<p>Do you live in California? If so, you will be operating by your own set of rules. If not, to maximize choices down the road...</p>
<p>Encourage her to take every subject at the highest level available at her school. At the least, encourage her to take every course at the highest level appropriate for <em>her</em>.</p>
<p>Make sure she takes the SAT I or ACT by the end of junior year, and preferably at least 2 SAT IIs also. (Three may be better.) If she takes a science sophomore year and is doing well (chem, for example), have her take the SAT II at the end of the course sophomore year. This will take pressure off next year. Take Math IIC at the end of precalc.</p>
<p>Encourage her to pursue her interests, whatever they may be.</p>
<p>As a talented science and math student, she should definitely take Calculus and Physics, at the AP level if possible, if she wants to apply to highly selective schools.</p>
<p>Find out if she can participate in any of the contests (Intel/Siemens, AIME, et al).</p>
<p>Definitely the AP Calculus, Stats as second math course if she chooses. The Calc course may place her in a higher math course in college, or at least prepare her for a theory based Honors course at some public U. Not only sciences require calculus now- economics and business also do. The best college science courses require calculus. Statistics is not a building block for other courses, she can take it any time, whereas having calculus, even the semester's worth of AP, is needed for many science choices. AP physics can easily be taken before calculus- and a 5 obtained on the test (in son's HS some students take AP physics instead of regular, and before they are ready for calculus).</p>
<p>The single most important piece of advice? To me it would be that top colleges are looking for interesting kids who are involved in interesting things. Yes, they all have to have excellent scores, grades, rank, essays and recommendations. But more importantly they have to demonstrate an intellectual spark and a personal dedication to some area of interest that reflects what is important to them. </p>
<p>Good luck on the journey. This board will be the source of bountiful information but also conflicting advice. Let your daughter develop and later articulate her interests, her passions, her ambitions. Colleges want kids who not only know their own minds but know how to use them.</p>
<p>re #23: The UC system has its own way of calculating GPA based on its own requirements. California residents usually want to apply to that system, even if they also apply elsewhere, since it is financially advantageous and includes lots of good schools.</p>
<p>The most important advice I would suggest, just did this last year with D. She also excelled in Math and Science and is a freshman at top University, is:<br>
1. run the EFC calculators to see where you fit and have that most important talk with her as to what you can afford. Very important. Saves a lot of tears.
Finaid.org is a good place to start. Valuable info.
2. Look for schools that offer generous non-need merit based FA and schools that match 100 % need There is also a lot of FA for first in family to go to college as well</p>
<ol>
<li>Have D make her list of colleges, broad spectrum. Private, public, match. safety and reach.</li>
</ol>
<p>Wow! Thank you so much, everyone!!! So we're set on AP Calc now. The explanations on why were very helpful. She gets a lot of info at school like, oh, don't take AP Calc, it's way too hard. Take AP Stats and you'll be much happier. Seeing the importance of it changed her mind, though, so thanks!!</p>
<p>She's already planning on taking the PSAT, so I guess that will give us some sort of realm of reality when those scores come in. </p>
<p>Thanks again, everyone!!! I can't wait to read more helpful hints.</p>
<p>Good luck on the PSAT. If she does really well on that test and reaches the semifinalist threshold, that will definitely open up additional great opportunities for her.</p>
<p>Doors may open through National Merit standing, but that is no guarantee of being accepted at elite schools or getting any money. When the time comes be wary of schools trying to boost their standing by luring the NMS students, always check the academic fit of a school, not just the financial fit.</p>
<p>Also, I would encourage you to not talk obsessively about college to her, but work and research behind the scenes, otherwise it'll become a source of stress too early on. CC is great because you can talk to read about it here and learn without bothering her. If you can find an upper classman Mom or Dad who has successfully navigated your school with a kid of similar interests, that can be a wealth of info (i.e. which teachers to avoid, etc.). Also good advice I got at one point is that it's okay if your kid is "well-lopsided" vs "well-rounded." If she loves math and science, she should go for it rather than dabble around in other humanities classes that she may not like as much. Also, I second the idea of entering a science fair junior year--science and tech schools love that. Finally, your daughter should get to know your school counselor a bit. If the GC does anything helpful, send a nice note or homemade cookies into her as a thank you. You want her in your corner.</p>
<p>My S is a junior this year. He took AP Caculus BC last year and did well with it. His initial thinking is that he might major in physics in college, so he's taking AP Physics C this year. He mentioned the other day that he was happy he took calculus before, as opposed to contemperaneously with, physics.</p>
