<p>S will be a sophomore in HS this year. We love his high school, but it does have limitations such as only a few classes that are designed to directly prepare kids for AP tests and in general not a huge choice of classes. It is highly regarded for the area.</p>
<p>He is done with their math sequence. He is able to continue on at the local private college, and will take Calculus 3 this fall followed by some combo of the following through the end of his junior year - Calc 4, diff eq, linear alg.</p>
<p>That will take him nearly as far as dh and I had to go in math to get our engineering degrees. I'm wondering if it makes sense to suggest that he stop there and consider the physics sequence (or chemistry? or whatever else strikes his fancy) for his senior year.</p>
<p>I'm not worried about him going far enough to be an attractive student to HYP or wherever he decides to go. I'm just wondering what other parents' experiences are with going through college math and whether there is a natural or good stopping point.</p>
<p>He is considering engineering as his only interest at this point.</p>
<p>I don’t think you need to decide this now. If by the time senior year rolls around, he’s tired of math and is still thinking engineering, I don’t think there’s any need for him to take more than engineering programs ask for. By then he can look up the requirements of the schools he thinks he’s interested in and find out what they require. He may like math enough to go on even though he doesn’t need it. He might take some courses in the sorts of math that are useful for computer science like discrete math. </p>
<p>It’s fine to take more chem or physics too. Though there might be more issues with credit and placement with those courses.</p>
<p>Multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations are about as far in general college math courses that he needs to go for engineering. In some engineering fields, advanced math-like courses from engineering departments will be part of the curriculum.</p>
<p>If he has a strong interest in math, he can take upper division math courses like abstract algebra, real analysis, and complex analysis, though these tend to emphasize proofs more. Physics majors may also benefit from such courses. Of course, math and statistics majors will take such math courses. Computer science majors may find abstract algebra and number theory helpful in some parts of computer science.</p>
<p>Calculus-based physics for physics and engineering majors will also be helpful and transferable to an engineering curriculum. So can a semester or two of chemistry (of course, chemical engineering majors typically need organic chemistry as well).</p>
<p>For engineering, there are a lot of schools that are likely more attractive than HYP, assuming he actually wants to work as an engineer, rather than in investment banking or management consulting.</p>
<p>My son is a major math kid, majoring in math/CS at a top STEM school. He went to multi-week math sleepaway camps four summers in jr-high and high school. He was accepted to Caltech EA, Rice, and Harvey Mudd. He still loves math and gets into very esoteric discussions about it whenever possible.</p>
<p>He didn’t go past Calc 1 & 2 (in 9th or 10th grade, and could have done it sooner) and Linear Algebra in high school. I mention this because there are different paths to success. </p>
<p>You mentioned that your son is considering engineering. Most engineering majors aren’t required to take math beyond what you have listed (multi-variable calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations). You don’t need to restrict yourself to continuing a specific sequence of classes required for his planned major. There are likely hundreds of other possibilities. </p>
<p>I went to a basic HS that didn’t offer many advanced math and sciences courses, so like your son, I took courses at nearby universities . I took higher level math and science than offered at my HS, but I also took various other classes that I found interesting in the university catalog, classes that had nothing to with my planned major in engineering. For example, in my senior year of HS, I took a class called Biopsychology & Behavioral Neuroscience. I found this class to be the most fascinating and enjoyable class of my senior year, perhaps my entire 4-years in HS. I suspect this type of class had as much if not more impact on my college admissions than the sequence classes because I was one of the only (like the only) applicant that had taken the class, and taking it showed I was taking university classes for the right reasons – because I genuinely wanted to learn beyond what was available to me in HS, not just because I thought it would look good on my college app or because I wanted to use transfer credit to skip over a lot of sequence classes for my major. It’s also perfectly fine to take classes at his HS instead, if they offer similar electives that your son could be passionate about.</p>
<p>mathmom- Good advice. It is likely that getting credit will be challenging regardless. the private university doesn’t offer a transcript showing the credit unless the student ends up enrolling there for undergrad. the high school will put it on his HS transcript, but I am anticipating that he will be arguing for the credit wherever he goes. I will keep great records of all of his syllabi, but in the end it is about keeping him engaged.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus - thanks for talking it through. I didn’t note that he is limited to taking one class per semester (two classes a year) at the private college. so he really only has six classes to map out. i was thinking that a calculus based physics could be an option.</p>
<p>GeekMom63 - totally not offended. I’ve read the linked article before and while I love AOPS (and agreed to use some of their books for my youngest to replace the school’s standard algebra curriculum), I actually have never agreed with the article. i’ve always read it with the thought that he is trying to sell more of his books. Again, totally not offended. S has a fabulous passion for math and I’ve never felt that he was rushing through or not grasping any of it. He’s been the youngest kid in his math classes since 5th grade, but his school is great about combining older students with younger students so he has never felt like an outcast. Last year’s calc class produced some funny moments for S, the teacher, and the other students, but he embraced it. He is taking a summer class at the local public university, so he is surrounded by folks that are both willingly and unwillingly taking a summer math class. it has so far been a good experience for him to interact with the older students.</p>
<p>Data10 - good perspective. I wish he could take more than six classes in the next three years. That does give me something to think about. He loved his genetics class this year - even did a job shadow with a local researcher. He doesn’t like it enough to override his engineering focus, but he found it interesting enough to pursue beyond the class. Hmmm… it will be his decision ultimately, but that was really helpful to read.</p>
<p>OP, has your son taken AP Statistics at his HS? If not, I would definitely try to add that, or a statistics course from the college.
I don’t understand this statement. Aren’t you paying to attend the college? Wherever your S goes to college ultimately will want transcripts from other schools. I wouldn’t think any college could just withhold those.</p>
<p>Hmmm, are there any other options for nearby colleges where he can take more advanced college courses and have official college transcripts that can help with transfer credit?</p>
<p>Another option is, if he wants to take out-of-major elective college courses (for which transfer credit won’t be as important), he may want to take those at the college.</p>
<p>As far as statistics goes, he may find a calculus-based statistics course at a college to be more interesting than high school AP statistics.</p>