– Your D likely took at least one HS level math class in middle school. That class may appear on her HS transcript (so 4 years of math would show up). If those classes are not on the transcript sent to colleges (which you can ask to see), you could ask her guidance counselor to note that in his/her LOR. I know two of my D’s middle school classes were HS level classes which showed up on her HS transcript.
– If any scheduling issues led to your D not taking math one year that is something else the guidance counselor should note in the LOR.
– If your D has/will take the highest level math offered at your HS that should be fine. Colleges don’t expect students to take classes that are not offered in the HS.
Just saying. Calc or AP calc is pretty good for a humanities kid. You don’t need to go past AP, to what’s technically the “highest avsilable,” just because the hs offers something to math geniuses.
I think what she added in place of math will speak loudly. Some non-academic electives or loading up on tangential APs, just to build that count, could raise questions.
It helps to look at this holistically. Not just categorically.
That is misleading, since the schools include continuation / reform schools and juvenile hall schools, which have small numbers of low performing students, but count as much as a larger general school in this stat.
Not that this is relevant to the OP, whose kid will complete calculus and statistics in high school. Hard to see that as not being enough.
Figure out her middle school HS-level math classes and add to her total. Should meet any number of math courses required for any school. She’ll also have junior/senior math courses with likely high grades that show she does well. Not a deal breaker.
Every parent has 20/20 hindsight. There is always some other path that could have been chosen to “optimize” life. You chose an excellent one- allowed her to take a nonmath class instead of one that year. She enjoyed the break from math I’m sure- not burned out.
Life is meant to be lived as a child/teen, not merely to prepare for some unknown future. No matter how smart/gifted one is there is much more than just doing as much as one can academically. She will find a good fit school- it doesn’t have to be the most prestigious/elite- for her to get an excellent college education worthy of her intelligence and with peers.
She should review her precalculus math before taking the ACT/SAT because calculus is not covered in them and her skills could become rusty with disuse. Practice tests with attention to areas she has trouble with should suffice (ie no special courses…).
Very few colleges require 4 years of math in high school, but when they do, they are focused on the level reached, not the number of classes taken durng high school years. That is, 4 years of math generally means, math through precalculus. That is because any student following a traditional, non accellerated math track in high school would only be in precalc their senior year. These days most kids do aim for an accellerated track – but it’s not always easy to get there. Many kids simply don’t have the option to enroll in algebra 1 prior to 9th grade.
D had BC/stat in junior year and had LA (which is the highest math in her HS) in her senior year. While she was admitted to some competitive schools, including MIT, U Chicago, etc, she was still rejected by some not to be named, and deferred by USC and waitlisted by WashU. College decisions sometimes are random, not at all related to their math choices. Good thing that D picked her classes based on her interests, so no hard feelings
My son taking Linear Algebra as a senior also collected plenty of rejections, but also got accepted to other schools with single digit acceptance rates. But I agree with others, if she’s taken math through calculus by the end of senior year, she should be fine for almost any school.
Does she have any credit for math classes taken prior to 9th grade? In our district, students who take Algebra in 8th (or earlier) grade receive the high school credit for it. So, a student who takes only 3 math classes in high school will still have a total of 4 credits. Which would meet a 4 year requirement at most universities.
Your daughter will be fine, but I know of at least one university that requires 4 years of math in high school no matter what level. That school is University of Maryland, College Park. My kids have a friend who just started HS, but was doing Dif E in 8th grade, he was told by guidance counselors that he would need to take 4 yrs of math in HS, kind of silly.
Seems like the kid who took differential equations in 8th grade would have to find a suitable higher level college math course every year at local colleges. According to the policy, computer science courses may be used for this requirement in 9th-11th grade, but not 12th grade.
I suspect the UMd wording is really targeted at kids who only completed through algebra 2. And if you dig deeper, an exception may be made for middle school math courses taken, if it meets high school course expectations/ standards or higher. There can also be test-out possibility, when a class was taken prior.
The sort of kid into DM in 8th isn’t likely to stop his math education, anyway. Sure, he could change interests.
But OP’s daughter seems ok, for her hs requirements. The assurance we can give is that she reached calc and is going on to stats. The college I know best, a most selective, would likely notice the gap…but go on to say, “But she reached calc, is continuing math senior year, and has humanities interests.” Then move on to the rest. Fwiw.
I understand your concern now. I would talk with admissions and find out if they will accept the High School classes taken in Middle School or if any other class would satisfy that requirement. If she is set on College Park then she may have to double up next year.
It would have been helpful if you mentioned Maryland public universities initially, since they seem to be outliers here in how their high school math expectations are worded this way.
Also, if she took an acceptable computer science course in 10th grade, that would cover the “math every year” or “four years of math” situation for the purpose of this requirement (an AP or otherwise acceptable computer science course can count as one of the “math” courses, but not in 12th grade).
Definitely check with the specific school of interest. I would hope a gifted/talented school person would know the work around for this. Assume you’re instate for MD. Otherwise a good reason to look elsewhere.
My D is taking A Stats senior year. Only one section of calculus BC at her school (took AB junior year) and she didn’t get in. Her buddy at MIT now as a freshman had same issue. Did not seem to hurt him at all apparently.
Any advice on continuing past English 4 being completed in 11th grade? My son next year wants to do AP Physics, AP calc, try out film. I told him to get AP English comp out of the way before college but he really doesn’t want to. I don’t mind if he doesn’t load up on senior year, especially if it gives him the space to get calc and physics down as a college foundation.
However, I’m not sure what to make of all this “rigorous curriculum” talk. Will he be viewed as a slacker if he takes speech and debate and leadership (both good foundational classes in my view) vs. pushing himself in another core subject?
We aren’t looking at Stanfords, MITs, etc. - but, for example, our state flagship is considered very tough to get into and more than 50% in top 10% of class kind of place.
I’m not sure the guidance counselors at our school have the time or the real skills to help us. I heard my son’s was a teacher who just got transferred into this role and is learning as she gains experience.
It is less common to be a year advanced in English compared to math or foreign language, so you may need to ask the colleges of interest directly whether completion of English 4 in 11th grade counts as “four years of English” or if they really want to see a fourth actual year of English even if he completes English 4 in 11th grade.
