Thank you, i_am_taxed. The JC science class is Physical Anthropology (and not offered in high school). I am glad to hear that it will count as a 4th year of science.
I believe STEM major requires extensive math and science class typically requiring many AP levels and beyond depending on the target school. I hear AP physics and AP Calc BC is a must for a STEM major.
My kids are not going into STEM field. In some sense, Iām glad they are not interested. Life is too short to be stuck in a cube 12 hours a day. Iāve been working in the tech industry last 25 years. I wish I had majored in something else sometimes.
MommaLue, I could say it was needed to have a science class this year, but āneededā might be a strongā¦ it seemed like a good idea. He was going to take AP Computer Science Principles, but for some reason (scheduling is my guess) the school put him in AP Computer Science A. At the time I thought that was fine, until I read that other thread post. The JC science class (Physical Anthropology) seemed like a good class to take that would transfer later.
In your opinion, if he is looking to be a computer science major, how important is two years of chemistry? I think it would be possible to fit it in the schedule next year, but it would require an additional early moring period before school because of the other classes he needs to takeā¦ definitely doable, just weighing the pros and cons.
Hi everyone,
DD24 just finished 1st trimester of 10th grade. Hard to believe that my kiddo is in 10th grade now. 9th grade was spent mostly online and it was rough. DDās grades suffered a lot, like many other students everywhere. In trimester 1 LAST school year, her GPA for that trimester was a whopping 2.91. Ouch. This trimester, she got a 3.43, so we are pretty stoked.
At the start of last school year, her grade had 45 kids. Now thereās 30 kids, so 15 students left to attend another school instead (weāre at a charter school).
She has 3 APās this year: AP Euro History, AP English Language, AP Bio. DD says that Bio this year is easier than Honors Bio was last year. Sheās in Honors Calculus & will take AP Calc AB next year. Previous years in math have been hard for her, with her usually earning a high C/low B if she busted her butt. Something has āclickedā this year in the math department, though, because sheās got a B+ so far in that.
DD isnāt sure what sheās really interested in pursuing yet in college and weāre ok with that. Between Chem, Bio, & Physics, she prefers biology among the sciences. Thanks to a bad experience with an Econ teacher in 8th grade, sheās decided that she hates economics and thinks, as a result, that a degree in business will be torturous and boring.
Sheās involved in a local childrenās choir & really enjoys that, but thatās just for fun and she does NOT want to study music in college. She & DD26 (8th grade) joined the Robotics club at school this year and she really likes that so farā¦is also taking a Robotics elective this year.
She took the PSAT last month. Interested to see if her scores go up compared to last year. Sheās not great at standardized testing, but said that the math section was way easier this year compared to last year because now she understands all of the math, whereas a year ago, she did not.
Her high school is small, so an obvious choice would be for her to possibly attend a LAC for college, but we are not independently wealthy and paying $50-$70k/year for a LAC education is not in the cards. Weāre in AZ and I think that she will likely end up at ASU or UofA. Maybe if weāre lucky, she might end up with a bit of a merit tuition scholarship.
Other classes this year include Honors Chemistry & French. She doesnāt care much for the chem teacher and neither do the rest of her classmates. Sheāll end up taking AP Chem & Honors Physics next year. Her French class only has 3 students, if you can believe it!
this week and next, the school counselor is meeting with all of the 10th graders in groups of 5 students for 30 min per session to walk them through how to use Naviance. The counselor told all of them to complete this one personality survey/ātestā in Naviance. The counselor also showed us parents how to use it as well, so Iāve got a login myself thatās tied to DD24ās student account.
9th grade was pretty rough and DD was very down about her grades all of last year. But we told DD that weād rather that she make these mistakes now and learn from the experience than make them years down the road where itās a lot more expensive of a mistake in terms of time & money. So, for example, DD learned last year that she does NOT do well with online classes. She excels and performs MUCH better when she attends class in person. Weāre grateful to have learned that in 2020-2021 rather than a couple of years from now when itās go time in college.
2 Likes
You definitely do not need two years of chem for a CS major. You prob donāt need two years of chem to be a chemistry major. I think they prefer a general science (many schools require gen science freshman year), bio, chem, physics. If your kid can swing honors and AP, that would definitely help in terms of rigor.
CS is so competitive that kids I know who got in took AP CS or their ECs were heavy on things like FIRST robotics, coding classes in the summer, etc. The ones that couldnāt do much during the pandemic would do things like take free online courses offered by MIT and then lead virtual sessions for their programs, etc.
I wouldnāt say AP Calc BC is a must. It depends on what the school offers. If the highest math class AP Calc BC then they would want the student to take that senior year. If AP Calc AB is the highest level offered, that would be ok, too. S21ās school offered up to AP Physics 3 but he doubled up on science and took AP Bio and AP Physics1 his senior year and didnāt take a science class his senior year. Had other AP classes he took and got into top UCs and other T20ās and he was a bio major.
