Algebra I freshman year and selective colleges

[Anonymous]

You can easily move ahead a year in math with an online class over the summer.

[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!

Very, very common at our private Catholic HS. My kids went to public through 8th grade. At the end of Intensified Algebra 1 in 7th (easily got an A), they bombed the algebra HS exemption exam. We had him repeat Algebra I in 8th with a different teacher. He ended up testing into Honors Geometry for Freshmen year and stayed in Honors math (As) and taking AP Calc Senior year (A so far but not a fan ).

Most important for us was having a very strong Algebra foundation. Which will be important as math builds and for standardized tests.

[Anonymous]

I have a child at UVA and from what I’ve seen, they admit students who took calculus (either AB or BC) senior year in the Arts & Sciences college. Your child can take precalculus at community college perhaps. I think summer is a good time to take a hard math class because they can focus on just one subject although it will move fast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a child at UVA and from what I’ve seen, they admit students who took calculus (either AB or BC) senior year in the Arts & Sciences college. Your child can take precalculus at community college perhaps. I think summer is a good time to take a hard math class because they can focus on just one subject although it will move fast.

Are you trying to say that UVA denies students who did not have calculus in high school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child at UVA and from what I’ve seen, they admit students who took calculus (either AB or BC) senior year in the Arts & Sciences college. Your child can take precalculus at community college perhaps. I think summer is a good time to take a hard math class because they can focus on just one subject although it will move fast.

Are you trying to say that UVA denies students who did not have calculus in high school?

Nope not saying that/ just saying what I’ve seen from my child and others who were admitted from FCPS. Perhaps private schools are different . . . .

[Anonymous]

Most important for us was having a very strong Algebra foundation. Which will be important as math builds and for standardized tests.

OP, our DC was in the same boat and this was the advice from the math dept head at their private school. Taking Geometry in the summer isn't a big deal, but Algebra II would be much more challenging and wasn't recommended. While I understand the reason she wants to move ahead, it's much more important that she continues to build on the Algebra based material.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child at UVA and from what I’ve seen, they admit students who took calculus (either AB or BC) senior year in the Arts & Sciences college. Your child can take precalculus at community college perhaps. I think summer is a good time to take a hard math class because they can focus on just one subject although it will move fast.

Are you trying to say that UVA denies students who did not have calculus in high school?

Pretty much all top 30 schools will require Calculus AB or BC in order to be admitted. Otherwise, the student will need an extraordinary hook. I'm sure there are some exceptions for the pure humanities student, but not many. So for kids in 8th or 9th grade who might have an interest in Duke or Brown or UCLA or Michigan, I'd plan accordingly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a child at UVA and from what I’ve seen, they admit students who took calculus (either AB or BC) senior year in the Arts & Sciences college. Your child can take precalculus at community college perhaps. I think summer is a good time to take a hard math class because they can focus on just one subject although it will move fast.

I was a kid who loved math and who killed the curve in most math classes. I also recall precalc being a very hard class with a lot of content. I'd be hesitant to put a humanities focused kid in a summer precalc class to skip ahead. I think she may just be stuck on the track that she's on at this point.

Op, I'd look for other ways to strengthen her transcript.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child at UVA and from what I’ve seen, they admit students who took calculus (either AB or BC) senior year in the Arts & Sciences college. Your child can take precalculus at community college perhaps. I think summer is a good time to take a hard math class because they can focus on just one subject although it will move fast.

Are you trying to say that UVA denies students who did not have calculus in high school?

Competitive schools look at transcripts to see if students took the most challenging courses. If most of her classmates are a math course ahead, then she's going to be disadvantaged. It doesn't mean she can't overcome that issue, but she'll need something else to offset her lower math track.

[Anonymous]

My kids have gone to public school, so I'm not sure if the situations are comparable (I see interesting threads on this boards about how competitive college selection is in privates.)

During my kid's middle school years, MCPS was changing curricula so that some of the feeders to her high school accelerated MS math so kids finished geometry in MS but hers didn't. I found out (too late) that many kids from her own MS then took geometry in summer so they could be in Algebra II in 9th grade. So in the end, my kid was a year behind the most advanced math track.

She ended up skipping AB calc so she had BC calc senior year. Many of those other kids were in multivariate senior year. Still, my kid got into an Ivy.

