I think he made the right choice. It is good that he was self aware and knew that he needed to drop. When my daughter dropped an English course her 2nd semester senior year and notified her schools, none of them requested an explanation. I’d think through how he’s going to explain it just in case, though.
As for calculus . . . I took 2 semesters of it as a college freshman and I can honestly say that I never once used it (at least consciously) and cannot remember a single bit of it.
I’m not sure that an explanation is needed or is particularly helpful. I do think that the colleges should be informed, but your son might wait until after the midyear transcripts have been sent. But it might actually be better for your son to send a short email to the admissions officers assigned to him at each school and simply say, “I wanted to let you know that I have dropped my calculus class for the spring semester. Please let me know if you have any questions or need further information.” It’s a busy time of year for ad coms - so my guess is that it is as likely as not that they will not ask for anything further.
I doubt that any college admitted him (or will admit) simply because he’s got a calc course listed. They do like to see a full academic schedule, but they also see plenty of cases of senioritis where kids slack off at the end. (My son managed to pull a D in his French class for the final semester, after consistent A’s for the other 3.5 years. Didn’t make any difference at all to the college where he had placed a deposit.).
So if the calc course wasn’t instrumental in the admissions decision… why would a college care if it were dropped? Of course it would matter a huge deal for someone applying to a math-based or engineering program… but your son’s strengths probably lie elsewhere, and the colleges are basing their decisions based on his strengths, not his weaknesses.
Is he still thinking about majoring in this area? Sustainable/renewable energy engineering, environmental engineering, environmental science/environmental studies with focus areas in energy and/or policy.
These majors require at least calculus 1 or 2.
I know I can’t change someone views, but for me I should keep going and see where it leads me. People don’t like to fail because they believe is the end of their lifetime. But eventually you have to overcome that fear and sometimes you just have to get a grade you really deserve. Getting a B- or whatever won’t be the reason why some colleges will reject your son. I’m a college student and last semester was my worst semester ever. Ended up with a 1.67 GPA. My overall GPA right now is 2.6. Anyways, the last semester I earned two Ds my first ever D in my academic career. Nobody likes failing a class and retaking it. I’m retaking calculus 1 the class I earned a D in.
my only caveat is that IF he applied to highly selective colleges that 'encourage"[ i.e. require] 4 years of Math, and his dropping AP Calc means he will only have 3 years, it may very well impact his chances of acceptance at those colleges. He absolutely needs to notify them of changes to his Sr schedule.
AP Calc is beyond a standard 4 year math track. (My daughter only had 2 years of high school math, but it counted as 3 because she she started on an advanced track with geometry as a freshman, algebra 2 as a sophomore ). Very few colleges insist on 4 years of math, but among those that do, it generally means that through pre-calc level-- not necessarily 4 calendar years.
In any case, the OP has already posted: “not super selective schools, all EA admits” – so it looks like these are all schools that have already admitted the student. In prior threads the OP referred to her son as a “solid B student” and reported an ACT of 24, and she’s also listed the schools that admitted her son – I seriously doubt than any of the schools she listed requires more than 3 years of high school math in any case.
That’s one reason I don’t think the calc things matters much. With the schools he targeted, he has been competing in a field where most applicants probably aren’t taking AP calc. It is also apparent from other posts that he OP’s son is talented and accomplished musician and has impressive EC’s - so lots of good things for an ad com to like. I just don’t think there is any particular expectation that students admitted to that range of colleges will have completed AP Calc, or even that the admitted students will have taken the “most rigorous” curriculum offered by their high schools.
No problem with all of that - this sounds like a great kid with a realistic understanding of what his target schools should be, and given that he’s already holding a full deck of colleges that have already admitted him… I honestly think this is no big deal. Just as a test, I randomly checked the admission requirements of a couple of the colleges OP had previously said were under consideration. One requires “three units of mathematics beyond pre-algebra, including completion of algebra II”; another, “Mathematics (Algebra 1 and 2, and either Geometry or Pre-Calculus), Three Units”
So the fact that OP-son has managed to complete one semester of AP Calc with a B- puts him ahead of the curve.
Thanks all
I believe he is going to simply inform but invite dialouge should they have any questions about the change.
