Looking for Linear Algebra or Calc III Online for CA HS transcript

Parents Forum
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Our local CA community college put out its fall schedule, and the evening classes in post-Calc BC math are no longer offered. >:P All the sections conflict with high school classes my son has to take next year as a junior. He currently has only 4 semesters of HS math, since they don’t put the Alg I and Geometry classes from jr high on the HS transcript here. He needs 6 semesters to graduate, and wants 8 semesters.

The best option I see is a Discrete Math/Discrete Structures evening class at the CC. It currently has 2 spaces and 5 waitlist spaces left, and he can’t register until mid-July. So, maybe, but not super likely. So, I’d like a backup plan.

Another option is a one-semester statistics class at the CC (or a full year of stats at the HS). I think he could take AP Stats after that. He’s not very excited about that, and sees it as moving backward and not rigorous enough for junior year.

Other options are online classes. The school district is generally restrictive about credit for online classes. I asked about CTY classes, and his counselor said, “If he were to take a CTY course, we would need to write a waiver. My concern is that they do not have UC approval, which makes me wonder how colleges (not just the UC’s) will view the CTY coursework.”

Does anyone have experience with counting CTY or other distance learning classes as dual enrollment for inclusion on the high school transcript and for counting for the UC math requirements?

Some CA community colleges offer online courses, and his HS is much more likely to give dual-enrollment credit for a UC transferrable class at a CA CC than for a CTY or AoPS class. So far I’ve found linear algebra online at Siskyous, Cerro Coso, and Coastline community colleges. (http://www.cvc.edu/ has outdated info.) Coastline also has Calc 3 online. Does anyone have experience with these CCs?

I’m also waiting to see the Fall schedule for our local UC. However, historically, most of the math classes have morning lectures and afternoon discussion sections, which doesn’t work when you are also taking HS classes.

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Most semester-long statistics courses at California CCs would be duplicates in content of high school AP statistics, so it would be a waste to take both. A strong math student who has completed calculus may prefer a calculus-based statistics course, but these tend to be rare at California CCs (De Anza Math 23 may be the only such course at a California CC).

A discrete math course may be accepted for a math or CS major, and (if it is any good) should provide some introduction to logic and proof techniques that will be used in junior/senior level math and theoretical CS courses.

An on-line college course that produces transferable college credit for multivariable calculus, linear algebra, or differential equations would be more useful than a high school course in those subjects. However, some private colleges may not accept transfer credit for on-line courses or college courses taken while in high school.

Does the high school require 6 actual semesters of math, rather than completion of a high enough level of math? UCs and CSUs specify math in terms of course work completed, but validation policy means that lower level courses are assumed completed by completion of higher level courses (e.g. completion of algebra 2 validates algebra 1).

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@ucbalumnus Thanks.

Sorry, I meant to say he could take the AP Stats test after taking the CC course covering similar material. The HS AP stats class is 1 year, and the CC class is 1 semester. Pretty much the same material. Our UC has a calc-based stats class, but there are morning lecture/afternoon discussion scheduling issues.

The CC’s discrete structures class is listed on Doorways as meeting a math a-g requirement. So, that one is good if I can get him on the waitlist at least. Usually people on the waitlist can get into the class. He is into CS (but probably wants a physics major), so it’s a good fit for his interests.

We are aware that private colleges likely won’t accept CC classes for credit, and he’ll just take their placement test. That’s fine. He felt he did well on the AP Calc BC test yesterday, but clearly some universities are going to prefer their more proof-based approach to calculus, so he will be fine with retaking courses that are taught at a deeper level.

His HS specifically requires 6 actual semesters of math on the transcript for graduation, but that includes anything he can take at a CC or UC for dual-enrollment. It may include other courses via a “waiver,” but I don’t yet know anything about their process for that. (They would probably be willing to count AP CS as a math class via waiver because of last year’s SB1200 and AB1764 laws, but he actually took that AP test his 8th grade year.)

In any case, he likes math, so he doesn’t want to not be taking some sort of math each semester, even after he gets the 6 semesters.

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What about [url=<a href=“http://distance.und.edu/collegecourse/?id=math207open%5Dthis%5B/url”>http://distance.und.edu/collegecourse/?id=math207open]this[/url] for credit linear algebra course from the University of North Dakota? Many privates do recognize courses taken at regionally accredited universities. It’s certainly much more expensive than the California community college option, but it could potentially save quite a bit of money in the long run.

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This discussion is surprisingly informative. Thank you @ucbalumnus! (:

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My daughter enjoyed AP stats, though she did think it’s easier than calc.

She had to schedule two study halls in order to fit a college math class into her schedule and while she really wanted to do it, this caused all kinds of issues --scheduling, school calendars which did not match, cost, transportation (expense of a car, licensing costs, parking, time lost to commuting), having to drop ECs which were important to her–so I had very mixed feelings about it in the end. Doing this in the fall of senior year along with what many would already consider a full high school courseload (6 courses, 5 of them AP/dual) was a little stressful and with college applications also to complete, she didn’t have quite enough time to do the college math justice.

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Thanks for the replies so far. @mathyone, that makes online classes sound good by comparison. UC classes would have most of those problems, except that he would ride his bike there rather than driving and parking. Evening classes at the CC would only cut into homework/family time, but is a car commute not bike.

However, he’s found that he has trouble committing to spending as much time as needed in online classes. But, those were non-transcripted ones. Perhaps it’s going to be on his transcript, he’d schedule his time better…

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Does anyone have experience with Stanford Pre-Collegiate University-Level Online Math & Physics courses (http://ohsx.stanford.edu/)? We recently got snail mail from them, which I expected was just about summer programs. But, it was about online classes for fall and spring terms. They have math courses from multvariable on. It seems to be an “a la carte” version of Stanford Online High School.

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  1. Stanford online High school has a decent list of math classes. Online. UC approved.
  2. You can always check the list of UC approved classes.
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My D is s student at Stanford online HS. Briefly,

  1. classes are great. Excellent curriculum, great teachers, proctored exams
  2. Admission process is unpleasant. It models college admission - family history, race/class/income, recommendation letters, personal statements, etc. All the holistic crap. In the end, they admit almost everyone. All our fiends got admitted. Inflexible deadline for admission.
  3. Again, teachers are great.
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@californiaa Do you have an email address that works for them? I sent email via their website page at http://ohsx.stanford.edu/contact, and never heard anything back.

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For the local CC, if you worry about being waitlisted, you can sign yourself for the class (adults have priority) and put your kid on the waitlist. Then, when the class begins, you drop out and your child gets this free space.

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@californiaaa Tricky, and ethically questionable. However, it looks like “Students with an educational goal of Personal Enrichment” only get a 4-day lead on registering over dual-enrollment kids. And, I’d have to dig up some 30+ year old transcript to show I’ve taken the 1st semester calculus prereq.

Still 3 waitlist spaces left. Fingers crossed.