Hi. My daughter likes a hard class more than she likes an easy A. I’m worried that how this has played out in her grades is going to hurt her chances in being accepted to a top college. She has a 3.9 unw and a 4.7 w GPA with the most advanced classes her HS offers. Because she ran out of math classes at her HS, she took “diff eq” and now another math class at the local college. She is getting a B in the college math class and also got a B in calc 3 and in French 3 last year. Will colleges discount her story as a “math kid” because she has gotten Bs in 3 math classes? Will top colleges reject her because she has 4 Bs on her transcript? Her SAT is 1540 as of now and she is a year round varsity/club athlete and plays violin. She will have strong lor. Thanks for any thoughts you may have on what story she can tell
As a prospective math major at a top school, that is going to be a negative. There are lots of students who take those advanced math classes in high school and get As and they are her competition.
Just know that depending on how you define “top,” they’d most likely reject her even if those grades were all As. They simply have far too many fully qualified candidates for the slots they have. The name isn’t what’s important. It’s her drive and curiosity. Of course she’ll want good grades in college and to take advantage of the other opportunities she has.
I understand she is advanced in math but is she really talented in it? Has she done anything like AIME or other competitions? Participated in math camps? What AP scores does she have in Calc AB and BC?
UK universities don’t care about class grades so an obvious option would be to apply to Oxford and practice for the MAT (assuming you can afford to be full pay there). But the level of talent required to actually get a place is pretty high (you will be interviewed by the professors who would teach you) even though they do like to encourage more girls to apply.
She has 5s on all her calc Ap exams. I got her grades mixed up. She is taking college discrete math and will likely get an A. She took college diff eq last semester and got a B. (Maybe the B was in part bc it was her first college class and bc of Covid it was all online or maybe it was bc the class was too hard for her.). She took Calc 3 sophomore year and got an A. She took calc c online during the summer btwn her frosh and sophomore year and got a B bc it was during the summer and she tried to do it in a few days. It could have been an easy A. She got an A in calc A/B and an A in précalculus. Are colleges going to assume as the first commenter did that she is not good at math? Are there a lot of HS kids who take these classes and get all As in them? It’s unusual in our region but maybe not elsewhere in the country. No, she has not done any math camps or competitions. She likes math but doesn’t want to spend her free time doing math comps.
Does this mean…
| Year | Math course(s) |
|---|---|
| 9th grade | AP calculus BC |
| 10th grade | Calculus 3 |
| 11th grade (now) | Differential equations and another college math course |
Seems like she is very advanced in math. B grades in college math courses four years advanced certainly isn’t bad. Yes, these forums may make it seem like there are numerous high school students who earned A+ grades in college real analysis and won international championships in math competitions, but such students are nowhere close to the norm.
However, admission to the most selective colleges is unlikely no matter what.
She also doesn’t want to be a math major but is interested in the sciences and/or engineering. It sounds like from your perspective these grades will hurt her and discount her story of being a math kid. Is there anything you recommend she do on a going forward basis to improve her
“resume” other than stop getting Bs. She wants to stay in the US for college.
Which sciences or engineering majors?
Calculus 3 + differential equations + linear algebra would cover the basic math requirements for most engineering or science majors (add discrete math for computer science and engineering), although some may require more specialized upper level math-or-statistics-like courses.
To be more clear:
8th grade: HS precalc: A
9th grade: calc AB: A
9th grade summer: calc C: B. (this is bc HS math teacher said she would not let her take BC. Also would let her take Calc 3 unless she took calc C
10th grade: calc 3/ linear algebra: A
11th grade: diff eq; B discrete math: A
She doesn’t know what she wants to do specifically. Right now she is trying to figure out her college list.
Thanks for your insight. Given that these grades are a negative, do you have any recommendations on what she should do to improve her chances at this point?
This will seem whack and a waste of hard work, but consider not submitting the Comm College classes to schools, whichever ones she got B’s in
I think your daughter will have many great acceptances if she has a balanced college list. “Top schools” are reaches for every student, even those who have perfect stats. Have a couple in the mix but focus your list on matches, and have at least two safeties.
She doesn’t need to go to a top school to have a great career, especially in engineering.
You need to submit all transcripts to colleges. College level courses are not like AP tests which you can choose to omit.
Interesting idea. You are recommending she not submit the summer school class for Calc C (I don’t know if that is possible); and not submit the college Diff Eq class bc she got Bs in them. It would then look like she didn’t take a math class her first semester junior year. Would that look strange?
You are supposed to submit ALL transcripts. If you don’t your child runs the risk of being rescinded if the school finds out.
@momofboiler1 seems more educated on this. if it isn’t allowed, don’t do it. maybe talk to your counselor about this?
Oh. Just saw momofboiler1’s comments and see that all transcripts have to be submitted. She will definitely apply to safety and perfect-fit in addition to reach schools. My question was more if she should take all of the top 20 or even top 50 schools off her reach list simple bc her Bs in math have basically disqualified her. I don’t want her to waste her time or her ED hoping for something that is no longer even a possibility for her. Does that make sense?
I don’t think a few Bs in hard college level courses are going to take her out of the running anywhere.
You say that like it’s an option. For most colleges, you have to list. And there is no hiding, since enrollment will be listed in the National Student Clearinghouse.