To be honest his passion is CS and chemistry. The only reason he went with the math is because CS requires so many math courses that it was a more of why not. It wouldn’t hurt for a resume and also good for putting on the tutoring bio. Of course he could take them and still get a 3.80 but it’s the time needed for studying etc…so dropping math would allow an easier schedule of 12-13 credits instead of 15-16 as well 2 demanding courses 1 in the fall and 1 in the spring.
In 10 years, would he rather say he also has a math minor or that he graduated SCL? Me, I think the SCL lasts long (forever). By his second job, the math minor is probably not important.
No one has ever asked my minor, which is a good thing because I didn’t have one. My school didn’t offer them at the time so no one had one.
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No one has ever asked me if I graduated with honors…not even at my first job interview. Certainly not at any subsequent ones.
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Perhaps another way to decide:
- Sign up for the math course(s).
- If they are interesting in the first few weeks, keep them.
- If they are not interesting in the first few weeks, drop them (or replace with other course(s)).
- Let the math minor and MCL/SCL end up where they end up.
What I’ve told my high school junior on track to be valedictorian …
The only person that will ever care is your mother. And even then, probably only on graduation day. That’s not worth giving up fun or exploring something that might be of interest but not a course that you’ll get an A+ in. I think those are the things you’ll regret missing and will be more meaningful toward your future.
In terms of having to drop a minor (if it’s something he sees contributing to what he wants to do in the future), it’s not worth it just to keep SCL. Future employers will care more about the skills he has than a small difference in GPA.
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I would not push or advise anything. I would let things happen naturally. If he wants the minor, doesn’t want the minor, has SCL, doesn’t have it etc….it’s on him. His decision, his hard work, his interests, his goals etc. It sounds like he is doing great and I would not push.
It doesn’t look like he’s heading to any type of grad school, or at least not now. Even if he was, it’s still his decision as to whether he wants to put in the work for the honors. IMO mental health is always the priority.
I have a family member who graduated with a degree in bme. He was asked on several interviews about his gpa and test scores. That being said, this doesn’t seem to happen all the time and your son already has a very good gpa, even without Latin honors.
I would want him to enjoy his senior year and let things happen naturally.
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Thank you to everyone for some excellent advice and perspective on the matter. We had a discussion and it seems the best route for him is to drop the math minor(it won’t have any impact on his future job, only another subject he could have put on his tutoring bio).
This will allow him more time for football, tutoring, church, dating etc…and at the same time make the SCL track easier to obtain. So he will have 12 credit hours instead of 15 as well. To me, from what I gleaned from most of you, the most important part is having time for other things and mental health which far outweighs the SCL which doesn’t garner any benefit going forward in school or work.
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Seems the answer has been found and I did not read the entire thread, but my college freshman has found (CS/Math double major) that most everyone is getting A’s at his uni. If this is the case at your son’s school then he might really want to ensure that his grades are not worse than his peers. Also (at my son’s uni) they do not really allow much differentiation in courses taken so it looks like at the end of the day, most of the graduates will pretty much look the same from an academic standpoint.
Presumably it will be up to internships/projects/connnections/diversity to differentiate yourself for the first job.