<p>I always hear that colleges look for students to take 4 years of math in High School, I've also heard that classes taken before high school don't count for this.</p>
<p>What if a non-STEM student makes it through BC calc as a junior, and there are no more options at the school, not even AP stats? Would colleges expect the student to look for outside options? What if the student takes some college courses, but decides not to take math as one of those courses? Would that be held against him?</p>
<p>I ask because my child keeps asking if he can take Geometry this summer (before 9th), and I'm trying to figure out the pros and cons. He is definitely not a math lover, but is feeling competitive with his best friend who took Geometry this year in 8th.</p>
<p>My D, now a college sophomore, was in about the same position as your son. She took AP Calc AB as a junior. The high school did not offer Calc BC. She did not take any math senior year. The high school offered (maybe they were required to) to pay for a Calc 2 class at the local community college and allow my D to leave during the school day to take the class. She chose not to as there were other classes she wanted to take at the high school.</p>
<p>It did not hurt her in her college admissions. She is pre med and did need to take Calc 2 at college, so it would have benefitted her to take it while in high school. It also benefitted her to be among her hs peers and friends. </p>
<p>I emailed college admissions counselors and asked them your same question. They stated that as long as a student completes all of the math classes offered by a high school, then the number written by the questio asking number of math classes taken does not matter in the admissions process.</p>
<p>My son had the same situation. Our state requires 4 years math to graduate. Any high school math taken in middle school doesn’t count. He took AP Calc in his junior year. He was told that he could take either AP Statistics or AP Physics for his additional math credit. Is physics available for you?</p>
<p>If your child gets through calc BC early, I don’t think any college will have any problems with the requirement. Some schools do have other options. STAT counts, and some allow you to attend college math classes free or at a reduced rate if you exhaust all school options.</p>
<p>The High School he wants to attend requires students to either have 4 years of math, including Algebra and Geometry, or one course after Algebra 2. If he takes Geometry in the summer, he’ll have met his math requirement after sophomore year. </p>
<p>As far as physics they offer one year of physics which is neither honors nor AP. But it counts as a science, not a math. </p>
<p>They also offer a partnership with a very good university. If it turns out he discovers a love of STEM (don’t think this will happen, but you never know) he could take Calc 2 and Physics there. Knowing my kid, he’ll want to study something like Ancient History or Political Science.</p>
<p>Yes, it may count as four years of HS math but why rush through. If he loves math so much that he will want to take some college math during senior year at a local cc than do it. If not, then why rush it. When he goes into college and then takes a college math class he may feel he is rusty in math if he had not taken any math class in senior year.</p>
<p>Any sensible college would consider a student based on the highest level completed. Since the normal 4th year of high school math in the US is precalculus, a student who completes calculus should be fine in terms of “4 years of math” at any sensible college, especially if s/he exhausted the offerings at his/her high school. (Of course, there may be colleges which are not sensible in this type of situation.)</p>
<p>It does look like it is not an issue for your high school, since your high school just requires completion of a course higher than algebra 2 (i.e. precalculus or calculus).</p>
<p>Note that if he wants to study political science or other social studies subjects, a strong enough background in math that enables a good understanding of statistics is definitely useful.</p>
<p>I don’t think I’d support my non-math-loving kid spending a summer taking math just because some other kid is a year ahead.</p>
<p>Isn’t there something he’d genuinely enjoy doing over the summer, just for himself, that speaks to his own interests? Compete in the arena he enjoys and wants to compete in, don’t play catchup with some kid…is how I’d counsel my daughter, anyway.</p>
<p>One of D’s friends in 8th grade is being allowed to take geometry now and have it count towards high school credit. He’s in a Seattle public school willing to make accommodations for him (not in the gifted program though, long story). He’s looking to transfer into D’s school, where there is at least one 8th grader doing the same thing. At D’s school they work with the closest CC to have the kids take classes-not just math-as needed if they max out. It’s part of Running Start and it’s free. </p>
<p>The colleges seemed very willing to accept last year’s graduates, some of them having done the above in math.</p>
<p>You’d think a child begging to take math in summer school loved math, wouldn’t you? Actually he really doesn’t like it much at all. </p>
<p>At our current school, they’re big into math acceleration. They have many sixth graders taking Algebra 1. We moved into this district late and he ended up placing into Math 6 in 6th grade, which seemed right to me but offended him. It bothers him that the other kids who are in his honors English and History classes are ahead of him in math, so he has decided to catch up by going to summer school. I think he’s also hoping this will mean that he’s “done” earlier. </p>
<p>As I said, if he changes his mind there are options for taking math senior year, college classes, online classes etc . . .</p>
<p>It’s a little more complicated than just wanting to catch up, but that’s a major factor. I think it’s also important to him that he prove it to himself in some way. </p>
<p>I had additionally said no to the math idea, for the reason you gave and others, but now I’m wavering. He’s hoping to go to a local arts school for high school. The school has a reputation for being fantastic artistically, and not so good academically. In contrast, our local high school is a major pressure cooker/AP factory. I like the idea of him taking as much math in our current district as possible, simply because I believe the quality of instruction will likely be higher. I also, frankly, like the idea of keeping him busy while I’m at work this summer. Finally, I in general tend to err on the side of letting him make his own choices.</p>
<p>If it’s what he wants and it makes sense,why not? But there are lots of summer programs and classes out there that could keep him busy that he might enjoy more…maybe even that the accelerated math kids haven’t done ;)</p>
<p>I would ask the school how that class is reported on their transcript. Our high school has a similar option for geometry and it is reported on their transcript as a freshman year class. Our kids have 5 years of math on their transcripts as a result.</p>
<p>I just saw D’s transcript yesterday (she’s a soph). Her 8th grade Algebra course is on her HS transcript. It shows that she took it in middle school, but it counts just like a high school class and the grade is averaged into her GPA too.</p>
<p>The transcript thing varies by school - my daughter’s HS math class taken while in Middle School did not appear on her HS transcript. However, when the colleges look at the transcript they will realize that the prerequisite classes were taken before HS.</p>
<p>It must. She came into HS with 2 credits - one for Algebra and one for her two years of MS Spanish which to our HS equates to one year of HS Spanish I guess.</p>
<p>I know that our local HS puts HS math classes taken in MS on the transcript as if they were taken in 9th grade so if he goes there his transcript would say that he took 11 classes in 9th. I also figure colleges will know the truth. But what they tell us is that they need Math all 4 years, not just 4 years of math. That is, that a kid who takes Algebra 1 in 9th and stops after precalc in 12th is OK but a kid who takes Algebra 1 in 7th and quits math after 10th will get dinged as lazy. Is that wrong?</p>
<p>The kids that quit math after 10th grade will only get dinged as lazy if there was more math for them to take. If there is no more, then what can the kid do?</p>
<p>Do what is best for your kid. And when he is applying for colleges have the guidance counselor write a note of explanation if he took all of the available math before 12th grade.</p>
<p>bajamm–with the explosion of DE classes around the country, kids that exhaust high school classes are expected to take college level classes. A lot of districts have gone to this to save money.</p>
<p>At our base high school, if you go beyond Calc BC – you may take the advance math courses at the local college. At DS’ HS – they offer up to linear algebra and differential equations.</p>