HS sophomore decision that may affect college acceptance

[Anonymous]

If the issue is foundational readiness for higher math, summer school (and continued tutoring) is the obvious answer. My assumption is the issue is doubling up more than a lack of math aptitude. I didn't see whether you said if this is private or not. But, in most public schools the summer school grade should replace the previous grade from a GPA perspective as well.

I also totally agree on not stressing over one B.

[Anonymous]

OP, is DS getting a B or a C in Alg 2 currently? If scraping by w/ a B, I'd say get a good Alg 2 book and work through it over the summer, possibly w/ a tutor for problem areas. If a C, look to see if it is offered as a summer course at any other area high schools/locations.

[Anonymous]

Remember, these are kids. Even good students can get distracted and miss out on fully grasping a concept the first time around. If a boy is spending Algebra 1 class dreamily looking at Becky Sue with the eyes so blue and wondering if she notices him, too, he might do well enough on the tests to get a good grade at the time but because he never really focused on the problems what he learns in the class doesn't stick.

He's not a bad kid or a stupid kid. He's human.

[Anonymous]

Alg 2 is tough for a lot of students. Just move on to the next math course with C+. Your kid is still on track to go to college. Math is tough even for college kids. Not all A's and B's in college math either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Alg 2 is tough for a lot of students. Just move on to the next math course with C+. Your kid is still on track to go to college. Math is tough even for college kids. Not all A's and B's in college math either.

If the kid has a rickety grasp on Algebra 2 then the kid will not place into a college level math course. Many colleges do placement tests. I'm not sure what happens in a situation like that.

[Anonymous]

Your son needs a solid grasp of algebra 2, especially moving forward in a technical area. His current grade does not reflect the sort of grasp you would want him to have.

I would not worry about his grade or what math he will get up to for college acceptances. He will get into college somewhere. There are plenty of colleges that accept students with B's and students who have not taken Calc, and they even admit them into technical majors.

The important thing is that he has a solid foundation so it doesn't trip him up later. If you think tutoring over the summer will get him there, then that's great. But he must commit to working on it seriously over the summer. And you all should commit to checking in with each other at the end of summer to make sure he feels confident moving forward.

College acceptance is not the important thing here. His confidence and understanding of math concepts is the important thing.

[Anonymous]

I agree that a B is neither "tanking" nor "failure." Your choice of words speaks volumes. That poor child. No wonder he feels so bad. Use this time to help him problem-solve. My child was in a similar situation, and switched down a level in Math the second semester of the year. She actually wound up with a C for the the first semester of the year (who knows how your family would ever come back from that!). It was her first C ever. Of course, we both worried how it would impact her college admissions. Turns out she got into 7/10 schools she applied to, and is now happily finishing up her freshman year at a school that is great for her, with good grades in a hard major.

I am glad that she had a setback in high school (when we were nearby to support her). She learned everything was okay in the end. I am strongly opposed to school personnel letting your child drop the class when that option has ended (if they follow the rules). What does that teach him: this his performance is so awful that drastic measures are called for. He has to "cheat" to succeed. The school cares more about their admissions stats that being fair and maintaining integrity?

Show him that you believe he is very smart and will do fine despite this setback. It is not the end of the world. It is good practice for the future, where he will encounter more serious obstacles and have to be resilient.

[Anonymous]

Have you looked into online high school classes? Perhaps he could take Alg 2 over the summer in one of those and transfer the credit, which would then allow him to take Precalc during junior year. I sympathize because DD was stuck with an awful Alg 2 teacher who gave extremely long exams that the class couldn't finish. She fell to a 90 when she had always been a great math student. Now, a year later, she's pulling high 90s again in Precalc and she just scored an 800 on her math SAT. It was a real struggle last year and she was discouraged for a time. He'll be fine though. If he stays and gets a somewhat lower grade but then does well next year, colleges may see it as one bad course. The damage may be limited. Have him review on Khan Academy over the summer or even pre-study a bit for Precalc in order to increase the chances that he does well in that. Good luck to him!

[Anonymous]

Have him retake it over the summer to reenforce what he is missing.

[Anonymous]

Withdraw and take it again. I was struggling with Calculus 1 my freshman year of college in Engineering and I had to drop and take it again - and then do summer school for Physics to catch up. I did take AP calc A/B as well.

I blame pushing and rushing through high school to check boxes without really learning the material for the struggles I had in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"DS, however, is absolutely sure that CS, info/data systems, business systems and security are his path."

DC may understand this but the OP should hear it too, in case they are not a STEM grad themselves and/or DC doesn't.

OP, you don't want to point this out to DC right now. He won't benefit from the information in HS but knowing it should help you steer him without pushing him into a swamp he can't work through.

The subjects on the list do not describe a single path. Additionally, there are many levels of college and university for each of those paths.

To do a CS major at a top CS school like Carnegie Mellon is really hard and most likely DC's C this year in Alg II rules a path like that out.

