Equity against Math acceleration

[Anonymous]

I’d say the number of kids in accelerated math because the parents want them there to differentiate them is far, far greater than the number who are there because they legitimately need the acceleration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d say the number of kids in accelerated math because the parents want them there to differentiate them is far, far greater than the number who are there because they legitimately need the acceleration.

If they had qualifying scores then they are legitimately there, parent wants are irrelevant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d say the number of kids in accelerated math because the parents want them there to differentiate them is far, far greater than the number who are there because they legitimately need the acceleration.

+1

[Anonymous]

Math acceleration isn’t valued at liberal arts colleges. This poster isn’t wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Math acceleration isn’t valued at liberal arts colleges. This poster isn’t wrong.

Disagree. Any selective college values students taking the most accelerated courses available, but there are always other considerations too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d say the number of kids in accelerated math because the parents want them there to differentiate them is far, far greater than the number who are there because they legitimately need the acceleration.

If they had qualifying scores then they are legitimately there, parent wants are irrelevant

In MCPS acceleration in ES and MS is primarily based on parent advocacy not on test scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is an equity minion troll on this forum that downplays the benefits of math acceleration. Usually the poster did algebra1 in 6th, Calc BC in 9th, and Discrete math in 12th, but still not get admitted into Ivys, T10, Princeton, MIT, etc. The troll then replies as another poster saying Princeton admitted their child with just Calc AB in 12th, concluding math acceleration did not help at all, everyone should stick to grade level math.

How many here actually have their students accelerate in math on an average and what is the math they graduate HS with? Does it help college admissions especially for STEM majors.

I am no equity minion and believe that kid should take the highest math they are capable of. That said, I can tell you that my kid finished HS with Calc BC in 10th and multiple semester of college math all As, high scores etc, and was WL and rejected at all T10 / Ivy. Was coming from a magnet school and doing CS but goes to show that there are many factors in this.

CS/eng major for college admissions is brutal, especially for white/asian males from this area. Doesn't matter if they take the highest level math class or get a perfect SAT score. It's just brutal.

It’s only brutal if you’re obsessed with T20. What’s wrong with Florida State or U Iowa? Serious question by the way.

There is no Math 20700 (UChicago) or Math 55 (Harvard) at Florida State or U Iowa. Georgia State has 3500H, but that's still at least two notches below.

Math 55 doesn't really exist anymore. Or used to be a freshman cohort of a graduate level class, for students who entered college thinking they already knew everything.
To make it more accessible and satisfy the gunners, they changed it to just be a freshman cohort for Math 112, 113, 121, and 122. It's 2 semesters of double class, for only 2 semesters of single class credit.

Not really any point to it besides impressing your friends' parents who care about the status but don't know it changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is an equity minion troll on this forum that downplays the benefits of math acceleration. Usually the poster did algebra1 in 6th, Calc BC in 9th, and Discrete math in 12th, but still not get admitted into Ivys, T10, Princeton, MIT, etc. The troll then replies as another poster saying Princeton admitted their child with just Calc AB in 12th, concluding math acceleration did not help at all, everyone should stick to grade level math.

How many here actually have their students accelerate in math on an average and what is the math they graduate HS with? Does it help college admissions especially for STEM majors.

I am no equity minion and believe that kid should take the highest math they are capable of. That said, I can tell you that my kid finished HS with Calc BC in 10th and multiple semester of college math all As, high scores etc, and was WL and rejected at all T10 / Ivy. Was coming from a magnet school and doing CS but goes to show that there are many factors in this.

CS/eng major for college admissions is brutal, especially for white/asian males from this area. Doesn't matter if they take the highest level math class or get a perfect SAT score. It's just brutal.

It does matter though, looking from inside ivies/T10 within Engineering : the kids all took the highest math available at their HS. For many kids that is Multivariable or Linear or both after BC Calc in 11th. The ones that do not have that took whatever their HS highest was, usually BC or AB or IB calculus. Not any of them took less than the highest track offered.
In other words, the highest path offered at the HS matters to AOs and is necessary, but it is not sufficient: in many HSs especially prep schools and magnet publics, 1/4-1/3 have post-BC -math on their resumes. And yet most of these schools do not have the entire top-path 1/4-1/3 getting into T10s. Who gets in is determined by the rest of the resume, on top of and in addition to being in the high schools highest math.

For non-stem/non-Engineering school within an ivy, highest math still may matter since all students are allowed to choose any major, but not as much.

This is gunner nonsense. Elite AOs don't care about your community college math classes.

Who said anything about community college math? These schools with 1/4-1/3 post-BC are high schools that offer those classes at the high school. This is standard practice at the top prep day schools in NY, NJ, Boston, and other areas. For kids in schools like that, to have a shot at ivy/T10 one needs to be in the top math group. Plus, once there, these kids have a big leg up considering they have more experience and often had an above-AP curriculum that was deeper than community college math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Math acceleration isn’t valued at liberal arts colleges. This poster isn’t wrong.

Disagree. Any selective college values students taking the most accelerated courses available, but there are always other considerations too.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Math acceleration isn’t valued at liberal arts colleges. This poster isn’t wrong.

Disagree. Any selective college values students taking the most accelerated courses available, but there are always other considerations too.

Parent myth, misunderstanding of what "rigorous courseload" checkbox means. They just want to see the honors/AP variants of whatever class the student is in.

Colleges aren't admitting kids based on whatever shenanigans their parents pulled in middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is an equity minion troll on this forum that downplays the benefits of math acceleration. Usually the poster did algebra1 in 6th, Calc BC in 9th, and Discrete math in 12th, but still not get admitted into Ivys, T10, Princeton, MIT, etc. The troll then replies as another poster saying Princeton admitted their child with just Calc AB in 12th, concluding math acceleration did not help at all, everyone should stick to grade level math.

