Algebra I freshman year and selective colleges

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ideally, one would have taken Geometry over the summer, but it is too late for that now. I mention it here only for the possible benefit of others in that situation.

Do the best you can to have a strong academic record overall. At admissions time, one optionally might indicate which specific non-STEM major DC plans to major in. That gives Admissions reviewers a non-negative reason for the student not being in the most advanced math courses.

OP your best bet is to ask the guidance counselors at your child’s private school after they are done with senior applications and before your child is looking to sign up for junior classes. Specifically ask “How has William and Mary has viewed applicants from this school that have opted for the math track for senior year pre-calc with the combination of honors/AP for the math and sciences and whatever rigor they are pursuing with the English, social sciences, arts, and foreign language”. The counselor could say - yes, those candidates or just as competitive as the ones taking Calc senior year OR that they needed to stand out in having extra rigor/do well in AP in certain areas or you could find out that they won’t be able to be in the GPA range to make this a match (despite having A’s) if all the math and science classes are non-honors/AP. If they need to step up a level to be competitive, then you can talk with your kid to decide if it’s better to find a school that fits the path she is on, step up the difficulty level, or stay on the path but put William and Mary in the reach category and look at ED or any type of guarantee transfer to improve their chances.

This OP. Thank you for your thoughtful reply.

[Anonymous]

DD is also in Algebra 1 freshman year and wants to take Geometry over the summer to get caught up. Where can she enroll for summer classes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is also in Algebra 1 freshman year and wants to take Geometry over the summer to get caught up. Where can she enroll for summer classes?

Local public schools usually have summer programs, check there first.

[Anonymous]

If she’s not aiming for CS, engineering, or math programs (or any program at STEM-intensive schools MIT, Cal Tech, or CM), she’ll be fine without further intervention.

Just try to remember that the people who feel the need to point out that their savant completed AP Calculus BC and Physics C in utero are the anomalies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is also in Algebra 1 freshman year and wants to take Geometry over the summer to get caught up. Where can she enroll for summer classes?

Don't do this as it's very hard and fast paced. We have done them for prep classes but it was very hard and if your child is not strong in math, it's going to be a huge struggle.

For humanities it's fine. Its a normal track but some publics start Algebra in 7th, or even 6th.

[Anonymous]

She’s looking at Top 10/20 schools and was disadvantaged during MS because we moved a few times. She would have been on traffic for Algebra 2 this year otherwise. I’m not pushing her fyi. She wants to improve her PSAT scores for next year and also take Calculus in HS. It’s her desire to take Geometry over the summer.

[Anonymous]

On track*

[Anonymous]

You can look at the Common Data Sets and/or Enrolled Student Profiles (both found in different places on each school's website) to see what proportion of applicants and/or entering class took calculus.

My oldest was in MCPS and we dropped him down a level in MS so he took Alg 1 as a freshman. For his senior year we had him double up on precalc and AP Stats. He got into a top 20 SLAC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can look at the Common Data Sets and/or Enrolled Student Profiles (both found in different places on each school's website) to see what proportion of applicants and/or entering class took calculus.

My oldest was in MCPS and we dropped him down a level in MS so he took Alg 1 as a freshman. For his senior year we had him double up on precalc and AP Stats. He got into a top 20 SLAC.

Percent of the enrolled class who had calc is not included in the Common Data Set. It is likewise uncommon to find in a college's class profile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ideally, one would have taken Geometry over the summer, but it is too late for that now. I mention it here only for the possible benefit of others in that situation.

Do the best you can to have a strong academic record overall. At admissions time, one optionally might indicate which specific non-STEM major DC plans to major in. That gives Admissions reviewers a non-negative reason for the student not being in the most advanced math courses.

It's not too late to take Agebra II over the summer though....sounds like she's a sophomore. This would bump her back into being on track to reach Calc senior year.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. I really appreciate everyone’s thoughtful replies. DCUM can be mean - I thought I might get flamed for pushing my kid too hard or told she was stupid because everyone takes Geometry or higher by freshman year. I’ll update the thread when I learn more or make a decision. First step is talking to the school, but I think a private college counselor may be helpful, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I really appreciate everyone’s thoughtful replies. DCUM can be mean - I thought I might get flamed for pushing my kid too hard or told she was stupid because everyone takes Geometry or higher by freshman year. I’ll update the thread when I learn more or make a decision. First step is talking to the school, but I think a private college counselor may be helpful, too.

Lots of private schools require incoming freshman to take a test if they want to start in a math class above algebra 1 so not everyone takes starts at geometry or higher. Mine took algebra 1 in public MS (and got As) and then didn't pass the test to test out of it at a private HS. He wasn't the only one!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I really appreciate everyone’s thoughtful replies. DCUM can be mean - I thought I might get flamed for pushing my kid too hard or told she was stupid because everyone takes Geometry or higher by freshman year. I’ll update the thread when I learn more or make a decision. First step is talking to the school, but I think a private college counselor may be helpful, too.

Lots of private schools require incoming freshman to take a test if they want to start in a math class above algebra 1 so not everyone takes starts at geometry or higher. Mine took algebra 1 in public MS (and got As) and then didn't pass the test to test out of it at a private HS. He wasn't the only one!

+1 My DS and many of his friends had to retake Algebra 1 in 9th based on the placement test. It is pretty common at Gonzaga.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I really appreciate everyone’s thoughtful replies. DCUM can be mean - I thought I might get flamed for pushing my kid too hard or told she was stupid because everyone takes Geometry or higher by freshman year. I’ll update the thread when I learn more or make a decision. First step is talking to the school, but I think a private college counselor may be helpful, too.

Lots of private schools require incoming freshman to take a test if they want to start in a math class above algebra 1 so not everyone takes starts at geometry or higher. Mine took algebra 1 in public MS (and got As) and then didn't pass the test to test out of it at a private HS. He wasn't the only one!

+1 My DS and many of his friends had to retake Algebra 1 in 9th based on the placement test. It is pretty common at Gonzaga.

I’m the PP that suggested talking to the guidance counselor because it can be very school specific. Let’s say, that the school has a lot of VA in-state and many apply to UVA & William and Mary - you don’t know if it’s the top x percent of the class (even if there is no official ranking) where UVA/William and Mary would be a match tended to place out of Algebra 1 or if it’s very common for that that top x percent to have taken Algebra 1 freshman year and take PreCalc senior year. With college admissions nothing is guaranteed but at least having a baseline of what type of academic profile from that school typically would be a match and what things if you don’t have that exact profile typically have helped - is useful to know before senior year when you really can’t adjust much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can look at the Common Data Sets and/or Enrolled Student Profiles (both found in different places on each school's website) to see what proportion of applicants and/or entering class took calculus.

My oldest was in MCPS and we dropped him down a level in MS so he took Alg 1 as a freshman. For his senior year we had him double up on precalc and AP Stats. He got into a top 20 SLAC.

Percent of the enrolled class who had calc is not included in the Common Data Set. It is likewise uncommon to find in a college's class profile.

I don't know how common or uncommon it is - we found it at a bunch of schools our DS was considering. Here's one example: https://www.wesleyan.edu/admission/apply/class-profile.html#:~:text=Profile%20of%20Students%20Offered%20Admission%20for%20Fall%202023&text=85%25%20have%20taken%20calculus,equivalent)%20of%20one%20foreign%20language