He has been admitted to all of his schools (7) all EA. To clarify these are not highly selective schools (acceptance rates are 59-82%). All matches or safeties. He is not a competitive applicant on stats alone and targeted appropriately. He has a 3.45 UW, medium rigor, 24C (25 superscore) with a math score of 24. I believe the dropping of the AP calc is fairly consistent with that ACT Math score to be honest.
Only one of the schools wanted math beyond Alg 2 if memory serves. Or at least only one that is still on the list, we will likely skip contacting the school he has no intention of enrolling at. He would like to skip notifying 3 schools however one is a financial safety (that I can’t imagine will care) and one he insisted on visiting in a couple of weeks despite being sure he will not enroll. Given that I am making him contact the former as it’s the back up plan and then latter as I find it rude not to.
@NASA2014 No to engineering and likely no to Environmental Science. Current track is primarily Environmental Studies, Environmental Policy, Sustainability Studies, Political Science and Energy Science. Almost all of the programs do not require calculus at all, they are either stats/econ based or offer other alternatives (logic etc). For a few, his pre-calc which was a DE class, waives the gen ed math requirement.
That said, one school does ask for 4 years. It may or may not be an issue as they do note exceptions to the policy. Given that the 4 years requested only note through Algebra 2, one would hope that having precalc plus one semester of AP Calc would be sufficient and he did have 4.5 years of HS math, just not all actually at the HS (Alg 1 was in 8th grade). If that isn’t sufficient then so be it. I feel they short changed him on merit anyways for their level of selectivity and where he falls in their quartiles. He would be disappointed if that happens but is willing to take the risk.
He really should change his major within one of the schools to Environmental Studies versus Environmental Science but as they are both within the same college I don’t know that it is an issue. I don’t honestly recall if he was given both options within that college at application time and I seem to think not as he put a different college (but still environmental science) as his second choice. Either way he met the admission requirements for the school in general as well as the specific college at the school without the Calc. We will be at that school in 2 weeks and it can be done then.
Ok, if he does not need calculus for his college major or college general education, then he should be fine dropping it and not worrying about it being a faster paced course in college.
However, any changes to previously reported in progress senior year course work should be reported to all colleges applied to, because colleges may rescind admission offers if the senior year course work shown on the final high school transcript does not match the previously reported in progress course work. If any have already admitted him, he should contact them to make sure that dropping the course will not cause admission to be rescinded.
We just went through the process with totally optional AP Psych. We decided to drop it because I realized that his poor performance in just one course was caused by a conflict with the teacher and he absolutely refused to remain in her class. For someone with 99% in AP Bio, AP Psych is a joke and he should be able to perform, but he chose not to. He applied early and already has all decisions except one.
Find out if the colleges you are applying to require mid-year reports. Not all are asking for it, but our Guidance just sends it to all schools unless told otherwise.
“He does not feel he can pass the semester”. In our school the course will still show up on the transcript – will his mid-year read “Withdraw/Fail” or “Withdraw/pass”? If it will be Withdraw/Fail, is there anything he can do to make it Withdraw-Pass? It seems like you already made your decision.
His transcript will show a B- for first semester. It will not be listed on the transcript at all for 2nd semester.
Mid year will include semester 1 only on the transcript and the report will show the adjusted schedule but not list it as a withdrawal it just simply is no longer part of his schedule.
Our school automatically sends a midyear report which includes an updated transcript. Not all of his schools require (most do) but frankly I would just as soon have it go out and get it over with and deal with whatever consequences there are ( if any). If we tell them not to send that they will do so but I’d rather not take the risk.
They are holding off on sending his report until we confirm with the schools as technically he would have for tomorrow to change his mind.
@eandesmom It sounds like you did the right thing. If you want to offer any explanation, I’d simply say that he finished the first semester with a B- and would be happy to provide additional information if desired.
I hope he can de-stress and enjoy the balance of his senior year. Congrats on the many acceptances. It’s nice to have choices!
You made the right choice. Congratulations to your son for his hard work (ACT math 24 -> calculus shows real dedication, even just a semester of it).
However I would recommend he sticks with Environmental SCIENCE vs. Studies, as it is considered more rigorous and has better professional outcomes or graduate school prospects.
And now, time to enjoy senior year! 
