MIT's take on post-calculus math alternatives outside high school & local community college

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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My son is trying to figure out what math classes to take after AP Calc BC sophomore year. We had a plan, really we did… But the local community college threw a wrench in it for this fall by not scheduling evening classes in Linear Alg and Multivariable that they always had before. We’ll see if we can get him on the waitlist for the evening Discrete Math class, but HS students don’t get to register until late July and it’s already full.

He’s not hyperfocused on MIT, though he will certainly apply. Since this part of CC has so many helpful posters, I thought I’d ask what types of math classes outside high school MIT and by extension other STEMy private universities prefer or look favorably upon.

Options we are considering are:

– Online classes through non-local California community colleges. We’ve found one CCC each that offers LinAlg and MVC online if he has a teacher to proctor the tests. He prefers in-person classes, so he currently wants to hold off on the (substantial) paperwork for one of these. These would end up on his HS transcript.

– Online classes through CTY or other non-college distance learning. However, his GC says, “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 UCs) will view the CTY coursework.” Also, his same preference for a non-online class.

– There are a couple late afternoon math classes he could take at our local UC, but he pretty much needs LinAlg before taking those. (They do LinAlg and DiffEq before MVC at this UC.) These would also end up on his HS transcript.

– AP Stats: yawn, 'nuff said.

– Take an evening computer science or astronomy class at the CC this fall (there are plenty of these). And, wait and hope that the CC offers evening math classes in a future semester. He has also run out of CS and science classes to take at the high school after he takes AP Bio junior year. This is his current preference after trying to get into the Discrete Math class.

– MIT Open Courseware. Lots of fun stuff there, and he was in a club/study hall that watched 8.01 lectures this year (because the school doesn’t offer AP Physics C). The school wants something they can put on a transcript, however.

– Any other bright ideas??

His intended major is physics/astrophysics. He’s doing research at a UC lab and various other interesting stuff, so he’s not all about classes.

My related thread:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1774258-looking-for-linear-algebra-or-calc-iii-online-for-ca-hs-transcript.html

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Serious and sincere question:

If the decision was 100% based only on your son’s interest and what he wanted to do, what would he choose?
That will be your most important answer.

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I mean, any of those are good options, and as jpm50 said the real question is what he wants to do.

Little confused about this: “There are a couple late afternoon math classes he could take at our local UC, but he pretty much needs LinAlg before taking those.” Why?

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@MITChris The two late afternoon classes at the UC are Special Topics in Math and Problem Solving type classes, and high school students who have taken them have said that the homework sets in past semesters required Linear Algebra. (However, the profs for these classes change, and there isn’t an official prerequisite, so who knows…)

As to what he wants to do, currently he’d want to spend more time on his astrophysics research and on 3D modeling. So, that’s what he’s doing this summer.

Regarding math, he wants one math class per semester, excluding summer. He wants “useful” math and found most of Calc BC to be “useful” and the first time he felt like he was in the right level of math for him. He prefers in-person classes over online classes. If he needs to do an online class to get the 1 class/semester, he prefers a class with lectures and a defined schedule over self-paced. There are still 3 waitlist spots for Discrete Math at the community college left. So, our fingers are crossed until July 13. Seems like Discrete Math would be pretty useful for some of the astrophysics research he’s doing currently.

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@Ynotgo:
After scanning your multiple CC threads steering your son’s application process, my first thought is if you went into “listen only mode” from now till December 1st, how would he do? I suspect he’d do fine.

Isn’t that the goal?

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Hi! I took online math in high school via UCCS. Their professors and TAs are great! They have a TA/grader committed to just the only HS students and the professors always respond to emails within a few hours (even minutes at times). They’re also really great about rescheduling stuff around his HS and AP schedule.

Highly recommend the program. Helped me a lot and I loved the classes!
Link: http://www.uccs.edu/~mathonline/
Good luck to your son!

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My daughter is taking bc calc as a senior and has not done extra classes at all. She loves to swim and has been on a club team since 4th grade. She will ne swimming at MIT next year. Don’t try to be what they want, be who you are and you will find where you belong.