<p>My daughter's counselor called last week and is having trouble scheduling her AP Calc. (A/B) class into her schedule. She has a 4.0 unweighted GPA and has taken AP Lang, AP US, AP Euro, and will take AP World and AP Lit. her senior year (all but one or two of other academic classes are honors). She has registered to also take AP Calc. (A/B), but it is conflicting with her theater class that she desperately wants to take, since it is her last year in high school.</p>
<p>We live in Georgia, and we have a new integrated math curriculum (I'm not even sure if schools out-of-state will understand it, since my D's class is the first to graduate with the new system...I think NY state has a similar curriculum). My D has taken Advanced Math I, II, and III her freshman, sophmore and junior years. These classes cover Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Trig. and Pre-Calc....the advanced classes move much faster and cover 4 years of math in a three year period. The counselor has said that she can take regular Math IV (there is no advanced Math IV) instead of the AP Calc. and that he would attach a letter to her transcript explaining that she had a scheduling problem and that this was the best option for her. (She has to take a math next year because our school system requires 4 years even though she has covered 4 years of material in 3 years.)</p>
<p>She will be applying to some of the more academically driven MT schools such as Univ. of Mich., Elon, NYU etc. What should she do...take the Calc. and forgo the theater class, or take the theater class, and hope the transcript with a letter attached will suffice? If she was applying to state schools, I think they would understand because they are familiar with the new standards, but I'm concerned about the out-of-state admission folks. (We have emailed a couple of schools admissions, but have yet to here a reply).</p>
<p>My son just graduated from high school with a strong academic record and excellent SATs and was accepted into rigorous academic schools such as Northwestern and University of Michigan. He fulfilled his 4 years of math requirements prior to his senior year by taking Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, and Pre-Calculus/Trig. He did not take calculus at all and did not even have a math class his senior year, since he had started Alg I in 8th grade. I don’t think it was an issue at all for any of the colleges. Your daughter is taking an extremely academically impressive course load, and I would venture that skipping calculus will not cause her a problem being accepted academically at most schools. Take the theatre class instead and have some fun! Good luck!</p>
<p>I second what CalDad3 said!! My daughter also did not take AP Calc, it wasn’t even offered Have your daughter keep her grades up, get high scores on her SAT’s or ACT’s , take the theatre class and nail her auditions!! Best wishes!</p>
<p>The most academically selective schools are looking for the student to take a very demanding rigorous and challenging curriculum. I think your D can show that even without AP Calculus given her other rigorous classes. I think it is a good idea to have the guidance counselor comment on the school report how AP Calculus didn’t fit into your D’s schedule. </p>
<p>That said, I will share what my D did due to a schedule conflict. My D took the most demanding schedule her HS offered, but she also accelerated a lot too. She ended up graduating after her junior year (went to HS for three years). She was accelerated in math and was up to AP Calculus in JUNIOR year. However, our high school only offer ONE section of AP Calculus and only seniors are in it (seniors who accelerated in math by one year, but my D had accelerated in math two years and so was the only junior needing AP Calculus). But the AP Calculus was scheduled to work well in the schedule for the most advanced seniors to work around advanced courses in other subjects they would be taking in senior year. For my D, she was in the most advanced English/History (integrated double class curriculum) for juniors and this class (only one section offered) conflicted with AP Calculus which was meant to work for the seniors’ schedules. So, what we arranged was for D to do AP Calculus one period per day as an independent study under the supervision of the math department chair. She sat in his office every day and was given the student notes for the class and all the assignments and did the work on her own and was given all the exams. Basically she didn’t get to hear or participate in the class itself. So, she did AP Calculus that way. Not sure if you can arrange that at your school but we made that happen for our D. </p>
<p>One more idea if you want to pursue AP Calculus…My other D also accelerated in various subjects including math and was also in AP Calculus as a junior in HS, which no other juniors at our school do. She stayed on for senior year and so in order to continue in math, since she had maxed out on our HS’s math curriculum, she took AP Calculus BC long distance through Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (like an independent study program) for credit. She blocked out one period per day in her schedule to work on the course and sat in the math dept. chair’s office. Your D could possibly take AP Calculus AB this way if she wanted to.</p>
<p>Thank you so much CalDad3, Mommamt, and Soozievt!! You have each helped so much with yours thoughts and in sharing you experiences…we just don’t want to do the wrong thing! </p>
<p>The only problem I see with my D is that her ACT scores are not as high as we would have hoped, but she will retake that in September. I am thinking about calling a tutor and seeing if they will be able to help her with some test taking skills, since she has never been good at standarized test, yet excells in the classroom. </p>
<p>In reviewing her score sheet from April, it looks like she is just getting really tired at the end of the sections, and she Christmas tree-ed the end of the Math section because she ran out of time (missed like the last 6…not good).</p>
<p>Her composite score is only a 28…she has a</p>
<p>31/11-English/Writing
28-Math
28-Reading
25-Science (ugh…those graphs and charts! :)</p>
<p>Does that change anybody’s mind about the Calc. or does her academic record stand as proof enough? Unfortunetly, we have do decide about the fall classes before she retakes the ACT in September which I hope will be more reflective of her abilities.</p>