How many here actually have their students accelerate in math on an average and what is the math they graduate HS with? Does it help college admissions especially for STEM majors.

I am no equity minion and believe that kid should take the highest math they are capable of. That said, I can tell you that my kid finished HS with Calc BC in 10th and multiple semester of college math all As, high scores etc, and was WL and rejected at all T10 / Ivy. Was coming from a magnet school and doing CS but goes to show that there are many factors in this.

CS/eng major for college admissions is brutal, especially for white/asian males from this area. Doesn't matter if they take the highest level math class or get a perfect SAT score. It's just brutal.

It does matter though, looking from inside ivies/T10 within Engineering : the kids all took the highest math available at their HS. For many kids that is Multivariable or Linear or both after BC Calc in 11th. The ones that do not have that took whatever their HS highest was, usually BC or AB or IB calculus. Not any of them took less than the highest track offered.
In other words, the highest path offered at the HS matters to AOs and is necessary, but it is not sufficient: in many HSs especially prep schools and magnet publics, 1/4-1/3 have post-BC -math on their resumes. And yet most of these schools do not have the entire top-path 1/4-1/3 getting into T10s. Who gets in is determined by the rest of the resume, on top of and in addition to being in the high schools highest math.

For non-stem/non-Engineering school within an ivy, highest math still may matter since all students are allowed to choose any major, but not as much.

This is gunner nonsense. Elite AOs don't care about your community college math classes.

Who said anything about community college math? These schools with 1/4-1/3 post-BC are high schools that offer those classes at the high school. This is standard practice at the top prep day schools in NY, NJ, Boston, and other areas. For kids in schools like that, to have a shot at ivy/T10 one needs to be in the top math group. Plus, once there, these kids have a big leg up considering they have more experience and often had an above-AP curriculum that was deeper than community college math.

High school MVC and LA is community college level, not Ivy level.

[Anonymous]

Many SLAC's favor kids who have been playing baseball or soccer or swimming or football since the age of 5.

Now when academics do the same thing, suddenly it is wrong? Definitely some subtle shade being thrown at particular communities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Math acceleration isn’t valued at liberal arts colleges. This poster isn’t wrong.

Disagree. Any selective college values students taking the most accelerated courses available, but there are always other considerations too.

Parent myth, misunderstanding of what "rigorous courseload" checkbox means. They just want to see the honors/AP variants of whatever class the student is in.

Colleges aren't admitting kids based on whatever shenanigans their parents pulled in middle school.

Not a “parent myth” if heard from current or former AOs. There is no one strategy that works for all students or all schools, but the idea that a little acceleration generally counts the same as a lot of acceleration is false. A lot of acceleration might add less than other things, like better grades, LORs, or ECs, but that’s a different statement. If all else is truly equal, a lot of acceleration is better than a little, whether in a classroom or out. Hence “spiky” kids having advantages over the merely “well rounded.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d say the number of kids in accelerated math because the parents want them there to differentiate them is far, far greater than the number who are there because they legitimately need the acceleration.

If they had qualifying scores then they are legitimately there, parent wants are irrelevant

Just because you CAN do something, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a good idea or that you should. It can be beneficial for someone to get a deeper understanding of grade level math than to move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is an equity minion troll on this forum that downplays the benefits of math acceleration. Usually the poster did algebra1 in 6th, Calc BC in 9th, and Discrete math in 12th, but still not get admitted into Ivys, T10, Princeton, MIT, etc. The troll then replies as another poster saying Princeton admitted their child with just Calc AB in 12th, concluding math acceleration did not help at all, everyone should stick to grade level math.

How many here actually have their students accelerate in math on an average and what is the math they graduate HS with? Does it help college admissions especially for STEM majors.

I am no equity minion and believe that kid should take the highest math they are capable of. That said, I can tell you that my kid finished HS with Calc BC in 10th and multiple semester of college math all As, high scores etc, and was WL and rejected at all T10 / Ivy. Was coming from a magnet school and doing CS but goes to show that there are many factors in this.

CS/eng major for college admissions is brutal, especially for white/asian males from this area. Doesn't matter if they take the highest level math class or get a perfect SAT score. It's just brutal.

It does matter though, looking from inside ivies/T10 within Engineering : the kids all took the highest math available at their HS. For many kids that is Multivariable or Linear or both after BC Calc in 11th. The ones that do not have that took whatever their HS highest was, usually BC or AB or IB calculus. Not any of them took less than the highest track offered.
In other words, the highest path offered at the HS matters to AOs and is necessary, but it is not sufficient: in many HSs especially prep schools and magnet publics, 1/4-1/3 have post-BC -math on their resumes. And yet most of these schools do not have the entire top-path 1/4-1/3 getting into T10s. Who gets in is determined by the rest of the resume, on top of and in addition to being in the high schools highest math.

For non-stem/non-Engineering school within an ivy, highest math still may matter since all students are allowed to choose any major, but not as much.

This is gunner nonsense. Elite AOs don't care about your community college math classes.

Who said anything about community college math? These schools with 1/4-1/3 post-BC are high schools that offer those classes at the high school. This is standard practice at the top prep day schools in NY, NJ, Boston, and other areas. For kids in schools like that, to have a shot at ivy/T10 one needs to be in the top math group. Plus, once there, these kids have a big leg up considering they have more experience and often had an above-AP curriculum that was deeper than community college math.

At least in my experience- PP with 2 kids currently at Ivies- this is not accurate…one kid not in the highest math group….studying STEM. Just my experience. I do not understand the obsession with acceleration.