My son is a rising junior. Loves history, doesn’t mind english or spanish, not a fan or math or science. Math and science don’t come easily to him. He attends a smallish high school with limited class choices. He will be taking Algebra 2A (accelerated) and Physics this year. He got an A in Algebra 1A (with a new, easy teacher) and barely got through with a B in Geometry A (very, very tough teacher and he had help from a tutor).
Next year for math, pre-calc seems like the obvious choice. They do not offer regular pre-calc - just pre-calc honors, with the only teacher being the very tough teacher from geometry. Other math options would be AP Stats or College Albegra for Seniors.
According to his GC, in order to get in UW Madison, he will need pre-calc honors (but she said he should only take that if he can get a good grade). She said another option would be to double-up on math and take both AP Stats and College Algebra for Seniors, instead of the one pre-calc honors class. She said taking one of the other math classes alone would not cut it. Doubling up on math does not appeal to my son at all…
Can you please weigh in on this? Is he stuck taking pre-calc honors?
Onto science (and sorry for the very long post!). He took Biology and Chemistry already and will be taking Physics this year. For senior year, his choices would be Human A and P (1 yr), Earth Science (1 sem), Astronomy (1 sem), Genetic Biotechnology (1 sem) or AP Environmental Science (1 yr). I am leaving out AP Chem and AP Bio as choices since he did not care for either of these classes and leaving out AP Physics because we have no idea how he will do in physics at this point.
Can you please tell me which choices would be best for his chances to get into UW Madison?
I’d say try as hard as you can to get an “in” with that teacher. Google him or something. Find out what he’s interested in and have your kid casually bring it up on the first day that he’s interested in those things as well. Make sure the kid makes an effort to show the teacher he wants a good grade and is willing to take the time to get there. Also, kindness and manners go a long way with geezer teachers, just saying. As for science I’d suggest human anatomy or enviro. sci. for the year if he doesn’t like change and would prefer to build up on the same subject. If he would prefer to be able to take two classes for shorter time periods with less commitment then go for the split year. Have him study up a little bit on the curriculum of each subject and then maybe he’ll figure out if any of those choices are truly interesting or if one stands out as less unbearable than the others. On Wisconsin.
He actually had this teacher for sophomore year for Geomoetry-A. They have a good relationship. He went in for extra help before school at least once a week all year. I have corresponded with her periodically by email and we have spoken at conferences. It’s not that she is not nice…she is just tough. Hard grader, very picky. No partial credit for problems. No corrections. Tests count 75% of the grade. Worst of all though, she does not give the kids their tests back - they look at them briefly and turn them back in. My son would try to remember what he got wrong to discuss it with the tutor. She would not release copies of his tests even when I told her that I wanted him to do corrections and review them with the tutor.
Regarding science choices…would astronomy and earth science (together would equal 1 yr) look worse on his application than Human A and P or AP Enviro?
I see. That does sound tough. Have you talked to administration about the difficulties you’ve faced? Surely there are other students and parents in the same position as you, perhaps you could address it together. My chemistry class sophomore year was 100% test based, luckily though that meant we could retake any test we needed and there was extra credit once a quarter. I would suggest, if the problem does not change this year perhaps she’d allow him to look at the test as long as he kept it in the classroom under her supervision, which was one of my math teacher’s rules.
As for science, I am going to be a senior myself so I don’t know how much weight my opinion carries, but I would say any of those choices sounds fine. You mentioned your child is humanities heavy, so make that a common theme on the app. As long as he is taking advantage of all of the opportunities provided in the history department I think it would be hard to dismiss him because of a less rigorous science transcript. Are you guys in state? I am, and there are alums of my school who got into UW with less than stellar grades, scores, and transcripts. One comes to mind who had a 24 I believe on the ACT, maybe a 3.7 gpa tops, and took only a couple APs, but still got in. Are the rest of his stats in line with Madison’s common data?
Geometry is a different type of math than algebra so it could be easier for him even with a tough grading teacher. Also, he knows how she does things and is prepared for it. Sounds like your school was wise to add the honors designation to precalc since they only have one version- doesn’t hurt to have that. Much better for him to not double up on math courses. Better to have had tough HS teachers than to first face the expectations in college.
For science I would concentrate more on subjects he would enjoy most than just looking at rigor. Taking the most rigorous curriculum and getting lesser grades and also not liking the subjects would not be in his best interest. Take the stress away by allowing him his choices for sciences while taking the more rigorous math option. Always remember he needs to live his life now and not just be preparing a resume.
Relax about his course choices and let him enjoy them this fall. Having precalc next spring will likely mean he is best prepared to do well on the math placement exam so he doesn’t need any remedial math courses in college. That could be an incentive for him to plug away at it.
He will have a different teacher for Algebra 2A this year (thankfully!) He will not have the extra tough teacher again until pre-calc honors senior year. She only teaches that class, along with Geometry-A. Seems like that class choice is inevitable.
I am feeling a bit like a crazy mom, worrying about senor year before junior year has started. But it seems like every single decision matters. Its a terrible feeling. I’m worried that Astronomy and Earth Science will not show “strength of schedule”…I guess based solely on their names.
He’s only a junior?! There’s plenty of time for him to decide what science he’d like to take senior year! And for what it’s worth I think astronomy sounds like a bada*** class but I guess that’s because my school offers nothing cool like that. But for sure have him spend time at some point over the next year doing a little research about these classes - talk to students taking them this year - and decide from there what is the best course of action!
Mom, don’t stress out too much. No matter what HE decides to take (notice, by then it should be his choice) it should work out. Always keep in mind that he needs to live his life now, not only for some future. This means taking a fun course instead of the one you think may show up better on a resume. Keep the joy of learning alive. You might remind him that taking precalc in HS allows for more options in college. He may dcide a different path by the time he enters college, or after college experiences.
btw- no matter which path is chosen there can always be what if’s… so only look forward and have no regrets.
I guess pre-calc honors will be the way to go for math.
I will just have to wait it out for science and try to put it on the backburner in my mind. I am thinking AP Enviro would be better, but my son has been talking about taking Astronomy since he was a freshman. Hopefully, he will have a chance to talk with some seniors about the different science classes/teachers sometime before January.
Definitely make it his choice for the science. You can explain to him the rationale for taking the precalc class when it is time to sign up for it. Remember that teens are still rapidly changing and he will be a different person than he is now.
I second AP environment studies. I took that this previous year and it was both interesting and easy. I’d say take pre calc, I took stats my Junior year as a break before calc but regret it now looking back. Really push environmental science, great class.