Your son should major in what he wants to major in. My son is a poli sci major with an MPA and his work/career has been consistently focused on environmental policy related work. He has worked in the past in the nonprofit sector and now has government employment. I don’t think the undergrad degree means anything at all. I do think within his specific career focus he might have a leg up if he had an engineering background – there is some crossover between policy and planning – but there’s always the option to pick up certificates if they will enhance career prospects.
But the reason my son has the job he has is because of a work resume showing a sustained interest in the field, supplemented with volunteer activity.
^I agree with you - sustained interested as demonstrated by leadership, internships, volunteering, will be essential and is more important than the major itself. But overall, because there’s environmental science and environmental studies, the latter is seen as “ES minus the science”, which may not be exact (but can be). So the “list of relevant courses” for an Environmental Studies major will have to clearly establish scientific knowledge, not just social knowledge. Environmental policy BTW is a great field.
But my point is that undergrad doesn’t really matter that much in the field For the jobs that really do require scientific knowledge, a grad degree is probably needed. And to get into a graduate science program, a student would need the prerequisites — but OP’s bigger problem would that the schools he is looking into are not typically feeders into PhD programs. (And again, nothing wrong with that – my son is a graduate of a CSU) Just that had he received a BS rather than a BA from his CSU, I doubt it would have made much of a difference in terms of employment.
Bottom line, outside of fields like computer science and engineering, most undergraduate degrees don’t directly qualify students for specific careers. They need to either be supplemented with work experience and/or graduate level studies. My son was employed in an environmental advocacy position immediately after college graduation - so he didn’t need his grad degree to get a job. The reason he went to grad school is that he got laid off during the recession, when other employment prospects weren’t that great – so it made sense at the time to return to school to enhance his credentials (as well as give him access down the road to the graduate university’s career placement services, which has proven to be very helpful).
I agree with both of you. However I really think the actual major is going to come down to the curriculum and what interests him the most. It is an incredible variety of offerings depending on the school and some of what seems to “fit” better may be more on the studies and policy side, yet aren’t necessarily short on science. However, some of the “science” options can be quite short on the policy aspect and he does want both. My comment was directed towards one specific program and what that one offers versus the science curriculum. It is a school where it could be hard to switch, and graduate on time, not a lot of crossover despite both being housed in the same colelge of the environment and natural resources. Due to that he needs to dig into what seems like it will be best to minimize risk. Both my H and had been pushing the science over the studies but at the end of the day, he needs to choose what interests him most and where he will be the most successful and H and I are coming around to the idea that it may not be the science side.
It does not help that his bleeding heart could really care less if he makes much money, as long as it’s sustainable.
Either way, consistent passion in an area demonstrated through research, work and volunteer activity (which yes, all showed in his apps and helped compensate for that 24 I am sure) goes as far, or farther, than the actual degree. Work ethic is not an area I am worried about at all. The reverse is more likely and quite probably a compounding factor in the current situation. But. He is well rounded, passionate and involved. He works hard on things he truly cares about. His areas of interest come through very clearly and I’ll take that…over the calc class.
That said, he does not have the temperament or interest or passion, in my opinion, for engineering. I am married to one, and work for an engineering firm. He is far too out of the box to survive engineering undergrad. We looked at fairly heavily for a while but I don’t see that as his path. At least not right now. There certainly are some certificate programs out there that could make sense at some point but we will see.
Thanks again
Your son sounds a lot like mine – my son did better in high school than yours & had much stronger test scores, but floundered in college because of that need for passion as a motivator. In high school he could wing it and get away with minimal effort for the classes that didn’t appeal to him, but that didn’t work in college – so when he went off to a demanding college, he ended up with a 3.0 GPA that was formed from a combination of A’s & C’s and D’s. With the A’s in the classes you would think would be the toughest (like Chemistry) – but I think he needed challenge to sustain interest, and at college #1 he couldn’t get away with turning in a b.s. paper with minimal effort. (He later transferred to college #2 where his GPA went up, in part because the school was a much better fit for his learning style.)
