Help with Course Selection

Applying to College
1

–Apologies for cross-posting to another thread, but this is literally my first post and not sure where this question fits—

My son is finishing up his 9th grade and is interested in attending a top school for physics. He’s taking all the math and science his high school offers, but some of his peers jumped ahead one year in math before entering high school by taking exams, outside classes, etc. He will take AP calculus BC as a senior, while some of his peers will take it as a junior and then take college-level math in a local community college when they are seniors. Neither he nor we know of this possibility in middle school and so were in the dark until he got to high school.

So my question is whether he’s already ruled out for a top 5 or 10 school already, e.g., some of the ivies or top technical schools? What things and opportunities should he be looking out for going forward?

2

He is fine. He should concentrate on getting great grades and study for his standardized tests. Extra curricular activities in science or math related areas are important. Things like FIRST Robotics, math competitions, summer activities related to science. If he can do Intel or other science competitions that is great, but not required. Some schools want SAT Subject tests.

My kid is a Physics major at a top tech school, and only had through AP Calc AB (what her HS offered).