Reply to Math track at TJ and college admissions

Forum Index » Advanced Academic Programs (AAP)

Reply to "Math track at TJ and college admissions"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What matters is that your child took hard classes that were available at their school, that is going to be different based on the school and the school district. FCPS is unusual in that it allows kids to start HS math in 7th grade, now testing 6th grade. Most places in the country see Algebra 1 in 8th grade as the accelerated track, very few places in the US allow for a regular pathway to Algebra 1 in 7th grade. Colleges are developing and posting baseline standards to take into consideration the norm across the country. The norm across the country is to complete Calculus as a senior, BC being the most rigorous Calc class. As much as people on this board and in this area complain about the schools, kids at FCPS have access to many more classes and programs then their counterparts across the country. Colleges know that and are taking that into consideration when reviewing an applicant from TJ or McLean or Langley or South Lakes or Lewis. They know what is on offer and it is above the baseline that exists for most schools in the country.

[b]That said, at schools where there are other options, like pretty much every HS in FCPS, a strong math student is expected to have taken Calc BC but the strongest math students, the ones who took Algebra before 8th grade, are expected to have multi-variate and linear algebra when applying to top STEM programs because they are available at the school. [/b]

A student applying to a top school who is interested in the humanities is likely fine with Calc AB and or AP Stats. A student who took Algebra 1 in 7th grade and is interested in the humanities should have both, they don't need multi-variate calculus because they are not interested in engineering or other STEM programs. They need more APs in English, Social Studies, History and the other humanities.

All of the kids applying to top schools need AP History, English, Social Studies, and Science classes on top of the math classes. A STEM kid doesn't need every AP History/English/Social Studies class but they do need at least one in each category and then AP Science and Math classes across the board.[/quote]

There’s not a lot of evidence for it. Multivariable and Linear Algebra at TJ and other magnet schools are high school elective classes, won’t even get the same credit as community college courses.

Students that take Multivariable and linear algebra usually have higher GPA, work harder, have better extracurriculars, which make them stronger applicants. It’s not the light version of these classes that get them in.

There are numerous posts every year of students with 15+ AP and DE classes shut out of top 20. If these classes were that important they get in, but that’s not happening.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics