I couldn’t agree with @JanieWalker more. My kid taking AB as a freshman rather than BC was the best decision ever. We fit nicely into the circumstances described by @Happytimes2001–my kid was a beneficiary/victim of early access and overly pushy parents :), but when push came to shove, we knew when to back off, and for our kid, slowing down the express train was the right move.
In post #0, the OP said that the student chose BC, but the OP (parent) wants to hold him back.
Since he is three grade levels ahead in math, it seems like you are underestimating how good he is in math, at least for high school math up to and including calculus BC.
Most students properly placed that far ahead in math find all high school math including calculus BC to be easy A courses. Slowing him down to AB is unlikely to significantly reduce the amount of time spent (there will probably be similar volumes of homework, but more on each topic over fewer topics). The exception would be if he was pushed ahead beyond his actual math skill and subsequently struggled in algebra, geometry, and/or precalculus, but you have not mentioned that being an issue.
I agree with the above. If the student is advanced in math because of his math aptitude rather than parental push, it wouldn’t make much a difference whether he takes BC or AB. He’d do equally well, so it makes sense to take the more challenging course.
“his math teachers are supportive of this advanced path”
This might be key. If the teacher is the sort willing to work with him, as needed, and he’s able to ask for support (self advocate,) it can make a difference. In turn, that can include a fine LoR.
There’s nothing wrong with an “eyes wide open” approach, as long as it’s balanced.
This isn’t about Stanford, per se. It’s a combo, imo, of him looking ahead but not knowing his future college options and wanting to challenge himself. Many younger kids focus on a sibling’s school, not knowing other names.
You can always suggest other fine, large universities- casually introduce them. Imo, it might be early to advocate swapping what he (thinks he) sees in S for a small LAC. There’s time for that later, lots of growth yet to occur.
@SFNewYorker , is it possible for your son to start in the BC class and then switch to AB if needed? That’s what my D23 did last year. She very much wanted to do BC, so she did…until a month went by and though she had an A average in the course, the time she was putting into it was excessive and she could not balance everything else in her schedule in a healthy way. Once she cut back to AB, the balance was perfect. She is advanced in math…and she is advanced in other areas too and has a lot of time-consuming ECs which she cares deeply about. But she did have the opportunity to try BC with her schedule and find out. Can your son do the same? D23 still has plenty of time to take more advanced math after this year via community colleges and summer programs.
Agree with several posts above. The kids for whom math comes easily won’t find a difference in any math class. They will fly through. They think mathematically and so can see an example and extrapolate.
I think it’s a good sign that the teachers support it and he wants to do it. Sounds like pure math aptitude.
Thanks everyone for your input. Despite all my concerns, it seems that my son’s HS changed rules due to COVID-related scheduling challenges and has made up our decisions for him. Noramlly, the HS allows students to switch from BC to AB but not this year. So it’s BC all the way and we will have to just deal with whatever happens.
My D22 wanted to stick with BC her junior year even though she struggled. I wanted her to drop to AB. My husband said let her stick with BC which she wanted to do. My husband who is a successful financier said he learned so much from taking BC while he wasn’t a math genius.
D’s final grade for BC was B. That pulled her GPA down a lot. We will see soon how her college admissions process goes.
(BTW, multi variable this year is a breeze for her.)