Hello
My child is going to Stuyvesant HS next year - it’s full of brilliant STEM focused kids, I am told.
My child is more of a Humanities kid. My question is: how important for college admissions is it for her to take all the hardest Math classes? Will she be rejected if her transcript is Humanities focused, with APs and such mostly in the Humanities? Does she have to take every AP she can, even things like Calculus BC, in order to be competitive? I went to a very competitive school myself, and took every AP I could, even those outside my interest. I don’t know if that was a mistake.
If the student is aiming for the most selective colleges, having a well rounded base in all subject areas is likely to be necessary.
The most selective colleges expect math / science focused students to choose the hard courses in English, history, etc… It is likely that they expect humanities focused students to choose the hard courses in math and science.
Note that this does not necessarily mean taking every possible AP course. Taking courses like AP statistics, AP environmental science, or AP human geography in place of courses like precalculus, physics, or level 3-4 of foreign language is unlikely to be a good choice.
Of course, if the student is aiming for less selective colleges, the need for college admission purposes to choose the hard courses in all high school subject areas is less.
Miles to go. Your kid will be expected to take math. Which math will be highly dependent upon her junior year grades. Additionally, Stuy limits the number of AP courses based upon GPA. So some decisions will be out of her control.
Will AB vs BC matter for college admissions? Probably not in her case. But for an 8th grader or her parent to worry about course selection in 3 years time is pointless. The counselor will help her forget the schedule best for her. Your role at this time is to support her and help her adjust to a very, very intense HS experience.
Your kid needs to acclimate to Stuy. No matter how talented or diligent, the workload alone (plus the commute if you don’t live close by) is going to take a lot out of your kid. You need to give your child time and space to get adjusted before you worry about senior year classes and AP’s and college admissions! Time and place for everything. Now’s the time to help your kid adjust to HS, not to worry about college.
Geometry → Algebra 2 → Precalculus → Calculus AB or BC
There is an honors sequence, but it is apparently focused on those doing math competitions.
There are also a few more advanced courses beyond calculus BC, and electives like AP statistics and math for liberal arts, among others. Stuyvesant requires four years of math, so the additional advanced courses and electives presumably exist for those who complete calculus BC early or choose to get off of the mainline math curriculum before calculus.
Progression and placement into AB or BC for calculus depends on previous math grades.
If the student going into 9th grade will be taking geometry, it is way too early to be concerned about calculus. It is also way to early to assume that a humanities focused student will dislike or do poorly in more advanced high school math.
The most important thing is that your daughter does well in the classes she takes. Stuy has a well regarded math program ( as do many other top public and privates). But if her interests and skills lie elsewhere that’s fine too. Just make sure she follows the advice of her counselor and teachers in terms of rigor v. grades.
Also developing her interests throughout high school, she may find a subject that really interests her. In a top competitive school, other kids are going to be hard working and intellectually capable. It’s tough. But she’ll land wherever she was going to in any case.
There are lots of discussions regarding AP’s on CC. Pros and Cons. Don’t know what is normal for Stuy students in terms of the number of APs or their rigor. At some schools kids will take a handful at others kids graduate with 12+. At some schools most kids get 5’s at others 3 is normal. You could ask questions and find out what is normal at Stuy.
I’d say most important thing is to find what you love, do well in everything and get as much rigor as you can. She might turn out to be great in a STEM field. She might be a humanities kid. in 9th grade, it’s too early to call, IMO.
Just because she got into Stuyvesant, is it where she wants to attend?
Why does she want to attend Stuyvesant (please don’t go because it is Stuyvesant)
I say this as a parent who attended a specialized high school and whose own kid turned down Stuyvesant because she did not want to attend and it wasn’t a good fit for her.
Why don’t you just wait until the regular high school choices come out and visit those schools? We are very fortunate to have some excellent choices for public school (especially if you are in district 2)
To answer your question, at many of the top LACs (where there are STEM majors but no engine), most students will have taken calculus in high school and there may be a math requirement (calculus) for college graduation. There’s no need to take the hardest math, and colleges tend to look at how prepated kids are for what they are going to study. So calculus isn’t a given, but is often in the mix.
While I agree with others that it is too early to worry about college, I think that some variant of the exercise you’re doing is helpful. If there are prerequisites for certain classes, it’s helpful to make sure you preserve the options for those until you eliminate that path. At this point, class selection should be about having a positive experience, exploring new areas, and maintaining options.
Over the next year, encourage your D to spend some time throughout the year reflecting on how she is enjoying each of her classes. What does she like and dislike and why? This is everything from how much time and effort it requires, how easily she grasps concepts, what kind of homework is helpful, engaging, or tedious, etc.
Every year, the key in course selection should be seeking balance. Our school started each year’s course selection process with the question “am I sleeping enough?” Sounds so basic, but there are only so many hours in a day! It’s never a good idea to have 1 or 2 classes that demand so much of you that you don’t have enough time to do decent work in your other classes or that leave you no time for EC interests. And it’s awfully when those 1 or 2 aren’t your favorite classes, yet that’s what happens when a student over extends themselves in a class that doesn’t play to their strengths.
Rest assured that there are plenty of good colleges for students with different interests. And if she doesn’t have calculus under her belt, she needn’t pursue ones that prefer it. Please don’t let these 4 years become an extended college admissions test. There will be good options available to the student she is at the time and she’ll be best able to know who that is if she follows a course that allows her to be true to herself.
The DoE got rid of District 2 preference at least one year ago. All of those high schools are now open to residents of all 5 boroughs, plus a certain percentage of seats at each of those schools is reserved for ICT students and students who qualify for free lunch. There are virtually no schools with preference for Manhattan residents while there are still several excellent high schools that have preference for Brooklyn or Queens residents. Under New Policy, Selective Manhattan High Schools Offer More Seats To Students Outside District - Gothamist
Schools, like ELRO, Lab, Millenium, Baruch, etc. still rank their kids for admissions. There were no rankings last year due to COVID.
There have always been a number of seats set aside for ICT/SWD students, but they do not get preference in the admissions process. YOu can see the number of seats set aside for SWDs and how many applications per seat each school receives. Schools that are 6-12 are still giving preference to continuing students.
Screened schools that consider course grades, attendance, and assessments, are still doing that process.
I understand the whole diversity in admissions that the DOE is putting in place but the preference will go to a student who receives free/reduced lunch and meets that school’s admissions requirements.
We are still waiting for HS enrollment to provide offers to schools and families (principals received their confidential list of students who were matched and receiving potential offers last week). Schools are just waiting for their list notices to invite families to open houses, etc.
Every student will be matched to a school and told where they have been waitlisted and their number on the waitlist.
I understand it’s early and it’s time to let her acclimate to high school. I just don’t want to set her on some track that’s going to make it unnecessarily tougher for her to get into the more desired colleges. The Stuy materials make it seem as if what she does now will determine her entire math path all the way through senior year.
She wants to attend Stuyvesant . She didn’t like even the best of the regular admissions choices are much. I went to a specialized high school myself, so I know what it entails and have told her.
You will know her match by Wednesday afternoon. Wait to see where she is matched and where she falls on the wait list. Visit, talk to counselors and the admin then make a decision