Likelies/safeties for math-oriented majors

[Anonymous]

Sorry for hijacking the thread:

Can I ask where your kid went to high school in the DC area? I have a younger kid that is either on that track or close to it. I've been holding him back for the past three years because there's nothing like that or close to it in my county (PGCPS). Did your high school offer those options or did you just do dual enrollment?

[Anonymous]

DCPS (Deal middle school) will allow kids to complete algebra 2 in 8th grade which leads to pre-calc in 9th. It's all based on placement testing and about 19 kids out of 550 qualify.
I've heard of FCPS kids who have taken Pre-calc in 8th but I'm not sure where.

[Anonymous]

Oops. 10 kids out of 550. not 19. Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry for hijacking the thread:

Can I ask where your kid went to high school in the DC area? I have a younger kid that is either on that track or close to it. I've been holding him back for the past three years because there's nothing like that or close to it in my county (PGCPS). Did your high school offer those options or did you just do dual enrollment?

DC does not attend school here (I have close family in the DC area who introduced me to this forum, and since my search for safeties/likelies is not area-specific, I felt it was ok to post), so unfortunately I won’t be much help to you. In answer to your second question, however, yes, DC’s school offers all those options - no need for dual enrollment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oops. 10 kids out of 550. not 19. Lol

They offer it to more kids, but some decline. All of mine did. Personally not a fan of 10th grade Calc. My kids had a couple of peers who kind of burned out after BC in 10th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oops. 10 kids out of 550. not 19. Lol

They offer it to more kids, but some decline. All of mine did. Personally not a fan of 10th grade Calc. My kids had a couple of peers who kind of burned out after BC in 10th.

I burned out after BC in 11th, flunked my senior year multivariable/linear sequence, and then turned around sophomore year of college and became a math major after accidentally registering for (and then earning 100% in) Abstract Algebra I. For kids going into pure math or CS, the type of thinking and kind of work in math classes really changes after proofs are introduced. I'm also not sure how many high school math teachers are able to teach any college-level math well, let alone anything after multivariable/linear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oops. 10 kids out of 550. not 19. Lol

They offer it to more kids, but some decline. All of mine did. Personally not a fan of 10th grade Calc. My kids had a couple of peers who kind of burned out after BC in 10th.

I burned out after BC in 11th, flunked my senior year multivariable/linear sequence, and then turned around sophomore year of college and became a math major after accidentally registering for (and then earning 100% in) Abstract Algebra I. For kids going into pure math or CS, the type of thinking and kind of work in math classes really changes after proofs are introduced. I'm also not sure how many high school math teachers are able to teach any college-level math well, let alone anything after multivariable/linear.

Thanks for sharing that. It is not a race, and putting your kid in a super advanced math track just because you can is a mistake IMO. There are some kids who are ready for (and hunger for) that level of learning. But I think that is the 1/1000 or 1/2000 student, not the 1/500 or 1/200 ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oops. 10 kids out of 550. not 19. Lol

They offer it to more kids, but some decline. All of mine did. Personally not a fan of 10th grade Calc. My kids had a couple of peers who kind of burned out after BC in 10th.

I burned out after BC in 11th, flunked my senior year multivariable/linear sequence, and then turned around sophomore year of college and became a math major after accidentally registering for (and then earning 100% in) Abstract Algebra I. For kids going into pure math or CS, the type of thinking and kind of work in math classes really changes after proofs are introduced. I'm also not sure how many high school math teachers are able to teach any college-level math well, let alone anything after multivariable/linear.

Thanks for sharing that. It is not a race, and putting your kid in a super advanced math track just because you can is a mistake IMO. There are some kids who are ready for (and hunger for) that level of learning. But I think that is the 1/1000 or 1/2000 student, not the 1/500 or 1/200 ones.

The Deal Algebra 2 in 8th math sequence worked really well for my kid. He entered up at a top private high school and cruised along at the top of his class. Some of his Deal classmates did not do as well--I think it really depends on the high school and the teachers within the high school. My kid lucked out with dynamic but nurturing high school teachers that kept his love of math alive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry for hijacking the thread:

Can I ask where your kid went to high school in the DC area? I have a younger kid that is either on that track or close to it. I've been holding him back for the past three years because there's nothing like that or close to it in my county (PGCPS). Did your high school offer those options or did you just do dual enrollment?

Another parent with a kid like that - mine went to Montgomery Blair High School - they do have former college faculty teaching those math courses. Earlier, he had permission to go up the street from his elementary to attend math classes at the middle school math/science magnet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oops. 10 kids out of 550. not 19. Lol

They offer it to more kids, but some decline. All of mine did. Personally not a fan of 10th grade Calc. My kids had a couple of peers who kind of burned out after BC in 10th.

Yup, same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dc also took AP Calculus BC in 9th grade. He was very interested in math competitions and progressed up the AMC/AIME/USAMO ladder, achieving USAMO in junior year. MIT loves students who qualify for USAMO. Dc's GPA was not high enough for MIT, but he ended up at Carnegie Mellon, which was a perfect fit. He did well at the Putnam competitions (the CMU Putnam coach is also the coach for the US team that goes to the IMO), and now has a job he loves. I don't know if your child is the math competition type, but this was a path that worked well for my dc.

Thank you for sharing your son’s experience! What were his safeties/likelies? MIT and CMU are amazing schools, but very much reaches.

UCLA, U of Wisconsin, Purdue, RPI, SUNY Stonybrook (we lived in NY at the time)

[Anonymous]

NC State
Michigan State
University of Minnesota
UMCP
Ohio State

Washington and Lee
Tufts
Colby
Boston u

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dc also took AP Calculus BC in 9th grade. He was very interested in math competitions and progressed up the AMC/AIME/USAMO ladder, achieving USAMO in junior year. MIT loves students who qualify for USAMO. Dc's GPA was not high enough for MIT, but he ended up at Carnegie Mellon, which was a perfect fit. He did well at the Putnam competitions (the CMU Putnam coach is also the coach for the US team that goes to the IMO), and now has a job he loves. I don't know if your child is the math competition type, but this was a path that worked well for my dc.

Thank you for sharing your son’s experience! What were his safeties/likelies? MIT and CMU are amazing schools, but very much reaches.

UCLA, U of Wisconsin, Purdue, RPI, SUNY Stonybrook (we lived in NY at the time)

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NC State
Michigan State
University of Minnesota
UMCP
Ohio State

Washington and Lee
Tufts
Colby
Boston u

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about schools like RPI, Case Western, or Purdue?

RPI is almost all applied math now. If you son wants to take more pure math classes RPI is not the place for him. My DC just graduated from there last month as a Math major and learned the hard way.