Anonymous
Post 08/02/2025 11:16     Subject: No rigorous high school science program - help!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Calm down. She hasn’t even started high school yet. You have a long time to go. Get through 9th grade and see where she’s at. My senior didn’t even take any calculus class and has many colleges to pick from.


Not in engineering.


That’s correct. My kid has no desire to be an engineer and is not applying for that. Since you brought it up, I actually did go to school for engineering so I know exactly what it entails. Still, I stick to the point that OP should not be freaking out over anything when her daughter had not had her first day of 9th day yet. She has no idea what path she will end up taking.

If you have a senior, you know there will be options later for academics outside of traditional school and that your kids will surprise you in many ways over the next few years (both good and bad) in ways you never expected, in many areas of life.
Anonymous
Post 08/02/2025 07:54     Subject: No rigorous high school science program - help!
My kid just graduated from HS that offered no AP science and math only up to Calc AB. His sr yr he took AP Chem and Calc BC on line.
I actually think this helped him in college admissions bc it showed the lengths to which he would go to get more rigorous education. (DE was not an option. Additionally the classes he took at community college in the past were not well taught.)
Anonymous
Post 08/02/2025 07:40     Subject: No rigorous high school science program - help!
OP why do you live somewhere that doesn't value education? That's the sob story you need to put into the essay
Anonymous
Post 08/02/2025 07:14     Subject: No rigorous high school science program - help!
Also OP, look at the f=ma exam for a way to demonstrate excellence in physics. Calculus isn't required, although it can help. A good book to study would be University Physics or the blue mechanics book by morin.

You don't need anything besides algebra 1 to understand basic calculus: https://www.3blue1brown.com/lessons/essence-of-calculus
A good book on calculus is the self teaching guide by Kleppner
Anonymous
Post 08/02/2025 07:10     Subject: No rigorous high school science program - help!
Anonymous wrote:Right now she's enrolled in honors bio and honors geometry, so her track is honors bio > honors chemistry > honors physics and honors geometry, honors algebra 2, honors pre-calc, AP Calc AB. It's the last year of science we're struggling with. The community college an hour away tops out at "integral calculus."
They should have physics for scientists and engineers. What's the course description for each of the CC's calculus courses?
Anonymous
Post 08/02/2025 06:23     Subject: No rigorous high school science program - help!
My school did not offer *any* classes labeled as Honors or AP. So I had zero AP courses.

I took Chem, Bio, Physics and the highest Math available ("Intro Calc"). I was accepted into multiple good engineering programs, for example offers from both Princeton and Duke.

If one takes "most rigorous" from the set of *available* classes at one's HS, then most engineering programs will understand and say that is good enough.

In OP's case, take at least AP Bio, Chemistry, Physics, AP Calc. If there are AP courses for US History, Government, or English then try also to take those also.
Anonymous
Post 08/02/2025 00:01     Subject: No rigorous high school science program - help!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Right now she's enrolled in honors bio and honors geometry, so her track is honors bio > honors chemistry > honors physics and honors geometry, honors algebra 2, honors pre-calc, AP Calc AB. It's the last year of science we're struggling with. The community college an hour away tops out at "integral calculus."

Ideally, any community college is going to offer calculus I, calculus II (integral calculus), calculus III (multivariate calculus), and differential equations. Anything high than that is considered upper level and can only be taken at a 4-year university. Chances are that the community college does offer all of those classes but perhaps calls them something else. Your kid should be fine entering college with calculus I (AB) completed. Many universities very much prefer the students take higher math in-house to match their curriculum.


That's cute. I used to think the entire US cared about education, too.
Anonymous
Post 08/01/2025 18:11     Subject: No rigorous high school science program - help!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Right now she's enrolled in honors bio and honors geometry, so her track is honors bio > honors chemistry > honors physics and honors geometry, honors algebra 2, honors pre-calc, AP Calc AB. It's the last year of science we're struggling with. The community college an hour away tops out at "integral calculus."

There's a good chance the community college offers virtual classes. While they are less than ideal learning environments, they are still an option to show prospective universities that she has the right stuff.


Depending on your budget, there is also no reason why you would need to pick the community college an hour away. She could take an online course from any one of a number of universities and colleges around the country that make their classes open to high school students.

Integral calculus is BC. Taking a 2 semester calculus sequence in senior year, instead of or in addition to AB at her school, or using summer school or an online class to get ahead, taking AB in 11th, and then Calc 2 and 3 at a different online school in senior year, would all make her stand out as someone who went beyond what was offered.

Similarly, if her school has space for electives in the schedule, something like

9th -- Honors Bio,
10th -- Honors Chemistry
11th -- Honors Physics and APES
12th -- AP Bio, and DE (virtual) Physics

would also make her stand out.


+1
Anonymous
Post 08/01/2025 17:24     Subject: No rigorous high school science program - help!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Right now she's enrolled in honors bio and honors geometry, so her track is honors bio > honors chemistry > honors physics and honors geometry, honors algebra 2, honors pre-calc, AP Calc AB. It's the last year of science we're struggling with. The community college an hour away tops out at "integral calculus."

There's a good chance the community college offers virtual classes. While they are less than ideal learning environments, they are still an option to show prospective universities that she has the right stuff.


Depending on your budget, there is also no reason why you would need to pick the community college an hour away. She could take an online course from any one of a number of universities and colleges around the country that make their classes open to high school students.

Integral calculus is BC. Taking a 2 semester calculus sequence in senior year, instead of or in addition to AB at her school, or using summer school or an online class to get ahead, taking AB in 11th, and then Calc 2 and 3 at a different online school in senior year, would all make her stand out as someone who went beyond what was offered.

Similarly, if her school has space for electives in the schedule, something like

9th -- Honors Bio,
10th -- Honors Chemistry
11th -- Honors Physics and APES
12th -- AP Bio, and DE (virtual) Physics

would also make her stand out.
Anonymous
Post 08/01/2025 17:17     Subject: No rigorous high school science program - help!
Anonymous wrote:Colleges will not penalize her for not taking classes her school doesn’t offer. It’s not her fault she has to go to this school.


Bingo