<p>As for math, a discussion last year with the calculus teacher revealed that the AP Stats class was no so rigorous math wise. The teacher suggested he could pick up a better stats class in college later if he felt he wanted it. So, off we went looking for other options. Due to logistical considerations, we declined the cheaper option of having him take a higher math class at a community college. Instead, we signed him up for an on line class in linear algebra. The idea is to follow this up next year with an on line class in multivariable calculus. Caveat: His father is a math professor so he gets great hand on help as needed.</p>
<p>If I had a "do-over" it would be to sit down and come to a meeting of the minds on internet use. We had a long-standing TV and telephone policy in place which didn't need to change in HS, but since H and I are of a different generation, we didn't realize that online activity is significantly more time-consuming, absorbing, and potentially time-wasting than the other forms of electronic behavior.</p>
<p>Several colleagues and friends of mine describe online habits of their HS kids which leave me flabbergasted. My kids are older... so they were the first wave, but these are kids who are literally IM'ing and twittering and facebooking and whatever from the second they get out of school until someone makes them go to bed.</p>
<p>So I would approach it with your D like it's a math problem- there are 24 hours in a day; she needs to figure out how many of them she wants to spend eating, sleeping, going to class, getting exercise, doing her household chores, etc. Figure out of the remainder how much she'd like to allocate to "entertainment" and then as a family you will figure out how much of that she can spend on various computer or facebook type activities.</p>
<p>In the absence of an upfront limit, by senior year you may find her spending virtually all of her leisure time pushing buttons and scrolling. Which is great.... except for all the other things she never had time to do or explore.</p>
<p>Agree on calc. A first generation college female with a strong prep in math and science rocks!! You may want to encourage her to attend every "career day" or other similar event that you can easily get her to.... many girls assume that their career options are doctor, math teacher, or accountant. She may love one of those fields, but exposure to forensic science, epidemiology, actuarial science. quantitative finance (not so "in" this week due to the credit market mess but still a good career long term), biostatistics, chemical engineer, patent attorney etc. will help her understand why all the HS courses she's taking now will lead to really interesting (and potentially lucrative) career options down the road.</p>
<p>blossom - thank you so much for that list of career options! You're right on about her thinking her options are doctor or math teacher. I look forward to sharing some of these other options for her to explore. Oh, and we have imposed some stricter guidelines on the computer usage, and believe it or not she didn't shrivel up and die!! Can you imagine? :)</p>
<p>Yes, I've definitely learned my lesson on not talking too much about college to her, so I'm so glad I found this site!!!</p>
<p>Science fair is a great idea for her. She won lots of awards and $$$ in her intermediate years, but that's when it was mandatory. I'll have her ask around school to see what they do in high school as far as that goes.</p>
<p>i work in the energy industry in texas,whille I am a middle aged geoscientist. I was at lunch yesterday with two recent (May) grads one Petroleum Engr, the other Chem E.... fully professional, respected, enjoying their work and making about $80,000 a year..... lots of opportunities for anyone -including female:) who are interested and skilled in science, math , technology</p>
<p>There are also many summer programs for students in math and the sciences; several of these target young women, such as the one at MIT. The best college prep we did was having my sons attend an intensive summer program between junior and senior years. They learned a lot about what college life is like, and didn't sweat the small stuff nearly as much. It gave them a good foundation for their college majors, too. You can do a web search for these programs, or go to the summer program section of CC. Also, have her take a look at a math website for students called, if I remember correctly, Art</a> of Problem Solving</p>
<p>If she is wired for math and science, she should definitely take AP-Calc. Normally, a student takes AP-Calc after taking precalculus. A student who wants to take AP-Physics C is usually required to take AP-Calculus concurrently with AP-Calc (unless s/he has already taken AP-Calculus). So, unless the student is fairly advanced, s/he will be taking AP-Calculus and AP-Physics C concurrently in the senior year.
Ask your school about the requirements for taking AP-Chemistry and AP-Biology. In some schools, students are required to take the Honors class in these subjects first, in others, strong students may be admitted directly into the AP class.</p>
<p>For ECs, some schools have Science Teams that participate in things like the Science Olympiads, Science Bowls, First Robotics, Ocean Bowl (for marine biology). My S participated in some of these and had lots of fun, learned quite a bit, and made many friends. </p>
<p>I also agree she should take the PSAT this October, just to see how she does on this test which uses old SAT tests. Then she will be able to see which areas she should try improve for the real PSAT test in her junior year.</p>
<p>Stay tuned. There will be more advice coming your and her way as the year unfolds!</p>