Is there such a thing as too much acceleration?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess my main question is, what math is your kid going to take for the next three years? I guess BC, then ... what else?

You'll want to have a plan for him taking DE classes or something else.

Your friend was a little rude -- it's not hurting anyone that he's two or three years ahead in math.

NP, but he doesn’t necessarily need to keep taking math every year. He already has enough math credits to graduate HS. He could take BC in 10th, MV in 11th, and maybe a second AP science classes as a senior, or AP computer science or something else.

This is one thing I would not follow! It is a big detriment to your application if you don’t have core subjects every year. I worked at a t30 admissions office for a few years out of college, and this was the first thing an AO would evaluate.

That’s for normal kids, not for kids that have been taking and getting high school credits since 5th grade. OPs kid started high school with 4 credits in math already. Once you’ve taken all the AP classes (and even past AP if offered, such as MV, linear algebra, or discrete math) available for a particular subject you can move on.

This is true for all students. You need to be taking math all 4 years or it will be a detriment to your application.

15:26 poster, reiterating that there are no such absolutes. While DC took 4 years of math in high school, DC’s 9th grade Calc BC classmate only took 3. Both kids got into the same HYPSM early.

[Anonymous]

Anecdotal, but every kid I’ve known who took calc in 9th either dropped math forever before senior year or wound up doing an engineering degree at a state school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anecdotal, but every kid I’ve known who took calc in 9th either dropped math forever before senior year or wound up doing an engineering degree at a state school.

oh god. that's depressing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anecdotal, but every kid I’ve known who took calc in 9th either dropped math forever before senior year or wound up doing an engineering degree at a state school.

Our county requires four years of math. The issue is not all schools have higher math. What’s wrong with a state school? My smart kid prefers it as we can afford it and pay for grad school. Not every kid wants an ivy league degree

[Anonymous]

my son was like that. By the time he graduated high school he had taken linear Algebra and Calculus 3. He loves math and is double major with one being math. I think schools value it and so do employers for internships. He is a freshman and just secured a summer internship, which is highly unusual for a rising sophomore. He technically a rusinf junior due to the amount do credits he came in with, but he’s doing a double major in two areas that are unrelated so he’s going to graduate in the standard 4 years.

I did not push him. He just happens to like math. He even works at his college as a math tutor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anecdotal, but every kid I’ve known who took calc in 9th either dropped math forever before senior year or wound up doing an engineering degree at a state school.

Anecdotal, but my kid took high level math and by senior year had to travel to George Mason for his Linear Algebra class. He indeed does go to a state school (UVA) and is a double major in math and another subject and wants to go into quant finance. He already has an internship this summer as a rising sophomore and no doubt it is his math accomplishments that has made him stand out. In addition to his accelerated math he has won a good amount of math competitions.

He has always been surrounded by top math students and his anecdotal experience has been the complete opposite of yours. These kids are insanely competitive.

[Anonymous]

If your kid is happy and excelling, it’s great!

Just encourage him or her to try other things, too. Lots of other things! You want your DC to take both AP English classes in high school: AP Language and Composition (non-fiction) and AP Literature. Both are excellent classes and good for overall education as well as college admissions.

For college admissions, they need to be MEMORABLE!!! This means they need something different that makes them stand out. Math will not be that thing. It just won’t. Nor will an instrument or a sport.

Encourage your kid to try other things and find something completely different than math that they truly enjoy. And encourage them to do that AND to do math. Ideally, something fun/interesting. Juggling … comedy … cartoon drawing … yoga … and then do something with it (volunteer at library story time …. perform for elderly communities or children’s parties etc.)

You want to find something light-hearted and unusual they can slide into their application in addition to their genuine passion for math. This way they are more likely to be remembered as more than just another “accelerated math kid.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anecdotal, but every kid I’ve known who took calc in 9th either dropped math forever before senior year or wound up doing an engineering degree at a state school.

Anecdotal, but my kid took high level math and by senior year had to travel to George Mason for his Linear Algebra class. He indeed does go to a state school (UVA) and is a double major in math and another subject and wants to go into quant finance. He already has an internship this summer as a rising sophomore and no doubt it is his math accomplishments that has made him stand out. In addition to his accelerated math he has won a good amount of math competitions.

He has always been surrounded by top math students and his anecdotal experience has been the complete opposite of yours. These kids are insanely competitive.

