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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Math acceleration isn’t valued at liberal arts colleges. This poster isn’t wrong.[/quote]

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

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. [/quote]

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.”[/quote]

Wondering if you're the same person who turns around and cries when you find out that someone with "lower stats" got your kid's spot at an Ivy. [/quote]

Very happy with where my kids got admitted, but then they were in accelerated math. [/quote]

And [b]preparation to perform well[/b] in non-introductory courses was as important to us as the college itself. [/quote]

Bright kids don’t need to take math classes twice to perform well. [/quote]

Being placed into more advanced college classes doesn’t mean anything was taken twice. Although schools that don’t allow placement out of their intro courses are sometimes the ones with the most advanced students; their “intro courses” just go deeper, covering more complex problems and/or proofs, at a pace not possible if seeing the material for the very first time. [/quote]

Wrong, more mature students can handle that pace the first time round. It's exactly the accelerated HS students who are more suited to grinding out problem sets than proofs.[/quote]The students who do best in these proof-based courses are accelerated to the point that they did real proofs in highschool. The ones in the middle were only moderately accelerated, so they know some of the material and can focus on the new material, the abstractions, and proofs. The ones who do the worst are those who were not accelerated - those who got a 5 in AP precalc or AB or, in some contexts, BC and told by their schools that it's enough for college.[/quote]

You've already worked the kids with a five in AP pre-calc into the firmament, nice. The first cohort is getting their scores like now, right?

Nope, the game starts fresh in college, kids who look good on paper crumble, others launch.[/quote] Exceptions exist, but my generalization is much more accurate than yours.[/quote]

I don't fully disagree, but your pat hierarchy is a piece of pure fiction. The sort happens young in math because it's easy to develop a taste early (unlike writing that is slow to mature). But in the current STEM climate, it does not follow that everyone who accelerates was sorted correctly, or that when it comes to acceleration more is better. The more important aspects of mathematical thinking also kick in at an older age, so there's a second sort.

The current complaint is that math departments are being overwhelmed with interest. The number of majors has ballooned, the classes are flooded, yet they are a chore to teach. What used to be a self-selected group with deep interest, is now just trophy hunters who want to get the grade and get out. The parents shoehorning ever younger kids into BC, are playing a role, and it's already a well beaten path.[/quote]

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