<p>I know we need to get moving on "the next steps" - but I'm not sure where to start. You ever feel like you've climbed to the top of the mountain and you're all happy about the achievement, but you're looking down on all this new territory, and trying to decide which path is going to be the best?</p>
<p>Whew. So, D has applied, been accepted into her major, applied for housing - and now what? I know she needs to get moving on scholarship applications - LOR's, etc, and she needs to look at math placement. Other things that have me concerned are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Which of her classes should she transfer, and which AP credits should she take/not take?</p></li>
<li><p>Are there classes she should take Spring semester or in the summer at the community college that will put her on a better track or prepare her better?</p></li>
<li><p>Do we wait for her new student conference for her to talk to an adviser, or do we try to initiate before that?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>This is controversial, but I really like them to take/retake Calculus in college. Yes, my son had a 5 on the AP test, but it’s just good to get that reinforcement of something so important. Also they learn Mathlab (yes, they could pick it up on their own later). It’s just really nice to have an easy A imho. Others strongly disagree!</p>
<p>Definitely accept all the humanities credits. Definitely accept the English credits. If she still needs the TechWriting class that’s a great one to pick up in a “minimester” at the local CC. Other borderline ones (ie physics) you should probably talk to the advisor since some departments are picky about that. </p>
<p>NSC is kind of crazy so she should have a good plan ahead of time. FYI…you actually “accept” the AP credits after school starts so there’s no huge rush to decide this now.</p>
<p>The freshman engineering courses are pretty straight forward. She can decide to sign up separately or to “cluster” where they group some of the basic courses together and you have the same classmates for the whole group. My son was against this, but I thought it would be nice.</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback and the well-wishes!</p>
<p>OK - so definitely accept Government, Economics, English, History…</p>
<p>She’s taking Calculus AB this year, and she’ll sit for the test - but we’ve already decided to restart with Calculus I at A&M - we agree with you. I’m sorry - what is Mathlab?</p>
<p>I’ll have to check on the Technical Writing - I’m not sure if there is an equivalent at our CC or not. </p>
<p>She’s had some physics, but not college level - She’s taking Chemistry this year, and I think she has to take it the second semester too. We would have preferred Physics, but that’s just not the way it worked out. I’ll have to think about whether or not Physics would be a good investment in the summer or not. </p>
<p>I was thinking the same thing about NSC. I wonder if someone in the Engineering department would talk to her ahead of time. </p>
<p>She actually has more dual than AP. I think the only AP she’s accepting is English and US History.</p>
<p>AllThisIsNewToMe’s advice about calculus is actually what you’ll hear from most advisors in Engineering, too. Because the engineering curriculum is so calculus-dependent and the AP experience is pretty variable, they tend to want students to start in MATH 151. For the rest of the credit, I would advise that your student visit with their departmental advisor before accepting any AP credit because this is a one-shot deal. As AllThisIsNewToMe mentioned, the credit acceptance doesn’t have to happen immediately, so it can wait until your student has an opportunity to meet with her advisor.</p>
<p>For the transfer credit, you can check out the TAMU Transfer Equivalency site (<a href=“Howdy Security Block”>Howdy Security Block) to see if and how credit will transfer to TAMU. Your student, again, will want to check with her advisor on how any accepted credit (AP or transfer) actually meets degree requirements since this is variable from department to department.</p>
<p>Good advice. Yes - we’re still thinking about honors. We’re going to look over all of the information again and try to decide.</p>
<p>I think we could really benefit by sitting with someone in the Engineering Department with her transcripts. I THINK I know how most things will transfer, but I still have some questions. Unfortunately, I don’t think her Chemistry transfers into her degree plan, but it’s okay. It’s all good for learning and enrichment!</p>
<p>I can tell you we waited until NSC to look at classes etc. The advisors were wonderful and spent a lot of time with us. D is an Accounting major, but I hear the Engineering has great advisors as well.
They gave us a chart of what classes she could use and what would be electives if she chose to to those. </p>
<p>Relax and enjoy her senior year… the hard part is done! </p>
<p>My D is loving her freshman year at A&M, every time we talk she tells me how nice everyone is and how she has great professors.</p>
<p>Cromette, your daughter should definitely take a physics course over the summer. Like her, I didn’t take a college level physics course in high school, so I took one this summer to prep myself for PHYS 218 here, and it was definitely worth it. If I hadn’t taken a summer course, it’d have been a pretty hard transition. </p>
<p>Kinda similar to someone I met in my Math 151 course. Since most everyone took AP Calculus in high school, we’re all kind of breezing through the lessons. This guy didn’t take Calc. in high school (or over the summer), though, so he was having a pretty hard time, and said that he always felt dumb when he raised his hand to ask a question.</p>
<p>Oh just reread your orginal post and saw that she doesn’t have physics this year. I agree with the above poster she should try and take that at a CC before the fall. We have several friends in engineering and they all had physics senior year. They are making the transition well, but have said they would be lost if they hadn’t had the class in HS.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tip! She has had SOME physics - just not a college level class. We were unable to get her in it her senior year because of scheduling conflicts. If they offer it in the summer - we’ll get her in!</p>
<p>Great suggestions. My S is taking CalcBC now, but I already told him (well before even taking AP tests in spring) that he should retake Calc as a freshman. Also great to know that the engineering advisors do a great job.</p>