Physics major but I don’t think she has what it takes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about Harvey Mudd for physics?

? Not with those grades in physics. Are you serious?

[Anonymous]

In the same boat with DC who wants to go into a biochem type field. They got a C in AP chem and dropped it the next semester.

I said to DC if they thought it was a good idea to go into this major given how much they struggled in AP chem. They said they are aware that they may fail, but that they don't know what else to do because this is the only thing that interests them.

They said that they would take advantage of the free tutoring that colleges offer. But, that if they do find it too difficult, they are aware that they may have to switch majors.

Just make sure that they go to a college that has lots of different types of majors that they can switch into without too much difficulty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD (senior) is planning to apply as a physics major.
She took one physics class in high school and struggled and got a 3 on the AP test. She’s not taking physics now.
She’s currently taking linear algebra and struggling.
This doesn’t seem like a kid who should be a physics major. I don’t want to discourage her, but I also don’t want to waste money on tuition while she flounders.

Make sure she applies to places where they do not declare majors until the 3rd or 4th semester. Plenty of time to try and then change.

[Anonymous]

Did she take AP Physics 1 in 9th grade? That class is a non-calculus based class so in a way for some students it ends up being harder than a calculus based physics class. Knowing calculus can make visualizing physics problems easier.

[Anonymous]

My average kid has applied to a few SLAC for physics. He is all over the place. Some larger schools he applied for engineering. We aren't sure if it will work out but the schools aren't highly ranked so we are assuming that he will in the same boat as the rest of the class. It will be sink or swim. We haven't discouraged it, but we keep telling him it will a lot of work.

[Anonymous]

My daughter is in college. She struggled in HS in several classes; had to work VERY hard, with a ton of drama and misery, to get the grades that got her into a good but not statusy school. I was sincerely worried, in my darker moments, that college would be too much for her. And now that she's there? She's crushing it. A's across the board, and zero drama and misery to get there. Her least successful HS subjects have turned out to be some of her favorites in college. The kid I used to have to goad to meet deadlines is now happily locking in for hours at a time, beating every deadline, and now knows more than I do about certain subjects.

This is to say, HS and college are very different environments. Just the obvious stuff, like being with other students who want to be there, and professors who put their lives into this one subject, is huge. But also, a little extra maturity goes a long way.

Try not to fret! She might very well thrive, and if that first physics course demonstrates that the subject isn't for her, there's plenty of time to reevaluate.

[Anonymous]

Please let her continue on her path or she will always regret it and also resent you. Have faith that she can adjust if need-be. She doesn't have to be researching at a nuclear accelerator - there are always jobs adjacent to the core study. Also, in life, you find paths that offshoot off the main road but you don't know they are there until you travel the road in the first place.

This will sound insane to parents who micromanage their kids' paths (I get it, we want things to be easy for our kids and we know the path to riches)...but have faith. It's a good sign that she knows what interests her. Start there.

[Anonymous]

My DS wanted to be an Aerospace Engineer since he was 12.

He is on the spectrum but very high functioning, but it still affected him in high school. He did *OK* like Bs, in math and science. Not even honors or AP, just regular, CP math and science. He did better in history and foreign language than science. But insisted on applying for Aerospace Engineering.

And he's doing . . . fine. He's a sophomore studying aerospace engineering at a grade deflationary college, working hard, and his GPA is around 3.1 (and he gets no supports, either). Still mostly getting Bs but he does not seem to want to major in anything else. He has had friends that switched out of engineering because they found it too hard/not for them and I thought he might change his mind too but so far . . . no.

College courses are different than high school, for better or worse. Like DS was required to take chemistry in college, he'd gotten a B in HS chemistry and not particularly enjoyed it. But in college he found his chemistry class super interesting and considered taking more chemistry as elective classes.

So I would let your daughter try a major in physics if she wants. Physics is usually housed in a broad-subject college like Arts and Sciences, she probably does not have to declare major officially until end of sophomore year, she can easily change her mind after she takes a couple of college-level physics courses, if she realizes it's not for her.

[Anonymous]

She sounds like a geology major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is in college. She struggled in HS in several classes; had to work VERY hard, with a ton of drama and misery, to get the grades that got her into a good but not statusy school. I was sincerely worried, in my darker moments, that college would be too much for her. And now that she's there? She's crushing it. A's across the board, and zero drama and misery to get there. Her least successful HS subjects have turned out to be some of her favorites in college. The kid I used to have to goad to meet deadlines is now happily locking in for hours at a time, beating every deadline, and now knows more than I do about certain subjects.

This is to say, HS and college are very different environments. Just the obvious stuff, like being with other students who want to be there, and professors who put their lives into this one subject, is huge. But also, a little extra maturity goes a long way.

Try not to fret! She might very well thrive, and if that first physics course demonstrates that the subject isn't for her, there's plenty of time to reevaluate.

Not OP, but this is what I'm hoping for for my DC. I think maturity has a lot to do with it, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did she take AP Physics 1 in 9th grade? That class is a non-calculus based class so in a way for some students it ends up being harder than a calculus based physics class. Knowing calculus can make visualizing physics problems easier.

If you can't understand basic physics without calculus, you aren't understanding physics. Physics is more than math.

[Anonymous]

NP. I would keep a little context in mind. High school physics teachers may vary widely in quality. I would not let a high school experience dissuade a student from trying a subject in college.

[Anonymous]

Genuine interest, curiosity and self-motivation will always prevail over test scores. My son has 5s on Physics C and 5 on Calc BC. But he is empty and careless. He only wants to go into engineering to earn money. Physics theorems do not keep him up at night. Or at any time. No genuine interests in anything. I would be less concerned about his future if he had lower AP grades in exchange for that true spark of sincerity and real fascination with what he intends to study. I believe in your daughter!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about Harvey Mudd for physics?

? Not with those grades in physics. Are you serious?

+1. Some people just say whatever crazy sh*t comes out of their mouth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about Harvey Mudd for physics?

? Not with those grades in physics. Are you serious?

Why? Is physics at Harvey Mudd more demanding than UMD/UVA?