<p>Most school districts drop the "gifted"distinction by middle school. Her accomplishments, awards and publishings should speak for themselves in high school. Her transcript should reflect a total package scholar to the best of her ability. Apply to schools that are a good “fit.”</p>
<p>She will be at a disadvantage for the top schools because she will not have taken the most challenging classes. While she may have taken Calc, etc they will not be AP or honors. That will affect her chances of entrance in a top school. That being said, it is still right for her to take the most challenging class FOR HER. If she can’t make it into HYPSM, then it wasn’t right for her. There are tons of excellent schools out there.</p>
<p>She sounds like my oldest; gifted, but not necessarily in math. We, as a family, decided that she wouldn’t take honors math classes in HS, because that was best for her, and she had struggled with honors Algebra for HS credit while in middle school. She took regular geometry in 9th, regular algebra II in 10th, regular pre-calc/trig in 11th and she will take Statistics AP in 12th. That’s right: no calculus! Shocker! OMG! Hope they let her into a college :)</p>
<p>She did take all honors/AP in every other type of class when they were offered. And she’ll be named a NMSF come fall. So, while no HYP for her, she has a wide range of opportunities for her come admissions time.</p>
<p>Well, perhaps not HYPSM, I wouldn’t know, but my D made it into a top 10 school without AP Calculus. The “regular” calculus in our HS is designated Honors (not the “most” challenging, but hey, its still calculus 
) and it was certainly enough to prepare her for her college calculus class. I think if a student is not applying to a Cal Tech, MIT or equivalent math or engineering program, then getting to calculus, together with an equally impressive HS academic record, ECs etc. will serve her in good stead during her application process. Students are, at least in my experience and opinion, considered on more than a checklist of courses.</p>
<p>I agree with the idea that she should be the right math class for her. Then when she gets a bit older, she can start looking at colleges that are a match.</p>
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<p>Right.</p>
<p>With math, its really best for the kid to take the classes at the level that is the best fit. If she gets pushed too fast, she won’t truly grasp important concepts, and that will create gaps in her knowledge, leading to big struggles later on. So instead of A’s on a slightly accelerated but non-honors math class, she could end up with C’s or D’s. in trig or calculus, because the foundational knowledge isn’t in place. </p>
<p>My daughter was admitted to her reach colleges with very little high school math (nothing beyond algebra II). She focused on her strengths in her college apps. The colleges that admitted her clearly understood that she would major in humanities or social science and evaluated her app accordingly.</p>
<p>I don’t know if this is true for everyone but usually College Preparatory/non-honors (CP) classes at my school are a total joke. We only have “class” half of the allotted class time because students are being disruptive, complaining about the “heavy workload” (we don’t even have homework!) and “going to the bathroom”. Despite what department heads may say about CP classes being challenging, a lot of the people in those classes don’t take learning seriously and it can rub off on other people in the class who originally are “smart”</p>