Half of Ivy League math majors took MV Calc and Linear Algebra in high school

[Anonymous]

Eh, the thinking is changing on advanced math classes.

Don’t conflate math majors at Ivy League with non-math majors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That’s math majors, a very small subset of the student body.

+1

[Anonymous]

Yeah my kid just finished BC in 10th…will take LA, DE, MV before he graduates.

Intended major….

Art History

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah my kid just finished BC in 10th…will take LA, DE, MV before he graduates.

Intended major….

Art History

Weirdly might help him get out of pre-reqs if he ever wants to go into Art conservation/conservation sciences, which typically requires a lot of chemistry. The abstract thinking skills will help for sure!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah my kid just finished BC in 10th…will take LA, DE, MV before he graduates.

Intended major….

Art History

That is how a lot of northeast high schools are, almost half the class takes BC in 11th or earlier even though many of them are not STEM. Its based on middle school tracking

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah my kid just finished BC in 10th…will take LA, DE, MV before he graduates.

Intended major….

Art History

That is how a lot of northeast high schools are, almost half the class takes BC in 11th or earlier even though many of them are not STEM. Its based on middle school tracking

I think taking BC in 11th is pretty much the norm at every good public high school in the Northeast and California regardless of their intended majors. At least among the students aiming for the UCs and T50 schools.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in the Silicon Valley when all of the tech geniuses were kids. If you wanted to take anything higher than Calculus, you could go to the local Community College and take it there. There was some sort of agreement with the high school. That's what I did. I didn't expect the high school to hire a teacher and find a classroom just for me and my 2 friends.

[Anonymous]

This is crazy. My DH went has two engineering degrees from a top STEM university. He went to TJ for high school and the highest math he took there was calculus BC. His parents didn't want him accelerated and it wasn't the norm back then (late 90s). He didn't even know anyone who prepped for TJ admission or did summer courses. I don't see how this produces better outcomes in the long run (meaning over the course of one's career). The people in the top management jobs in tech in middle age are usually the ones who have strong social skills in addition to good tech skills. Kids need to develop those and spending nights, weekends, and summer doing a ton of math is not the way to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah my kid just finished BC in 10th…will take LA, DE, MV before he graduates.

Intended major….

Art History

That is how a lot of northeast high schools are, almost half the class takes BC in 11th or earlier even though many of them are not STEM. Its based on middle school tracking

I think taking BC in 11th is pretty much the norm at every good public high school in the Northeast and California regardless of their intended majors. At least among the students aiming for the UCs and T50 schools.

This isn't the "norm." Parents on this board skew towards towards the very highest performing public and privates. A relatively small percentage of public high schools in the US offer anything past BC. Many don't go past AB.

[Anonymous]

Usually if your kid is passionate enough about pure math to pursue it as a major they will have studied ahead on their own (self-motivated) even if their school didn’t have advanced offerings. My dd is going through post calculus math books in her spare time for fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is crazy. My DH went has two engineering degrees from a top STEM university. He went to TJ for high school and the highest math he took there was calculus BC. His parents didn't want him accelerated and it wasn't the norm back then (late 90s). He didn't even know anyone who prepped for TJ admission or did summer courses. I don't see how this produces better outcomes in the long run (meaning over the course of one's career). The people in the top management jobs in tech in middle age are usually the ones who have strong social skills in addition to good tech skills. Kids need to develop those and spending nights, weekends, and summer doing a ton of math is not the way to do it.

Your husband was an engineering major not a math major and there is a difference. Telling some math kids not to go beyond what classes are available is like telling a future English lit major not to read too many novels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is crazy. My DH went has two engineering degrees from a top STEM university. He went to TJ for high school and the highest math he took there was calculus BC. His parents didn't want him accelerated and it wasn't the norm back then (late 90s). He didn't even know anyone who prepped for TJ admission or did summer courses. I don't see how this produces better outcomes in the long run (meaning over the course of one's career). The people in the top management jobs in tech in middle age are usually the ones who have strong social skills in addition to good tech skills. Kids need to develop those and spending nights, weekends, and summer doing a ton of math is not the way to do it.

Your husband was an engineering major not a math major and there is a difference. Telling some math kids not to go beyond what classes are available is like telling a future English lit major not to read too many novels.

True that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean...makes sense. DC's friends have somehow taken Real Analysis, Topology, Linear, Complex Analysis, etc. before getting to Harvard. A lot of those top math students go to math summer camp and study for Olympiads, so they go beyond Calc AB and BC.

My DD's online school had at least 3 sections of Real and Complex Analysis. Some attended the school for a single class.

Stanford OHS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would you need to take BC as a sophomore in order to take MV before graduating? I thought most mathy kids did BC as a junior then MV as a senior.

If you also want Linear Algebra, then you might want BC as a sophomore.

I think the whole process is a bit pushed. Life is not a race. Very few 10th graders are truly ready for BC. Plenty of kids who only take AB or BC in senior year major in math at college. They might just have a better foundation, as they were not forced to skip a few years of math at the early stages

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you need to take BC as a sophomore in order to take MV before graduating? I thought most mathy kids did BC as a junior then MV as a senior.

If you also want Linear Algebra, then you might want BC as a sophomore.

I think the whole process is a bit pushed. Life is not a race. Very few 10th graders are truly ready for BC. Plenty of kids who only take AB or BC in senior year major in math at college. They might just have a better foundation, as they were not forced to skip a few years of math at the early stages

Like it or don't like it, you are racing against all the other kids in the country (as well as many kids overseas) and if you want to be competitive for CalTech / Mudd / MIT type schools then BC in 10th grade is what you have to do.