<p>I don’t see the AP Calculus issue to be that related to the ACT issue. For the ACT, your D should ideally do two things: One is to take practice timed tests on a weekly basis and review her answers. Practice can really help. The second thing is some sessions with a tutor who may be able to individualize where her weaknesses are on the test and also help with strategies to learn to finish the test in the time allotted so she is not losing points that way. It is worth this effort to see if she can raise her scores. I would not leave it to chance. She obviously has worked hard in school and it makes sense to put some effort into prep for these required tests so as to be on par with her academic record. If the prep does not pay off (though it should), she’ll know she did what she could do.</p>
<p>Soozie…thank you so much for your response. Yes, I agree that she does need to do timed practice sessions (I have read that this can make a huge difference on the ACT), and I hope a tutor will be able to look at her answers from April and help her with her weaknesses. She is going to a 4 week program this weekend, so she will have 6-7 weeks to prepare for the Sept. test when she returns at the end of July. </p>
<p>Thanks again for taking time to respond to my post…we are about to buckle our chin straps and hold on for the ride…I’m sure the next 9-10 months will like nothing we have ever experienced! :)</p>
<p>My son was accepted at every school he applied to (including Elon and Michigan and PSU) with a strong academic record…but NO A.P. classes, not a 4.0, and a 25 on his ACT. SAT scores were good but not outrageously so…I think your D’s record sounds better than his so far…I am not saying she shouldn’t try to do her absolute best, and all of the suggestions here are wonderful…I am just saying that I wouldn’t panic. It sounds like her record will be strong enough to get into almost all schools which offer the MT program she desires. </p>
<p>Now, as a girl, she will need all of the stage and voice experience she can get…I really don’t think one more AP class when she already has several under her belt will make the difference that will be the most important. (Besides, as an admissions agent, I won’t see grades for that class before I make the entrance decision, right? If the student applying is signed up for theater and is auditioning for theatre, that wouldn’t seem out of line to me…)</p>
<p>nicksmtmom…wow…your son was accepted to every program!!! He must be incredible! Thanks for your post…I think I have just about decided that she should go with the regular math and not worry about the AP Calc. Her counselor can attach a letter of explanation concerning the math to her transcript, and she can enjoy her theater class since it is the last year that she will get to be with those kids!</p>
<p>We will focus on getting those ACTs up because I still feel that is important if she is to gain any $$$ out of the process.</p>
<p>The other focus will be the preparation for auditions…they will be here before we know it! Oh —the stress! :)</p>
<p>hollins, I am not nickmtmom but I am assuming she was referring to ACADEMIC acceptances and not being admitted to every BFA in MT program her son applied to (given she shared his results on CC back at the time). </p>
<p>While I agree with a lot of what nickmtmom wrote in her post, I will clarify a couple things. One is that NYU is more academically selective than the schools nickmtmom mentions (Penn State, Elon, UMich). Further, the admissions to the BFA program at NYU/Tisch involves a decision that is based 50% on academics and 50% on the audition, which is not the exact same process at all other programs. Further, I don’t know what she means about being accepted to UMich even academically as that is not how the BFA admissions process works at UMich. UMich has an academic screening before inviting the applicant to audition. Being invited to audition is not equivalent with an academic acceptance (the applicant is NOT admitted to UMich academically and could not attend as a non-MT major, in other words…which is different from Elon which has a separate academic and BFA admissions process). Passing the academic screening at UMich simply means that the candidate’s academic profile would not knock him/her entirely out of the running and would at least be considered. But once the student goes through the audition process for the BFA in MT, their entire profile is examined, including academic, and as it is a very competitive program, the stronger academic student has an edge over a weaker one, even one who made it past the initial academic screening.</p>
<p>You do not need AP Calculus to get into NYU. Nobody is claiming that to be so. A strong overall academic profile increases the odds of admission.</p>
<p>Lulu…No problem. I think everyone on this thread thinks the AP Calculus won’t be an issue for the OP’s daughter. It was just that your post followed mine and I was talking about the selectivity at NYU. I do agree with you!
:)</p>
<p>Oh, yes, Soozie is right…he did very well in auditions, but I did mean that he was ACADEMICALLY accepted to all of them. However, as Soozie says, the UMich process is more complicated than I described. He passed an academic SCREENING to even be allowed to audition (I think I remember that about 1/3 of the kids who apply are turned away just in screening). However, I do remember talking to an admissions officer that said much weight is given to the audition, and that if the department really wants you, they will give a little more leeway with academic results.</p>
<p>I don’t have experience beyond my son, like Soozie does, but your d’s academic record seems very up to par for MT purposes.</p>
<p>My s was accepted both academically and into all 5 of the MT BFA programs and he did have quite a few AP credits as he is pursuing a dual degree in MT BFA and Engineering. We might never know how heavily the academic record played in the acceptances, but as many have stated here…an overall look at a well balanced academic record and a well prepared audition might be helpfull when these schools have so many candidates to process and choose from.</p>
<p>It does seem a bit unfair that there are many more girls than boys in the mix, but I am sure that each school has a criteria that they go by. Good luck all. :)</p>
<p>Wow- So a student can pass academic screening at UMich but later might not get the academic nod at the end of the day? Did I understand that correctly? UMich was our most expensive audition in the bunch - airlines- taxis- hotels - meals; I’m not sure I realized then that the academic screening was not a done deal. </p>
<p>Britbrat- how is that dual degree going? You’re son is legendary in these parts! :)</p>
<p>classicalbk my understanding at UMich is that the academic prescreen gets you to the audition, but because it is so competitive if you get the nod from the department for the BFA there is further review of academics, essays, test scores etc. and the top of all will get the invitation to enter the BFA.</p>
<p>Hello Britbrat! Hope we see each other next year! and by the way her son is fantastic and legendary!</p>
Best wishes!</p>