Your kid is also at a state school, so I don’t see how that experience is “the complete opposite” of mine. There are some great engineering programs at state schools. But some people on here seem to think that extreme math acceleration, by itself, makes a student a shoo-in for Ivy plus schools, or even HYPSM, and my point (and yours too) is that many accelerated math students wind up at their state flagship.

[Anonymous]

So much spite from parents whose kids didn't have the intellectual capability of taking Calculus as a freshman.

Now it's a bad thing a kid is great at math and takes linear eq or diff equations in high school!

How sad. To the OP, if your kid is great in math, enjoys it, then there is no such thing as "too much acceleration". Just be prepared for too much envy and resentment.

[Anonymous]

If he is happy and really gets the content it is fine.

Our DD is a junior but will have completed Linear Algebra and Differential Equations by graduation. She may or may not end up as a math major. Instead, she’s using this opportunity to figure out if she truly loves math. If she discovers she doesn’t want to be a math major that is 100% a fine outcome. If she ends up retaking each of those math classes to double down on her base when she goes to college, that is also fine. If she skips directly to 300 level math classes, that is fine too.

She isn’t in advanced math for some ivy or status dream. She’s in advanced math for her own reasons.

OP, here is my real advice to you. Your kid is your kid. I think you know the nuanced context around your kid much better than anyone else, so trust yourself. If he decides he doesn’t love math in the process this may have offered a unique learning opportunity to figure that out. Kids can have more than one interest and be good at more than one thing. We should all encourage our kids to lean in hard to discover if they truly want to devote their lives to a specific field. But as parents and a society we should also be ok if the answer is no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anecdotal, but every kid I’ve known who took calc in 9th either dropped math forever before senior year or wound up doing an engineering degree at a state school.

There are thirteen state schools in the usnwr list of top 20 engineering programs. That's pretty good.

But even top 150 engineering programs are good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Advanced is fine, but your high school needs to have resources. Ours did calc bc in freshman year, but he never missed a year of math, and took MVC, Linear Algebra, and Differential Equations afterward. He’s now at Harvard and isn’t even the most ahead in his friend group.

My kid's high school "ran out of resources" so she took online classes through MIT. She really enjoyed them and did well in the class. I highly recommend it. I recall it was free if you didn't want the certificate at the end of the class and $100 if you do. We paid the $100. Totally worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is happy and excelling, it’s great!

Just encourage him or her to try other things, too. Lots of other things! You want your DC to take both AP English classes in high school: AP Language and Composition (non-fiction) and AP Literature. Both are excellent classes and good for overall education as well as college admissions.

For college admissions, they need to be MEMORABLE!!! This means they need something different that makes them stand out. Math will not be that thing. It just won’t. Nor will an instrument or a sport.

Encourage your kid to try other things and find something completely different than math that they truly enjoy. And encourage them to do that AND to do math. Ideally, something fun/interesting. Juggling … comedy … cartoon drawing … yoga … and then do something with it (volunteer at library story time …. perform for elderly communities or children’s parties etc.)

You want to find something light-hearted and unusual they can slide into their application in addition to their genuine passion for math. This way they are more likely to be remembered as more than just another “accelerated math kid.”

this is great advice.
And something we were told over and over again.
your kid can still be a math kid. they just need to be "more" than a math kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is your child a math prodigy? If yes, and you have other evidence for it, it will help your admission. If not, I would say that calculus AB in 9th grade is too much acceleration resulting in superficial grasp of the material.

I'm not sure what "evidence" you mean- DS doesn't do math competitions because it's not his thing. but he does many problems a day for fun. he likes experimenting with topics outside of class. also, he has an A in class and aces every test, so I think he has a prety strong grasp of the material.

this means nothing, sorry.
do you have any math background? it's hard for parents with no background to judge how good their kid is in math.

Your comment means nothing because you have no basis from which to judge the parents qualifications.

[Anonymous]

It's funny reading this thread, I think that Asian DVM parents might be even more prestige obsessed than Asian bay area parents.

DC's private feeder offered up through MV/LA but actually discouraged most kids from taking AB as freshman (a very high score on entrance exam and typically come from a small group of middle schools). They also did not count most DE courses towards graduation requirements because they said flat out that high acceleration DIDN'T MATTER and prevented kids from properly filling themselves out. They send alot of kids to the T10 every year.