Received am invite to the FTC program. Looks pretty promising. Could previous applicants weigh in on the program. How many people admitted for the class of 2021 plan on going for this?
The FTC program is a lot of work, but it has some nice payoffs. The program assumes you know Calc I and so it covers the 20 weeks of Calc II and III in five weeks of classes. This means about a weeks worth of homework each night. The good news it that getting the Calc series of classes out of the way makes it much easier to add a second major without overloading classes.
The program is only open to about 30 kids per year so not too high a percentage of the freshmen class.
Are there other benefits besides making room for a second major? I’m not sure if it’s worth loading up with all the extra work, especially so early on in your college experience.
As for other benefits, you make a bunch of good friends who will be spread over the various freshmen dorms. Most freshmen become very close to their floormates, but attending FTC also gives you friends from other floors. I don’t know if that’s a very good reason, though.
FTC may also help if you plan on studying abroad or if you just want to graduate a quarter early.
Or maybe you just really love calculus.
It sounds like potentially good program (or the AMP program with includes 2 physics classes as well) to get credit at Rose for those who may have already taken these classes elsewhere. Many of our high school student’s college credits won’t likely transfer. So this program would allow him to quickly “re” complete these classes for Rose. Do you know if they sent out “invitations” to all those who were admitted?
If you qualify, then Rose should email you an invitation. Here’s a link for the program.
My D is a recent Rose grad who did AMP and it was a great decision. It is a ton of work - we called it Physics Boot Camp - but she loved it and became really fast friends with 8-10 of her classmates. The students are urged to work together and they are up very late doing homework almost every night. But they fit in some fun things too - dinners out, movies, laser tag, etc. Advantages are: jump-start in learning to manage college level work (Rose will challenge many students that have never found any classes to be “hard”), learning to ask for help, learning to work together, getting ahead on a few credits, making friends (overcoming shyness, dealing with introversion, etc.), becoming oriented with campus, getting PC early and sorting out software and connectivity issues. D and her AMP friends (mix of male/female) remained so close that many of them went on spring break and weekend trips together, roomed together on/off campus in various combinations, and the families (many of whom also got to know one another) even co-hosted a joint dinner on graduation weekend. While it is not typical, my D and both of her AMP roommates graduated in three years (two, including my D, stayed year 4 to get master degrees). Many of her other friends got multiple degrees or minors. My D says AMP was one of the hardest things she did, and one of the best things. Of course your mileage may vary. 
MomOf2TeenGrils - Thank you so much for the valuable information! Our son is planning on attending AMP and you have answered at least one of my questions - about the mandatory computer - sounds like they get them for the program. Did your daughter have her roommate situation worked out prior to AMP? It seems like many of the students are connecting online to set up roommate matches but it seems to me to be a good idea to get to know someone (like at AMP) before committing. To say he is excited would be a great understatement!
@StemmyMom - Apologies but I just saw your note. Congrats to your son! My daughter did not specify a roommate. The one she ended up with was ok, but she preferred hanging out with her AMP friends and ended up rooming with them her next three years. Also, if you haven’t found it yet, there is a Rose Hulman Parents’ Group page on Facebook. You should be able to find it by searching, then you will need to request to join.
@MomOf2TeenGirls, had no idea about the Facebook page! I will find it now!!