Luckily, even a top school like Carnegie has at least two other paths that are possible from your list.

I would suggest that neither a info/data system degree or a business systems type program at Carnegie would be ruled out by the C in Alg II even though DC would certainly need Calc as a senior to get into either.

Then there are intermediate/strong level schools from UMdCP to GMU to UMBC where DC could do any of the programs but would need calc as a senior.

If calc as a senior is not possible or is just too much of a grind, then at schools like GMU or UMBC info/data systems or business systems type programs would be matches with the rest of DC's record.

Then there are a host of "solid" schools that offer an array of programs similar in name to those already mentioned. These "solid" schools have a variety of students from quite strong taking advantage of merit aid to somewhat weak but improving.

At these schools the true variety of paths in these areas shines through. While they pretty much don't offer the beyond "graduate" level courses that Carnegie specializes in offering their undergrad in CS, students can still get a degree that is called CS.

They offer many watered down courses (compared to say MIT) that allow students to mix and match all possible business and computer related programs all of which are highly employable by average companies.

At these average companies they wouldn't even know what a Carnegie CS grad was even talking about. Similarly, the Googles of the world would never recruit at a "solid" school.

I bothered to type all that out OP because it means that your DC WILL find his place among the paths you list. All he needs is to keep trying at what interests him. It really doesn't matter whether any particular effort succeeds or fails, grade wise.

If DC isn't happy with his understanding, he should just take the class over. Eventually a company will pay him for what he understands, they won't care how long or how many tries it took him to get there.

It's OP - this is very thoughtful thank you! You are right. In the past year a few things became apparent; he continued showing tech passion and talent by purchasing components and building a computer in 11 hours, friends asked if he would build them a custom gaming computer (he's now talking small business on the side)n he's writing a malware program that is a work in progress, choosing advanced business classes including biz finance and law, his biz teacher gave him a spot on the HS business advisory board and advised him to take Virtual Enterprise next year as a junior. (it's a senior project class requiring pre reqs) , he LOVES business courses and math but is also getting the best grades he's ever had in English, History and Science. Spanish 3 is not great but in his words he is "ending his misery" and not continuing on with Spanish 4 because it also drags his GPA down.

He has not taken any APs at this point and he needs at least a few. His English, Science and Global teachers gave approved APs. He declined AP lit and APUSH because he feels that pre calc, AP computer science and AP physics are more important and all he can handle. So he has done the work of figuring out what he needs for college. It's frustrating that there aren't standard physics or computer science classes offered so he can work into AP CS and AP physics senior year. Taking AP environmental science makes no sense. There are many balls in the air.

Since we are in NY, he has 5 regents exams in June. Of course Alg 2 and Geometry are the same day!! He has a summer job too. Oh and let's not forget SATs which he'll need to prep for since tests of a cumulative nature are hit or miss for him.

He won't apply to the likes of Carnegie Mellon or top schools because he won't have the stats. He has B's mixed in with A's. He's overall a really good student with a really good work ethic. He's very interested in urban with CS/biz programs. His list of colleges are a mix of public (Pitt) mixed with privates (Fordham). His dream school in Boston (Northeastern) is such a reach and he's aware that it's not happening. He's also fallen in love with JMU (sight unseen) based on reddit and niche. He said the kids at Pitt and JMU are active on reddit and college confidential and they seem really happy. He thinks JMU has a good CS program and the dining is top rated lol. He liked the JMU rep at a college fair. He's still just a happy kid and wants to be around other happy kids at a good school. We aren't aiming for tippy top.

The advice I gave him this morning is despite the C in Alg 2, he also juggled Geometry in the same year. Just focusing on one math (pre calc) in junior year should be easier and he can continue with tutor this summer. He takes the grade, sucks it up and moves on. This may be terrible advice. But, I feel that admissions (not top schools) will see a typical kid that doesn't have 10+ AP's and a 4.8 GPA with service awards, a few academic awards, leadership positions, one varsity sport plus an unique non school related sport and think "we need a regular kid like him". Maybe I'm too optimistic.

Yikes this is way too long. So sorry. Thanks so much for your help DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Your approach sounds solid. There are lots of good schools that will welcome your child. Try not to let the extremists on this site worry you too much. Your son sounds like a wonderful child who has an exciting future ahead of him.

[Anonymous]

PP, reading your second post above makes me re-adjust my opinion. Drop the class and try to recoup over the summer. His other interests being sparked by the school speak volumes, and a school like NE should be within reach, but Pitt and Fordham could also be terrific, particularly for the combination of business and CS.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

OP, I think you are on the right path.

One thing to consider is that this may be a great essay narrative - how he's always wanted to go into CS bc he's been great with computers, and pushed himself a bit too much. Assuming he does well junior and senior year, he can frame Alg. 2 as a learning experience.

[Anonymous]

Lord help these poor kids.