Okay so when I was in 8th grade, math wasn’t my strong suit, therefore I never got into the track that would allow me to take calc (my high school track ends at precalc)… It sucks because I have become a pretty strong math student and know now that I would have been able to handle being in the advance path. Anyway, I have a 4.0 unweighted gpa, an array of extracurriculars (captain of volleyball team for 2 years, president of model UN, on student council, editor of school newspaper, easily over 100 hours of community service, I tutor, have my own birthday party business, on various school committees, etc) and although I haven’t taken my SAT/ACT yet (I’m only a sophomore and intend to keep my stats looking like this until application time), I am confident I will do well on them. With all this in mind, even without ever taking a calculus course ( by the time I am sending out applications I will have taken a few other AP’s), and assuming my grades and activities remain in tact, is it possible for me to get into an Ivy or Top 15 school? This is something that is really worrying me…The fact that a decision in 8th grade could affect me getting into a dream school is killing me.
Things are going to depend heavily on your SAT/ACT… if your WGPA is weak, colleges won’t look favorably on that, they like to see course rigor, and unfortunately your 8th grade decision may impact you here. Your ECs sound pretty good, you can’t just say “i intend to keep y stats like this.” Do your best, score well on some tests, keep a 4.0 and try to take as many APs as you can to boost your WGPA. Come back after junior year, and we’ll be able to give you a better idea of what’s realistic.
Unless you want to do something in engineering or with math, I don’t see it as a big problem. However, if you are interested in pursuing something like engineering, some colleges may have a requirement that you must have taken calculus in high school. This applies to Columbia, but I’m not sure about other schools. Also, this wasn’t a decision that you could really control so I believe that colleges would overlook the fact you did not take calculus. Finally, the biggest problem you may encounter is that many of the students that go to those schools did take calculus in high school and will be more familiar with the material once it is taught in college. I really don’t think that it is going to affect you and you can always just take a course like AP Statistics to show that you are capable.
Thank you…I do not intend to major in anything pertaining to math, so being behind in material shouldn’t be an issue!
Don’t underestimate the competition. Set your goals wisely.
The tippy tops aren’t just looking for top hs kids who did this club and led that team. They don’t look at hours of service and think, wow, she did 100 hours and he only did 80. Nor do they make excuses for anyone, when they’ve got thousands lined up for each spot.
The way around calc is to have the best full picture, per what those colleges value. That’s in the ways you think, choose challenges, and have some impact. That’s not just in your hs or some competitions.
Try to learn what they look for, the attributes, the energy. You have time.
What math are you in now?
My daughter had a friend that did an entire year of math in the summer at Duke TIP. I think it was Algebra 2. Then he was able to take competency test and jump up a year in the math at school the next fall. Maybe you can enroll something similar this summer. Talk to the math department head at your school.