Olin has a class size of 85; it is the epitome of a subset of a subset. The OP’s kid is in 8th grade with miles to go.
Regardless, even Olin says it’s fine to take Calc as a senior.
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The OP picked this school for reason. They did a placement test and determined the appropriate class. This school likely has great outcomes. I doubt that they are making too many mistakes. Just because the classes have the same name doesn’t imply that they teach the same material. My DS’s old Pre Calc teacher was worried what he was eventually going to have to do. He used a textbook from 1986. He said that he couldn’t find a suitable replacement. He made the students treat them like gold. This is what you are paying for in a private education (for those that aren’t just buying a name).
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OP- do not discount the importance of mastery. If that’s what the HS is going for- your D will be in good hands.
My kid (MIT grad with a degree in math) was NOT in the highest level math in middle school. It was the only time I called the school to enquire-- my kid loved math, ate it, drank it, a really passionate numbers kid. Apparently he hadn’t “placed” as highly as the kids who went into the highest math level on whatever test they used for placement.
Kid was fine with his placement, I grumbled to myself, but didn’t press it.
There was no question once he got to HS that it was a great decision. Even kids who are very accelerated in math are often weak on a couple of concepts, shaky on various things despite being overall strong math students. My kid had not been bored at the “deeper and slower” level of math, and the HS he went to was able to keep the challenges and interesting concepts coming at whatever pace he could manage.
And not that it matters- but none of the “highest level” math kids from his middle school went on to study anything remotely quantitative.
So I’d trust the school on this one!!!
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Was the placement process based on how pushy the parents are in lobbying to move their kids to more advanced courses?
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My anecdotal observations with the tippy top engineering programs suggest that the general expectation would probably be completion of at least BC/Calc II while in HS. Of course, there are several exceptions to this, and this is hardly empirical.
School was pretty immune to “pushy”- I was given a flat “no” when I asked to have my kid moved! But getting a perfect score on a placement test-- even one above grade level- doesn’t always indicate a love of math!
Nonetheless- going deeper, slower, more thorough to ensure mastery was a good foundation for an eventual quant person. Which is why I think the OP can trust the school’s intent and track record!
The OP is trusting the school. As well she (probably) should; this is not their first rodeo. If the school is as highly ranked in STEM as she says it is, they have plenty of experience with initial placements and course level adjustments.
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I would expect that, at highly selective colleges or engineering divisions using subjective or holistic admission, it is more like they expect high school students to “keep taking math as long as more advanced math courses are available to them”. In a school where BC is readily available, and the student’s middle school math placement allows taking it, taking BC will be preferred. But the availability of BC (or equivalent) may not be a given in other schools or for other students, which is probably why even the few colleges or engineering divisions that require or recommend calculus in high school do not specify BC (or equivalent) on their web pages.
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BC wasn’t an option at my D’s HS. Highest level was AB but teacher spent the last quarter going well beyond but that was senior year. She wasn’t gunning for MIT/CalTech level schools and didn’t apply so no idea how that would have played out for her.
All of her engineering peers in Honors at Purdue had AP calc in HS as well as Physics C. All of them started in Calc II or III based on performance on old Purdue finals. Reaching calc in junior year of HS was definitely not necessary.
The one thing I would say to others reading this thread, without AP calc and physics in HS, a student wouldn’t be prepared for honors college or the more competitive engineering LLCs at Purdue because those first year design programs integrate calc and physics into the course.
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Most people would as well, but they also can’t afford private schools that offer that kind of custom tailored teaching, especially in classes outside of math. Some of the local bay area schools have been able to do the placement test for math, but they stop at Stats. So the kids that take Calc in 10th, Stats in 11th and then a local community college for the next course. Note that public HS in the bay are are indirectly expensive, yes no tuition but mortgages and property taxes make it costly as well.
However I don’t know what the public schools would do if a parent or 8’th grade English teacher thought a few students could go straight to say AP Lit in 9th grade. I don’t even think they’re set up for that.
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I agree with the above - Calculus is rarely “required” but is often expected of a competitive applicant at a top engineering school. The lack of it provides a hurdle that the rest of your application will have to overcome, when compared with other applicants.
There’s no need to take it Junior year. Yes, some students will have Calc Junior year and advanced math after that (my D had Calc as a Soph), but I suspect this is a small percentage of applicants even at the top schools. Taking Calc at some point in HS checks the “rigor” box and and AO will move on to the rest of the application.
fwiw,
Mudd - “At least one yearlong high school course in calculus is required. ”
and there’s an older thread floating around here with at least a few others, as of a few years ago.
(Though the definition of “required” in admissions guidelines has various levels of rigor.)
You neglected the all-important sentence which follows:
Otherwise, you must take a semester-long college course.
And like Olin as discussed above, with a class size of 220, HMU is the 1% of the 1%. And totally OT for the OP’s question anyway.