When my kid once tried to question the necessity of physics (some other friends were skipping it and she’d taken a lot of AP sciences already), I said “you drive a car and live in on a planet with gravity…non-negotiable”. Turned out that despite her reservations she had a knack for that class.
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The OP wrote the following:
“ She’d take a Dual Enrollment Statistics and Anatomy instead.”
Consider Saint Louis University for Public Health: (only requires pre-calculus & does not require physics0 Go to website, then click on “requirements”.
I have had good success with SLU and health related professional endeavors over the years. The SLU School of Law offers an LLM degree in Health Law.
SLU is a great environment for one who wishes to study Public Health and especially for those who wish to study Public Health in combination with business or law.
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My DD23 originally did not have physics In her senior year schedule. Her interests were elsewhere and I agreed with her thought process. Then we hired a college advisor and physics is back in her schedule for next year. She is not going into STEM but just can’t take that risk when applying to selective colleges.
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Some questions/thoughts to consider as you figure this out:
- Is the student’s goal ultimately to get a master’s in public health?
- if so, go look at the websites of a few schools with a MPH program. And do some research around what the MPH admissions criteria are.
- For example, at U of A’s MPH program, they have several sub-specialties that you can apply to. I just picked a random one - Maternal & Child Health. That program requires you to have taken at least 1 class in college level algebra or calculus. the other sub-specialties might have different criteria. For example, at U of A’s MPH program with a focus in Biostatistics, they require you to have taken, as an undergrad, college-level calculus and/or linear algebra.
- Do the different majors your child is considering for undergrad require a physics class at all? If yes, then your kid should take physics in high school in order to at least be introduced to the topic. This will make getting a decent grade in a physics class in college to be far easier.
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My niece was an International Relations major, but was also in the honors program at her school. She didn’t have to have calc to get accepted to the school but the honors program required it so she had to take it in college. Boy, she wished she had taken it in hs!
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Mine took AP Calc in HS last year - all remote - bombed the test. Placed into advanced calc first semester freshman year - had to withdrawl. In a slower calc now - has a 99 through midterm - i think this one is calc for business. The last was calc for the social sciences. But now she has to take two math instead of one. So any head start you can get, the better off you are.
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My daughter’s experience was her math and sciences classes in high school, including Calc BC, AND Diff Eq at a local 4 year college she took dual enrollment were WAY easier than the math and sciences classes at her T20 school. She very much regretted not taking AP Physics so she would not have had to take Physics in college.
If you daughter is going to have to take Calc and Physics in college, I would highly recommend taking them in high school. They will either get her out of what will likely be a harder version in college or at least get her some foundation to build on with the harder courses.
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Are you willing to share the name of the university or college ?
She went to USD. She now does quite a bit of work with numbers, but it usually statistics more than calculus.
My daughter went to Wyoming and there were math classes required in the core curriculum (TWO of them). One was the equivalent of calc. She was lucky they changed the requirement to just one class while she was in school, and she could take that in the summer at our local university. I’m not sure she would have ever graduated if she’d had had to completed a calc class.
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Look at the requirements for each school when it comes to AP or DC classes. At my kids school you need a 5 on most AP exams for credit and that doesn’t get you out of taking the classes, just places you in a more advanced class.
I would look at what is recommended to get into the school, and then what is required to get into the major.
Would she be direct admit? PH was not direct admit at my daughter’s school, and it was a highly competitive major.
Is there a specific area of public health (epidemiology, etc) that she is interested in?
I would also ask what OP’s daughter’s career goals are, specifically BS, MPH, Ph.D., or MD. Having Calc and physics could keep the possibility of med school open in the future.
I know nothing about the public health field, but I do have a friend who is a professor of PH at a T100. I remember them telling me that the most revered in the field were those with a MPH/MD rather than a Ph.D. Just throwing this out there if OP’s daughter has national policy (or similar) ambitions.
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@DividedSkyPause May I ask what are her specific concerns about taking Calc and Physics?
What are the hardest 2-3 math/sci courses she has taken currently or previously and how did she do?
Has she asked her current math and science teachers what courses they recommend her to take next year?
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She’s taken Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry and will take AP Bio next year. Geometry, Algebra 2 Honors and Pre-calc for math, next year will either be the Calculus in question or DE Statistics. She got As in all of those classes. I have no idea why she’s all of the sudden against taking Calc and Physics, she had always planned on doing so. But after telling her about this thread, she’s now back on board for taking Physics, not sure about Calc. Her school is not competitive at all and her teachers said just take whatever.
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Thanks for the update!
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Ok, that is very reassuring that she has done well so far! Some kids just get nervous or maybe hear rumors about hard classes–that could be it. I bet she will do well in physics–glad she changed her mind.
Is it AP Calculus, or regular? Is her Precalculus class Honors or regular?
Precalc is DE and she’d take Calculus directly at the local university, her school limits the number of APs kids can take each year.
One personal anecdote about taking calculus in HS.
My S did not take calculus in HS. When he started calculus first semester freshman year he was surprised to find that he was one of (I think) three people in a class of 40 or so who had not taken calc in HS (As a point of reference he went to a college ranked between 50 - 100). So while calculus was review for over 90% of the class the material was all new to him. He spent a ton of time at the math center, at office hours etc. to keep up. He got through the class but it was a difficult/stressful way to start college. FWIW he also took two semesters of statistics in college with no HS background and had no problems. I made sure my younger D had calculus in college.
Bottom line is I would try to determine if she will need to take calculus in college (look at requirements of schools she is considering) before making a decision.
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All of the different ways to take courses gets a little hard to sort out, for me at least, coming from a HS that doesn’t offer DE or university courses. Maybe she should just go with her gut and take what she wants for the math! The physics seems more important IME based on what you have said.
In general, if she has taken the hardest level available for courses during her previous and current years, she should try to aim for that next year if she wants a shot at T10, so you should find out from the school what the “most rigorous” way to take Calculus is at her school. If she has not been on the most-rigorous track/highest level, then it might make sense to talk with her and the GC and set some realistic expectations, and take the pressure off too.
In the end, T10s are just very very hard to get into --even when one does take the hardest courses available --it probably isn’t best to focus on them anyway, as other posters have said.