My daughter has taken geometry, algebra 2, ap stats from 9th to 11th grade. And is planning to take pre calc or college algebra in 12th grade. Does this look bad on her transcript since we didn’t take calculus? How important it is for college to see calculus on a transcript? We are hoping to get into top 10-15 ranking universities. She takes ap classes in English composition and hisotry related classes and will not be a stem student. But not sure when they are looking for well rounded student, how important math is on the transcript. Thanks a lot!!
I was a math major in university. This might taint my view a bit, but more in the direction of taking math rather than not taking it. I did not take calculus until I was a freshman in university because I attended a high school that did not offer calculus as an option. Even pre-calculus was a very small class in my high school (probably about half the size of most of my other classes).
Calculus depends a lot on the prerequisites. In my experience if you are very strong at high school algebra, trigonometry, and pre-calculus, then calculus is quite straightforward. However, if you are weak at any of the prerequisites, then I have heard that calculus can be quite tough. This suggests that you do not want to take calculus until you are ready (which could be said of a lot of math courses).
As such I do not think that you have a choice. Your daughter should take precalculus and try to do very well in it. This will make the point that she is ready to take calculus in university if there is ever any need to do so.
I also think that we should all do what makes sense for us, and then find a university that is a good fit for what we have done. Whether this is “top 15” or not will be far less important than finding a university that is a good fit.
As such I would not worry about it. In your daughter’s case I would encourage her to continue with the next in the math sequence in her high school, which is precalculus if I read your post correctly. I would also make sure that she applies to safeties and looks for colleges and universities that are a good fit for her.
By the way, one daughter attended a university for her bachelor’s degree that was just barely NOT ranked “top 100” overall. She is currently studying in a graduate program that is ranked in the top 5 in the US for her very specific major. Someone else I know well also attended a university that was just barely NOT “top 100”, and did their master’s at an Ivy League university. There really are a lot of very good universities that will provide a very good undergraduate education to a strong student and that can prepare students well for very good graduate programs.
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Truly appreciate the response here. I personally think my daughter does fine with math but she feels she is not good at it. Her grades are fine, I think mostly because her interests lie in courses related to English and history. We will take precalc in the coming school year so hopefully that gives her a good foundation for taking more advanced courses in college. You are right, finding a college which suits us best is the key, not necessarily rankings.
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Looks like she took the “off-ramp” from the main math sequence by choosing AP statistics instead of precalculus. For 12th grade, precalculus would be the usual next step after algebra 2, so that she is ready to take calculus in college if needed. She is not ready for calculus yet unless she somehow learned precalculus on her own between when she completed algebra 2 and now.
For colleges that prefer to see calculus if it was available to the student, it may not look so good that she opted out of the main math sequence that would have had her in precalculus in 11th grade and calculus in 12th grade (one grade level ahead of the standard level in math).
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I think it depends on what type of colleges she is looking for. D20 did not take Calculus because it conflicted with a 200-level college foreign language class she wanted to take and orchestra (which was the basis for 80% of her ECs and awards). She took Pre-Calc as a junior and opted to take an IB math class as a senior. Now, she attends a T20 LAC.
The one thing I would strongly suggest you investigate is what the colleges offer for math classes. The lowest math class offered at D’s school is Calc 1. If your D takes college algebra and doesn’t get exposure to Calc topics, she could possibly be at a disadvantage in terms of admissions and have a hard time jumping into Calc in college. At other, less selective colleges it would matter less.
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Your daughter’s math track may not meet the rigor component this level of school expects/prefers if the calculus track was available to her and she elected to pursue the less rigorous path.
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I think more importantly is how many students make it into T10-15 colleges from her HS? Is she realistically in that group? That is important to get the LOR’s needed for that level of school. For the successful non hooked candidate, the top level HS class of all core classes is relatively “easy”. That is why a large chunk of them have Calc.
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Thanks for all the inputs. she asked me if it is ok to take ap stats, I said ok. I thought ap would give her a bit higher weighted gpa. But apparently we should follow the path and take pre calc. Should have investigated this more.
Have her take pre-calculus - not because it will get her into a better college, but because it aligns more closely with the typical HS math sequence. On the “regular” HS path a student takes Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2 and pre-calculus (in some order). At many schools the honors path is Geometry, Algebra 2, Pre-calculus and Calculus. In either instance, pre-calculus is an integral part of the math sequence so it makes more sense for her to take that than an advanced algebra course.
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Your D needs to figure out what attributes in a school appeal to her and then make a balanced list of schools. Don’t worry about rankings!
Have her take pre-calc in 12th and don’t worry about the decisions that have already been made and can’t be undone.
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Forget top 10 or 20 college. Do you even know what that means ? Many of them have single digit acceptance rates. You need to find the right school.
She’s not ready for calc. What she could have or should have done doesn’t matter. If she’s got solid grades, great ECs, and a great SAT/ACT can help, she’ll get into great schools. There’s hundreds of great schools and there are great Honors Colleges at many publics which in some ways aim to provide the top college experience.
Have your daughter continue on her path of being the best she can be. Like everyone you’ll apply to reach, target and safety schools.
Whether it’s Harvard or Hofstra, she’ll find a great school for her.
Good luck.
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She needs to knock out Pre-calc next year. Most colleges are looking for that as a minimum depending on the major. Pre-calc would have helped with AP stats, too, but she must be catching on.
look, the top 20 schools are a reach for everyone. Most have sub 10% admit rate and thousands of extremely well qualified applicants are rejected every year. I can’t stress this enough, work with your daughter to broaden her perspective. Apply to a couple elite schools but, also several that she’s very likely to get into (and you can afford). If she’s got a really strong transcript, she will be offered lots of merit aid at many private schools.
As others capture - like language, math is progression, if you skip a step you get lost. I don’t know how she’s don’t in her other math classes but, assuming she’s gotten B or better in the foundational courses, Pre-Cal or AP Stat will both be manageable steps.
good luck