It is common for kids to change their majors in college, and it isn’t a matter of how courses are described in the course catalog. Once on campus students quickly figure out that the professor teaching the course is a lot more important than the course description, and that there is an overall ambiance to various departments that may make one major more or less attractive than others. Since your son is gravitating toward smaller schools, those factors will take on even greater importance, because there will be fewer professors to choose from - so if the prof who teaches core classes within a certain department turns out to be a problem (for whatever reason)… that may be the driving factor for a change of major. It tends to happen in more subtle ways – your son is unlikely to come home and tell you that he has decided not to major in environmental whatever because professor so-and-so is a jerk. – it is far more likely that your son just takes some class in some other department from Professor Awesome, and decides he wants to sign up the next semester for another course taught by Professor Awesome… and pretty soon he’s an Awesome acolyte dead set on majoring in whatever it is that Professor Awesome was teaching – even more likely if Professor Wonderful also teaches in the same department.
And that’s fine. Your 18 year old high school senior needs to choose a college where he can explore and grow. My son who now works in the field yours aspires to entered college as “undecided” and didn’t have a clue what he wanted to focus on. He was a “maybe Chemistry” student. Life took him in other directions.
That may be a downside to the particular school – so something to consider carefully – because most college students will change their major. I do think that in general it’s easier to switch away from a science oriented major to the non-science major rather than the other way around, because science courses are taught with prerequisites and course sequences that have to be followed.
But I think as an parent you should assume that there is a fairly strong likelihood that your son will change majors or focus . Apparently roughly 80% of undergrads change their majors at least once during their undergrad careers… though I am having some difficulty verifying that statistic – nonetheless, I think it’s safe to put “change of major” in the category of “more probable than not.”
You might look at his calculus episode as a useful warning – you don’t want your son in a situation where he is boxed in if he encounters a similar roadblock at the college level.
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I have no assumptions that he will stick to this as a major. He has no such assumptions. It is an area of strong interest and passion and one in which we can see different career path options and has served as a starting point, or more accurately a current point given that he started out looking at Environmental Engineering.
Versus say, poli sci. which is a fabulous thing to study. As is philosophy. But even harder than environmental studies (by way of example) to find any kind of related career path from the major itself, outside of law school. As a poly sci major myself I do confess to having a preference for a more easily translated type of degree. I changed majors. I get it, completely. I also get the dangers of a small school if one chooses it for a specific program.
It is a quandary to be sure. Will he do best in a LAC that will nurture him and let him explore, knowing that he could end up majoring in something completely esoteric? Would he do better in a larger but not huge school that has lots of options, is very deep in his area of interest but may be harder to switch gears? Is there an in between? More importantly, is there an in between he actually likes, is affordable and that he has been accepted to? We do not have those answers yet. It is part of what stresses him out despite us clearly telling him he does not have to know now.
But really, what path am I willing to pay for? Pricer option that is deep but hard to switch might be harder to justify the price tag for if said switching happens. That’s an entirely different question to which I don’t have a clear answer yet. This is not a child who is focused on a masters program or PhD…but also one who doesn’t rule it out at some point. Nor does he rule out law school, though I am not a fan of that idea at all for multiple reasons.
What I hope my son has learned from this is a few things. First, he knows he can fight through something if he really wants to. We’ve seen him do it in AP Physics and in Spanish. He is not a natural student and he works very hard for the grades he does get, the ADHD certainly doesn’t help. He also knows when to cry uncle and if he is truly over his ski tips. Both skills are needed for college success. I’d rather he call for help and know help will be there than to drown for the sake of drowning (pride).
Quick update on notification results
Accepted at 7, notified 6 as one school has since fallen off.
2 out of office replies with no direct contact yet.
1 “thanks for letting us know, we will update your file”
1 “thanks for letting us know and best wishes for a strong finish”
1 “thanks for letting us know, I see no issues on our end”
1 "thanks for letting us know. This will not have a negative impact to your candidacy to xxx college and I really appreciate your mature approach on this matter.
So…so far so good I guess and we stay turned. “Strong finish” school is the one that required 4 years of high school math and one that he provided a more detailed explanation to his email so I guess that means they’re OK with it? I would’ve liked a little more clarity along the lines of the very clear statements made by the other two.
I will say the two that provided the reassuring statements went up in my book, that was very thoughtful and appreciated.
If any explanation is requested to explain the dropped course - has he already gotten the B- in the first semester? That is a solid grade but could motivate a kid to say, hey, I don’t want to move on with more calculus until I solidify my understanding of that first semester material, so I’m going to stop calculus now. and start over at the beginning in college. This will give me a stronger understanding of the basics.