In general, for competitive programs your student will need one year of bio, chem and physics, and then one year of one of those classes at the AP level. Personally I think AP physics is more important than AP chem.
I also think it depends on if your student is going to target CS in Colleges of Science or CS in Colleges of Engineering. CoE students will probably have both AP chem and AP physics on their transcripts.
2 Likes
So based on what I am hearing, Iāll suggest to him next year AP Physics and Honors Chemistry. Depending on how that goes, AP Chemistry senior year.
Thanks for the advice. There is only AP Physics 1 taught at his high school, so he can do that next year looking at the prerequisites. AP Chemistry requires one year beforehand, so Iām thinking Honors Chemistry next year and see how that works out.
And regarding Math, I am wondering how that is going to work senior year. Heās on track to take AP Calc AB as a junior, and the school does not offer any other calculus. The only other math class for him to take as a senior is AP Statistics and Probability. So at the moment I am assuming thatās how it will look. I asked his current math teacher if he thought the school may add AP Calc BC, but he does not know and said it may depend on need. I think he should ask his school counselors next year what they think he should do senior year. Were any of you in the same boat with older siblings?
I can give you a little bit of insight. The kids from our HS that get into top CS programs, CS at Ivies, and CS at UCās take a lot of math and physics. They generally donāt have ECs that show an interest in programing or robotics either. It really is just high level math and physics. Also, demographics play a big roll. My D and her female friends had a lot more success compared to equally accomplished make friends. Mathy girls seem to get a bump.
MIT and Caltech want all the academics and then individual ECs related to research or math.
ETA: To me itās more important to look for a CS program that will lead them into great internships and then a job. San Jose State is a great CS program simply because of the job market right there.
4 Likes
Great to see that Your daughter is doing better this year than last year online. I think this seems to be case for many students where they struggled with grades last year or sometimes did ok with grades but find many gaps this year when they take harder classes.
Its interesting how different schools work. we do not even have AP and Honor classes for English and social sciences until 11th grade and many schools have so many APās in these areas. Our school and student body is very STEM focused and so may be thatās why we donāt have them. We also have a info session on Naviance with the kids this month. S24 does not know what he wants to major in yet but hoping this exercise will help him.
1 Like
Yep Agree. We are in a very Similar school and for CS We need high math and Physics and Females do get a bump for CS and engineering majors.
100% agree on the San Jose state being local to silicon Valley and how it helps.
1 Like
100% in support of CSU San Jose State in terms of it being a funnel to Silicon Valley (although Berkeley CS or Berkley MET program is the golden ticket) in the Norcal area.
@Learnum If your school maxes out at AP Calc AB, they should have it captured in their annual school report they send to the colleges. I would recommend AP Stats then. I think for CS major, a jr college calc class that comes after Calc AB would help your kid in a very competitive CS world.
1 Like
I have a mixed view of San Jose State. On the EE/CS side, there are tons of students from abroad in the graduate program. If you just complete undergraduate, it will be difficult to compete against MS kids from the same school.
I typically get resumes from San Jose State 10 times more than any other school. I argue itās better to differentiate yourself in case there is a downturn in the future.
I did my MS in CS at SJSU and one thing I can tell you is they do offer classes in some of the newest technologies than other schools I have seen and for cal state Professors I had were also mostly good. In regards to differentiate I agree that is good if you can do it. If you get into a UC or top ranked college you should choose that but if you donāt get the major you want in other T50 colleges then SJSU is good option. If you are CA resident than you can beat the cost of a CSU.
Yeah, every school system is a little different with a lot of small variations from one district to another!
Yeah, itās not Stanford, but for a lot of kids itās a great pathway to a successful CS career.
1 Like
Great plan regarding jr college calc class after Calc AB along with AP Stats, thank you!
Regarding universities that funnel into the CS industry, weāll definitely suggest that to S24. In addition to Silicon Valley, we will be doing research to find schools other areas that provide good internships, depending on his major. I would like to also find school in So Cal and other areas. I think there are articles on the subject I will seek out and any advice is welcome!
If the school schedule enables enrollment at the community college, why bother with AP Calc AB? If S24 thinks he is ready, consider starting right into the calculus sequence at the CC. Unless the AP Calc teacher is great, in one semester he will quickly cover all of the material from Calc AB and be ready for the second semester.
Small sample size, but at UT Austin, there was no scenario where calc AB had better transfer options than the CC class. Calc BC was a better/cleaner transfer in some scenarios, but if thatās not an optionā¦
It seems like there is a huge upswing in CS popularity making it impacted major in most schools especially in UC.
You could explore EE as an alternative. Many prereq classes are common with CS and depending on your specialty, there is a big overlap with CS majors (computer architecture, machine learning, etc). In recent years, the hardware side of tech has significantly fallen out of favor. With the heavy focus of CS major and SW side of the business, I suspect there will be a shortage in the HW industry in the future. And once you start your career, switching over to SW side is also possible.
1 Like