Hi. My son has the opportunity to advance in math 4 years ahead of his age peers. He would be in Pre-Calculus as an 8th grader. His interests don’t seem to be in math directly, but the sciences are of great interest. The fallback would be to remain three years ahead and do Advanced Algebra in 8th grade. Does anyone have a perspective on how this would be viewed by top boarding school admissions offices? If he isn’t going to be a college math major, is this pushing too far forward? Thx.
They may ask themselves if your student is just too advanced for their program. There have been a number of similar situations here that mirror this. For admission officers I believe fit plays a big part. Can your child fit with a group of incoming students or is he so far off the charts that he won’t fit in with the other students?
First off, I don’t think that you should make your decision based on what it’ll look like to BS adcoms. You should do what is best for your son. If Pre-calculus is the right level for him, why would you hold him back? And by the same token, if it’s going to require a lot of extra effort (classes in the summer, tutoring, etc.), what is the rationale? What, if anything, will he be giving up to do this and is it worth it? He’s finishing 7th grade – how does he know he won’t want to pursue math rather than science in college? He’s still VERY young.
But @MAandMEmom highlights what this might be saying to you about your BS search. Wherever he goes, he will certainly be ahead of most of his classmates in his math sequence, and there will almost certainly be schools that will reject him because they will not be able to serve him well as a result. But would you really want that for him? On the other hand, at quite of few BS, he wouldn’t be a full four years ahead, and there would probably be a handful of kids who are also exceptional math students who are also out of step with the majority of their classmates. At those, he’ll have company and teachers who can keep him engaged. But the burden is going to be on you to find the “right” schools for who your son is as a person AND as a student.
The only thing that I thought of as it relates to admissions is that this puts a lot of pressure on the math section of his SSAT. If I were an adcom, I would wonder about a kid who got so far in front of the curriculum without being able to get an 800 on a test designed for his peers. I’m guessing this won’t be a problem, but knowing that consistency is key in any application, if you have any doubts, you might want to consider that. If you’re doing this only to get an edge in BS admissions, I wouldn’t bother.
Thanks for the input. BS admissions is just one aspect of it. BS is just an area where I am a complete novice. I also thought it best to keep the question focused.
It would require a summer session and therefore a trade-off as it would be choosing linear academic development over a more broadening opportunity.
It never occurred to me that it could actually be a negative for BS. I’ll think about that. I see the point. My initial thought would be that any school for which it is a negative may not be the right fit for him regardless of which way he decides to go with the math.
Thanks again!
Have you asked your kid if he wants to take an advanced math class over his summer break and if you have, did you really listened to his answer?
The question being asked is only part of the question. The question really needs to be expanded to ask: “If my kid does pre-calc in the 8th grade, what would be his math progression in HS?”
While many BS’s offer post-calc BC options, for the most part, it’s some combination of Multivariable Calculus/Linear Algebra/Differential Equations, which will cover him for another year, but then what?
While schools like Andover and Exeter offer several years of post-calc options, they are the exception, and of course, among the hardest to get into. Other schools may look at the application and wonder "What would we be able to do with this kid after his sophomore year?
Based on a cursory review of math competition results, I would venture that more schools can accommodate students who need a few years of post calculus options than many would guess. The classes may not be in the course catalog, but teachers who can supervise independent/small group studies are there. This is a bit of a digression, but I don’t want @tigerdad36 to despair.
If he does not want to go into math, why progress so far into it? why not experiment with other subject matter like stats, econ, chemistry. Have you considered going right into college or dual enrollment? BTW – Milton Academy or BU Academy could handle your son’s math level
@tigerdad36 that seems like a big jump between algebra and pre calculus. Our kids all completed algebra 1 honors for high school credit in 7th grade and moved to geometry honors in 8th grade. All went on to attend Exeter and were nowhere near the most advanced incoming freshman in math. I do believe their advanced coursework helped with admissions.