My feeling is that colleges don't see or know what kids did before they enter HS. That means some kids start HS at different levels in math and languages. And I think colleges kind of 'go' with that. They don't know why it happened, but they just accept that one kid started in a lower math class, and they look at the rest of the curriculum in that light.

[Anonymous]

Summer math is hard; fast paced with little room for error. My DC took geometry over the summer and it was difficult. Ended up with a B+ because of one lower unit test grade and no way to raise the grade the 2% they needed for an A-. Currently the only B on the transcript, but DC will be in Calculus senior year. Just something to consider.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child at UVA and from what I’ve seen, they admit students who took calculus (either AB or BC) senior year in the Arts & Sciences college. Your child can take precalculus at community college perhaps. I think summer is a good time to take a hard math class because they can focus on just one subject although it will move fast.

Are you trying to say that UVA denies students who did not have calculus in high school?

Pretty much all top 30 schools will require Calculus AB or BC in order to be admitted. Otherwise, the student will need an extraordinary hook. I'm sure there are some exceptions for the pure humanities student, but not many. So for kids in 8th or 9th grade who might have an interest in Duke or Brown or UCLA or Michigan, I'd plan accordingly

"Require" is an overstatement. This is not as categorically true as it sounds in this post. Colleges are well aware that the middle school math track determines whether a student has the opportunity to take calc. Colleges do not dock students for not taking courses they did not have the opportunity to take due to a middle school math placement.

It is true that many students at top schools had some calc in high school, but correlation is not causation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child at UVA and from what I’ve seen, they admit students who took calculus (either AB or BC) senior year in the Arts & Sciences college. Your child can take precalculus at community college perhaps. I think summer is a good time to take a hard math class because they can focus on just one subject although it will move fast.

Are you trying to say that UVA denies students who did not have calculus in high school?

Pretty much all top 30 schools will require Calculus AB or BC in order to be admitted. Otherwise, the student will need an extraordinary hook. I'm sure there are some exceptions for the pure humanities student, but not many. So for kids in 8th or 9th grade who might have an interest in Duke or Brown or UCLA or Michigan, I'd plan accordingly

"Require" is an overstatement. This is not as categorically true as it sounds in this post. Colleges are well aware that the middle school math track determines whether a student has the opportunity to take calc. Colleges do not dock students for not taking courses they did not have the opportunity to take due to a middle school math placement.

It is true that many students at top schools had some calc in high school, but correlation is not causation.

It would depend on the high school. If someone is finishing up high school with pre-cal while many of their peers are in calculus AB or BC or multivariable or statistics, I think it would be very unlikely that there's a selective college in their future.

Many families in the DMV have moved here from elsewhere and find that they're not quite in their preferred math sequence. Summer school is very common for 8th and 9th graders to catch up. That's what we did. Ours wanted to study engineering so there wasn't much of a choice but to get to the advanced math classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD took Algebra 1 freshman year at a DC private. Before entering freshman year, you could test into Geometry, otherwise you are placed in Alegebra 1. We didn’t want to overload her freshman year as she struggles with anxiety. She got an A in the class and is on track for an A in Geometry. She wants a humanities degree. Will she be shut out of selective schools like William and Mary because of this? I’m wondering if she should take math this summer to move up, though I really, really don’t want to do this as she works very hard during the year. She’s a straight A student but I know that is hardly enough these days for some of these schools.

All these posts are ignoring that she “struggles with anxiety”. I think that would ruin her experience at too selective of a school. Seems more important than being one year off in math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child at UVA and from what I’ve seen, they admit students who took calculus (either AB or BC) senior year in the Arts & Sciences college. Your child can take precalculus at community college perhaps. I think summer is a good time to take a hard math class because they can focus on just one subject although it will move fast.

Are you trying to say that UVA denies students who did not have calculus in high school?

Competitive schools look at transcripts to see if students took the most challenging courses. If most of her classmates are a math course ahead, then she's going to be disadvantaged. It doesn't mean she can't overcome that issue, but she'll need something else to offset her lower math track.

This. UVA is looking for students who exhausted the resources given to them. The term is "most rigorous" courses offered. Most high schools offer calculus (and beyond) so if you do not take it when offered, you will be judged against students who have taken it in your high school