlier as I'm afraid this will be an issue in college applications. We're not looking at top schools but are looking for merit or honors colleges in probably 60-120 flagships/national universities.

Your DC will be fine for those schools. Typically, merit for those schools will be awarded based on GPA, test scores, and an enrollment management algorithm that tells the school how much you'd need to be offered to be interested in enrolling.

[Anonymous]

Agreed, with good grades and test scores ending with AP Precalc is fine for either Colby-type LACs or big state schools. (And imo preferable to trying to accelerate over the summer, which tends to leave gaps.)

[Anonymous]

My daughter is a math TA at Amherst. Lots of kids come in without calculus. Yes, the majority are athletes but a good number are not. And Amherst doesn’t have requirements so she’s only seeing kids in majors that require math (Econ, premed, etc). So I imagine the number is larger.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all. Appreciate the thoughts!

[Anonymous]

2nd tier state schools and the equivalent privates.

[Anonymous]

If they aren’t doing stem it’s fine. If they are it depends on the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different poster with a junior in a very similar situation. DC just wasnt tracked into advanced math in 6th grade and is currently in Honors Algebra 2/Trig with the advanced kids from the grade below. Otherwise, doing well in all honors/APs. I feel so guilty for not pushing it earlier as I'm afraid this will be an issue in college applications. We're not looking at top schools but are looking for merit or honors colleges in probably 60-120 flagships/national universities.

Your DC will be fine for those schools. Typically, merit for those schools will be awarded based on GPA, test scores, and an enrollment management algorithm that tells the school how much you'd need to be offered to be interested in enrolling.

Neither Colby nor Hamilton offer merit scholarships. And while not having Calculus will probably not be a dealbreaker, it is likely a benchmark that many admitted applicants will have achieved. Wesleyan, another NESCAC school, provides data showing that 85 percent of accepted applicants this pst cycle had taken calculus. I suspect numbers at other top 25ish LACs would be similar.

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

[Anonymous]

There will be tons of choices but check the specific schools your kid wants. Wisconsin has a section on their website about needing Calc if I remember correctly.

There will be tons of choices so don’t fear but you have to ask explicitly about each school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There will be tons of choices but check the specific schools your kid wants. Wisconsin has a section on their website about needing Calc if I remember correctly.

There will be tons of choices so don’t fear but you have to ask explicitly about each school.

Really? I can’t find anything like that on the Wisconsin web site, and I know kids who have gone without calculus.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, pp here and I misremembered. What Wisconsin says is “Courses that will not fulfill this requirement include statistics.” When my kid was applying, he was an intended humanities major who wanted to jump off the math train and went back and forth about what math to take senior year.

For him, the choice was between Calc and Stats so he took Calc bc of that language on the website. So I remembered it as needed Calc (but I was wrong). Sorry to worry anyone!

[Anonymous]

It’s fine if she is applying somewhere with a >80% acceptance rate. Otherwise, without some big hook like recruited athlete, top 100 schools are probably out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s fine if she is applying somewhere with a >80% acceptance rate. Otherwise, without some big hook like recruited athlete, top 100 schools are probably out.

Troll harder.