I have a question on something that I have been stressed and concerned about since my freshman year in high school. A little bit of background: in middle school I was supposed to be placed in advanced math by one year, but for some reason my credits and schedule got messed up so I was never able to be put back on the advanced math track. Because of this, I am now a senior taking Honors Pre-Calculus instead of AP Calc BC. For more selective and STEM colleges, will this negatively impact my resume and application? I want to major in neuroscience or cognitive science and study pre med in college, but I am worried that admissions officers will compare me to other competitive students who have taken BC calc whereas I have not. Even though I will have not taken calc BC, I took all of my math classes at the honors level and earned an A in them. Do you think my chances in more selective/STEM colleges will be hindered because I am not one year ahead in math?
On the Common App your counselor will rank the rigor of your course load as one of the following: Most Demanding, Very Demanding, Demanding, Average, Below Average. Ask your counselor what they will put on your app.
At more selective/STEM colleges you will want the “Most Demanding” or at least the “Very Demanding” .
It may also matter that you could not take calculus because of middle school placement, compared to a student who took precalculus in 11th grade or earlier and opted out of calculus in 12th grade.
Where are you going to apply?
What else have you taken, especially wrt science classes - in particular, will you have taken AP science classes?
What’s your GPA?
Make SURE your GC indicates you were placed into the “advanced track” but were not able to be schedule for the require middle school class, which made it impossible for you to take more than Precalc Honors as a senior.
Actually, it should be obvious from the high school record whether middle school math placement prevented the student from reaching calculus in high school. If the 9th grade math course was algebra 1 or integrated math 1, then the usual* sequencing is that the student will be in precalculus in 12th grade. If the 9th grade math course was a more advanced course, then there could be more of an expectation of reaching calculus in high school (if available) for those aiming at more selective colleges or math-heavy majors.
*Yes, some high schools or districts have officially sanctioned ways to accelerate to calculus starting from algebra 1 in 9th grade, but these are not the common case.
except that the HS record wouldn’t provide 2 elements for “context”: 1° that OP was supposed to be in Algebra 1 in MS, but wasn’t placed there due to scheduling issues 2° that the school had no remediation for this. The GC adding such a line would make it clear to adcoms that this isn’t a decision that depended on OP or OP’s parents. As a result, while it may impact his/her college decision for a STEM major at the most selective colleges*, the impact will be minimal. Keep in mind some HS do not even have a school profile and some GCs are overworked, so OP checking this, without assuming anything from the GC or college adcoms, is the safest route.
The good news is you honestly don’t need a top of the top college to go to medical school. The usual advice is to go “cheap” so you can save $$ for med school and to go where your stats put you into the Top 25% (sometimes Top 10%) of students so your foundation is on equal or better footing with other classmates giving you a good shot at the high grades you’ll need.
Where advice deviates from the usual is when your family can comfortably afford both undergrad and med school and doesn’t mind shelling out half a million or so for them and when your stats put you in the Top 25% at pretty much any college out there.
I wouldn’t worry about your math sequence nearly as much as finding the right fit for undergrad. You can’t change it now, but you can realistically plot to find the best for your final goal. If you list your stats on here (GPA, any AP, SAT/ACT if you have them), give your state of residence, whether looking for merit or need based aid - or being full pay without putting your parent’s retirement at risk, plus any other fit aspects of college (big, small, region, urban, rural, etc) folks on here can provide places to look into.
You’ll be fine. Even MIT won’t accept AP credits - although they will allow you to take a placement test to place out of calculus. Just speak with the GC, make sure they mark you as having taken the most rigorous classes available to you, and apply accordingly.
BTW, in this situation, a high math ACT/SAT would certainly be a nice addition to your application.
Because I was not one year advanced in math, my school did not let me take many AP science courses until my senior year. I took AP environmental science and honors chem my junior year, and I am currently taking AP biology and honors pre med this year. In total, i will have taken 8 AP courses together.
My top college choice right now is CWRU and they are mainly a STEM school so that is why I am worried. They stated that the intended major you put on your application does not affect admissions so I am hoping that helps.
My weighted GPA is a 4.4844 while my unweighted GPA is a 3.86.
Yes, they’re a “whole university” university, you can switch majors at will.
There’s nothing you can do about it, except make sure your GC explains (and checks “most rigorous” or “very rigorous”).
CWRU is a reach due to selectivity anyway. Have you run the Net Price Calculators with your parents? Do you have 2 affordable safeties?
Would you say CWRU is a reach due to my math conflict? Or will other factors such as test scores and ECs help boost my chances? I have an ACT score of 32, and around 9-10 ECs and have leadership positions in 5 of them. My class rank is also in the top 10%. I was hoping my other stats would make me not taking calc less important. I will be talking to my counselor about addressing my course rigor and inability to take calculus.
I have plenty of safeties since I am applying in state and out of state so I’m not too concerned with that. CWRU is just my top choice right now so that’s why I am mainly focused on that.
You should be fine as long as you get an A in precalc and your GC specifies what’s what.
However, it’s a highly selective university, meaning it’s in part unpredictable. That’s why it’s a reach and why, I assume, you’re applying EA.*
Have you run the NPC to make sure it’s affordable for your parents?