<p>Awesome,</p>
<p>Would you advise skipping the first semester of calculus and physics if you had 5 on AP exams for engineering students.</p>
<p>Thanks for your thoughts.</p>
<p>I don’t know as much as AO, but my son is finding the honors intro Physics class very rewarding and challenging. It is already designed for students good in physics with previous experience. The course uses the same book as the advanced Physics class at MIT and uses lots of calculus. I believe you have to have a 5 on AP Physics C in order to skip (calculus based) the physics requirement.</p>
<p>Thanks for that insight southeastmom. My son is taking the AP Physics C class so would be eligible to skip the first semester course if he gets a 5. He got 5s in the AP exams he took last year, and has an A+ in the AP Physics class, but won’t take the exam until May. He’s talking about skipping at least the initial calculus, but just makes me a little nervous, so looking for any insight, particularly if anyone did skip these classes.</p>
<p>My son said it’s ok to skip if you stay in the regular level, but that it is not advised to go directly into second semester honors (which isn’t offered in the fall semester anyway). The first semester honors course (475) is much more difficult that what he would have had in Physics C. I think his decision should rest on how much he loves physics. If it’s just a course to get over with to get into the engineering curriculum, then maybe he’s not interested in the honors sections anyway.</p>
<p>My daughter took the AP credit for Calc 1 and started in the second level of calc without any problems. She started as a physics major. She did not skip the first level of physics because she took the Physic AP–B, which I think was algebra based. She did take honors physics her first two semesters, but there is a different professor now.</p>
<p>DS skipped Calc 1 and took the AP credit for it. He could have skipped Calc 2 but being freshman year, we didn’t know if his HS covered everything etc. Our thinking was either it would be an easy A or he would learn stuff he missed. He did take honors physics and it wasn’t a problem for him. he had Dr. Stewart for the honors physics.</p>
<p>My son received Save the Date information for the Admitted Students dates on Saturday 2/25, 3/24 and 3/31 and then a different notice for the UHC admitted students dates on Friday 3/16 or 3/30. He will definitely attend but we were wondering should he do both the UHC and the regular? The only back to back dates are 3/30 and 3/31 but he has off school on 3/16 and 3/19 which would make the 3/16 UHC admitted student day preferrable and would allow him to not miss any school. We will probably do the 3/30 and 3/31 dates and pull him out of school but I thought I would check here to see if any one has done both the regular and UHC and if it helped in your college decision.</p>
<p>We ended up having an emergency and did not attend any admitted student/UHC events. However, I think that going to the UHC days would be more valuable because it will allow your son to meet other honors college students and perhaps meet someone he can room with or at least correspond with should he decide that he is attending Pitt. My daughter met a young woman three years ago at PittStart who has become one of her best friends. The first time I saw them together, one had on a t-shirt with a big orange and the words “Help Stamp Out Scurvy” and my daughter was wearing her shirt that has a man on it with big hairy arms and the words “Second Amendment.” lol I should have known they would stay friends.</p>
<p>Thanks to the parents with advice on skipping calc and physics. I won’t worry if DS skips calc1, but will advise against skipping physics. He told me he doesn’t think his HS physics class is particularly strong, so skipping physics 1 seems like a bad idea if it’s even a possibility. He’s not in the honors program, so don’t know if he’d be able to take the honors class.</p>
<p>southeastmom,</p>
<p>Do you happen to know what physics text your son uses for the honors class?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Is Honors Physics still Phys 0475? If it is, for Fall 2011, the book was “Introduction to Mechanics” by Kleppner. The book list for Fall 2011 is still available online (Pitt’s bookstore) plus when your child registers for classes, it will list the required books (if available). I have already ordered the books for DS’ spring semester. I have found it is cheaper to get them from Amazon (sometimes their “new” prices are cheaper than the bookstore’s used prices).</p>
<p>Thanks, MT. Does Pitt have placement exams for higher level courses? Because my son has such an unusual educational path, I think it’s going to be hard at any school that’s not super selective to figure out where he should jump in.</p>
<p>For instance, last year as a high school junior, he audited a year-long senior level college physics course at the local state univ. The text, Griffith’s Electromagnetism, is the same text used in Princeton’s junior level course. My son got an unofficial grade (his prof said it was the highest in the class and my son’s tutoring the course this year) but no official grade. Is this something he’ll be able to work out with a physics chair if he decides to major in physics or is Pitt pretty rigid about these things? I assume they accept CC units and AP exam scores but the other stuff is more nebulous. My son’s done all the math and physics APs and all the community college math and physics courses but I still wonder how it will all work.</p>
<p>I am concerned because, as a homeschooler, my son was under more scrutiny than other applicants as I understand Pa. law is less flexible with homeschoolers, and I wonder if Pitt would be willing to work with him if he attended.</p>
<p>Well, one step at a time, I guess.</p>
<p>Second semester Honors Physics (476) book is Electricity and Magnetism by Purcell. It is back in print. MTnest is correct about the 475 book.</p>
<p>sbjdorlo: I would email the Physics dept. and ask about it. I don’t believe there is a placement test for Physics but there are prerequisite courses required for the upper level classes.</p>
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<p>It is pretty rare to find a great high school physics program, so I think it is safer to take the physics. If a student is really interested in physics, but doesn’t get the honors college letter, he or she can ask to be put an honors class. One of the things that has made Pitt’s honors college different from many others is that it is designed to be inclusive.</p>
<p>sbjdorlo–I also would encourage your son to contact the physics department and ask the questions you have. My daughter talked with the person in charge of undergraduate advising and he set up an appointment with another professor who specialized in the area of physics that my daughter was interested in at the time. The second professor asked my daughter what she thought the chances were that she would actually end up at Pitt (because of her scores and grades). She has never regretted not attending a higher ranked school and has been challenged at Pitt. If you look at some of the recent winners of national scholarships at Pitt, you can see that students are not pursuing the typical paths to a degree. You might be very surprised at how accommodating Pitt can be.</p>
<p>I got my acceptance letter mid October and still have not heard anything about scholarships yet… Is this normal? Or does it mean I’m not getting anything??? When I started applying to colleges Pitt was my first school I applied to and I did not realize that they looked at your application and made a decision before everything you said you would include (essay, recs, etc) got there. Therefore, they never received any recs from me or an essay. I have heard you are not even considered for scholarships if you didn’t supply admissions with this initially. Is that true? If so, is there anything I can do to be considered for scholarships anymore?</p>
<p>If you have SAT scores (M and CR combined) of 1450 or higher, or an ACT of 33 or higher, you should contact Pitt and ask. It’s possible that you fell through the cracks. And it doesn’t hurt to be proactive.</p>
<p>Yeah I don’t have that. Even though my ACTs are lower than that, do I have any chance at a scholarship? Also, I am taking my ACTs again this saturday… if my scores improve would it be beneficial to send the new ones to Pitt, or did they already give out scholarships?</p>
<p>csjohnson16 – Ouch. That’s a “gotcha” we discovered by doing some research on this forum. Even if you tell them you’re sending some “optionals,” once the "required"s are in, the application is considered “complete” and can get evaluated without benefit of the optionals. We held out my son’s transcript and mailed it with his essay and counselor recommendation to make sure they arrived at the same time.</p>
<p>Since you’re taking the ACT again, if you like your results, contact Admissions like LurkNessMonster suggests. You were going to do it anyway (re-take ACT) and it’s worth a shot.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Interesting point, SteveC. At my daughter’s school, the transcript, recommendations, and a resume were all sent in the same packet to complete applications. I guess that school knew what it was doing.</p>