Thanks to all for your perspectives. Definitely some things neither my son nor I had considered previously. I’m just trying to gather information to help him think about different pros/cons. He won’t need to decide for a few months. He likes to learn and doesn’t have a calendar full of sports or other summer activities so he wants some kind of academic opportunity. I think it really comes down to exploring new areas vs going deeper in math. I do wonder how much math he really needs for most fields of study he may choose down the road. I’m not a science guy and I stopped math after freshman calculus and statistics so I have more homework to do in that area. Another aspect is simply whether he wants to stay home all summer or spend a few weeks away. Nothing life of death here. Still, I appreciate all of you taking the time to help us benefit from your experiences.
Although this will be college specific, unless he’s looking at majoring in engineering, it is unlikely that math beyond Multivariable, Linear Algebra, and/or probability/statistics are needed, although advanced math classes can sometimes be applied to the major requirements.
If he gets in Andover or Exeter (and I am sure some other schools as well), it’s not unheard of that a freshman starts their math sequence at BC Calc. He will of course need to take the placement test and may be asked to (or he may want to) re-take a term or two pre-cal in 9th, which would put him more in line with many a kids with advanced math. That being said, given he’s not all set to be a “math whiz”, I would encourage him to explore other interests this summer. His math level is already pretty impressive for admission to most schools. Further advancement could be helpful only to a few highly selective schools with more math options but also could give some other school a pause, as @skieurope suggested.
Thanks. I am leaning toward broadening his experiences at this point. My hope is that over the next few years he can explore many different areas so that when he applies to and enters college he already has an educated idea regarding subjects he wishes to pursue.
We’ll see what he thinks. 
One of my kids actually finished a CTY course in pre-cal before he started Andover. After the replacement test, he was recommended to take a semester of pre-cal before moving to Calculus (frankly I think it was mainly due to the school’s disinclination to put too many freshmen in Calculus for a new class with unusual number of students with advanced math) but he elected to take a two semester accelerated pre-cal class. He then moved on to take BC Calc, multi-variable and linear. He could’ve gone on for independent study in math, but as he decided not to major in math in college, he took the AP stats instead. As for admissions, since the pre-cal online class was taken in the summer of 8th, it was not listed in his application. As a result, that was not factored in for his admission. So here’s a “case study” for your reference.
We looked at course catalogs for HS math to see who had courses listed beyond BC Calculus (there are quite a few schools), because DS did not want to do independent studies alone for several years. He will be doing 2 independent study math courses senior year (using MIT Open Course - one by himself, one with 3 others), having finished Multivariable and Linear Algebra in 11th grade. He is also leaning towards a math major. That being said there is no reason to rush your child if it isn’t their passion. Mine does math problems for fun over breaks and is spending summer #2 at a 6 week math camp.
His freshman year there were one or two 9th graders in BC Calculus - I think one dropped back to pre-cal. 10th grade he was in BC Calc with a few 9th graders - his class had 9th-12th graders in accelerated BC Calc. He heard of perhaps one or two 9th graders who started in Mulitvariable.
I’m somewhat surprised that pre-calc in 8th grade is four years ahead of peers – locally, in public school, the advanced kids take algebra in 6th grade. Really advanced kids do it sooner than that, so if peers means “smart kids”, pre-calc in 8th would fit right in locally.
In any case, I agree with @panpacific and I wouldn’t suggest extra work to make this happen unless your son was super excited about math and wanted to do more of it. In advanced classes, he will likely be with kids who love math and want to do more of it. As others have said, at many of the big schools, there will be lots of company. Andover had two classes of accelerated BC calculus last year with mostly 9th graders and many were repeating calculus. There are students who place higher than that for 9th grade at Andover.
However, smaller schools may not be able to meet significant needs past calculus. There were schools we looked at where math needs would have been almost wholly independent and like @MA2012, that was not of interest to my child.
Thanks. Good perspectives from all. To clarify, when I say four years ahead of peers I mean age peers – 50th percentile — not vs the smart kids. He is unusual in his small public school, but there is at least one other kid in his position and more just a math year or two behind.
I would venture that 90%+ careers out there do not even need Trig or Calc. In my opinion it is one of the biggest wastes of time in the college-bound high school curriculum. Too much of the high school curriculum is a set pattern that prevents children from exploring different courses of study so that they can make a reasonable guess at a major.