Would appreciate some advice for my junior who is picking her classes for next year. She thinks she is interested in business-- both entrepreneurship and finance. Not high stats, your average, awesome kid. 3.7, activities list means hanging out with friends and staring at her phone. Just keeping it real here, people.
She started this year in AP Calc AB but dropped down to Calc. She was on the fence about staying-- meh teacher, fast past and was struggling. The Calc class is slow and a bit boring, but she is learning the material.
She is thinking of taking both AP Stats and AP Cal AB next year. She thinks 2 math classes will “look good” but her school offers Econ and CS, which are both kind of interesting to her. Any thoughts much appreciated! Particularly interested in schools on the west coast/pnw that have strong business programs.
AP Stats typically doesn’t move the needle. It’s still useful though. It’s considered one of the easier AP’s. Is the stats teacher phenomenal? AP Calc would probably help more. Look at the school’s AP transfer policy. Not all colleges accept AP stats.
Taking a few classes that she finds interesting would keep her engaged. Applying to schools and writing essays sucks up time. My sons cut back on AP classes senior year.
AP Stats is more aligned with business with a lot of business schools offering courses in business analytics. As for schools in pacific north west (i know you did not ask) both UW-Foster and oregon would be good options.
I would also look at the AP transfers for Calc AB. Some schools want 4or 5’s. Some will take 3’s. She’ll most likely have to take business Calc at a minimum.
Maybe take AP stats and wait to take business Calc in college. Take other AP’s senior year.
As for college recommendations I’m not up on pnw business schools but UW previously mentioned would be good. You can look at Newsweek rankings or Poets and Quants for ideas.
Run the NPC’s to see if they’re affordable. A 3.7 GPA is good but for top business schools like Berkeley, especially OOS it might be a tough admit. They’re very competitive. There’s a reason why many kids go to their in-state flagships…easier to get in and cost. Remind her that in-state schools will not be HS 2.0.
Thanks! Berkeley is definitely out of reach. Thinking a tier below that and possibly smaller more LAC. She would hopefully get in to UW, but def not as a direct admit to Foster. Her thinking is that 2 maths will maker her a stronger candidate, but I think she will come around.
Do you think Calc jr year and AP Calc AB sr seems like a natural progression? Assuming the regular Calc doesn’t give her the foundation to skip AB and go into BC,
If she struggled with calc to where she had to drop down, i think you are getting a bit ahead of it in regards to BC.
Whether you go to UW or SDSU for business - or WSU or Boise State - for 95% of kids is not going to impact their lives, etc.
Tons of great b school educations out there.
Don’t know her test score and other things - ECs ,essays, LORs - but a 3.7 UW is not going to get you into the name brand you want unless there’s a 1400+ SAT accompanying it - and that might not be enough.
I promise - your daughter - will have lots of great options but don’t put her in a class (BC) that will likely be over her head.
btw - even engineers aren’t expected to be at BC.
Since she’s not looking at top business schools I would take either calc AB or stats not both. Pick whichever one has the best teacher. Fill the rest of the classes with what interests her. It will make for a more positive year and probably better grades. Good luck.
thanks, makes sense! the best teacher comment is not lost on me. this year’s math teacher just went on leave for the rest of the year. it’s really hard right now for everyone, but i especially feel for the teachers. they managed to bring a woman back from retirement to teach the class, but her heart is not in it.
Admission to UW’s Foster is very competitive. S graduated from UW Foster’s undergraduate business school in 2018. He was a freshman at UW and in his sophomore year, applied to Foster as a junior. That time, Foster looked at GPA and a writing assessment test. The average GPA of admitted students was 3.6 to 3.7. Because Foster is renowned by recruiters and many Foster graduates have good jobs, I believe Foster has gotten more competitive since then. S is now a CPA who works in a large company. Your daughter should have a backup plan if things do not work out as planned.
@annegp Additionally, calculus is a required course for Foster. I recall either 1 or 2 quarters. Credit for passing the AP test is counted. S passed the AP test and received credit, but he decided to retake the calculus courses at UW to “boost” his GPA to better his chances for admissions to Foster. He took 3 quarters of calculus and an additional quarter in linear algebra, thinking he might go into engineering.
Thanks! Sounds like things worked out well for your son. How was his start at UW, was he able to get the classes he wanted? She would not get into foster as a direct admit and I don’t think she would even try. UW has gotten a lot more competitive overall. She will have to cast a wider net for sure.
His start was fine and generally he was able to get the classes he wanted. He took 5 years to graduate primarily because new requirements were implemented requiring an extra year of classes to qualify for the CPA exam and license. This also gave him an extra summer for summer internships. He had 4 different internships in the 5 years at UW and the last 2 were with Amazon and a Big 4 accounting firm, both resulting in full time job offers after graduation. We were very please with Foster Business School even though he was admitted in his junior year.