Would school look down upon a math geek kid being a big social activist?
In my opinion, if they do, they’re not a good school and not anywhere I’d want my kid attending.
Yes, what Flippers Mom said. Find the school to suit the kid. Don’t make the kid suit the school. There are schools that would be a great landing pad for a kid like that.
Our kid has gone with a life crisis as he lost a close friend. He was a happy go lucky kid who was focused on his math science competitions. He advanced in many math science classes, got published in math magazines.
But his life took different unexpected turn and has affected him in many ways. He was a emotional wreck. Since then he has recovered as adults were there to help him. He has lost interest in math competitions. He says he cares about school but he now thinks his mission is to be involved in all aspects of social and political problems he sees. He is still doing great in school but just a person social activism has become top priority for him. His thinking has changed a lot and he has become very involved in politics and does not care where he gets in.
I am happy that he bounce back from loss of a friend as I was worried this loss of life might scar him.
Try Brown, Wesleyan, Michigan, Wisconsin, Berkeley.
Also look at Grinnell, strong math program, lots of social activism, accepting of all.kinds of people and academically challenging but not competitive.
Just because he was passionate about math does not mean he can’t expand his passions to include other areas. Students can be good at many diverse subjects but eventually need to choose one. Time will tell. As above- he needs a school that fits him. Many of the activist schools also have top tier math programs. It may be that he chooses both activism and math later. He is still maturing- and will the rest of his life. It will be interesting for you to see where life takes him. MY UW honors math major son took part in the state Capitol sit in protesting what was going on while he was in college. Being a STEM person and being politically active are not mutually exclusive.
I think many schools value a student having diverse or nontraditionally paired areas of interest. It may actually be to his benefit in the admissions process.
Based on the posts on this thread I think respondents on this forum are assuming OP’s kid is liberal or left leaning and that may very well be the case and that’s fine.
However, the great majority of colleges and universities are far left and if the OP’s kid is conservative the colleges administration will almost certainly not be receptive about a student with an alternatr point of view, particularly, the examples given above-Vrown, Berkeley, etc.
There are Universities that are more middle of road or right iof f center that will allow conservative dissent but they are few and far between.
Being conservative on one of the typical liberal campuses can count against you, and affect your grades and opinions professors have of you
As for myself, the content of his social activism never entered my mind. I believe that many schools value diversity in all its incarnations and would still value a highly qualified student who espoused conservative causes. Brown has a Republican Club.
@NPKR01 He was a non political kid. After loss of his friends, he lost interest in many simple stuff. He stopped being a teenager and he became a very serious person. I would say his views are fiscally moderate and socially very liberal.
I am saying that I don’t believe it would negatively affect admission. It might even be a plus. I’ll leave it at that as we are veering off topic and doesn’t seem pertinent to OP.
MODERATOR’S NOTE: OP stated that the son is socially liberal. Speculating as to the differences between how liberal and conservative activism would be received is off-topic. I deleted a few posts.
Absolutely not. College would be happy you are taking an interest in the world outside of you.
I don’t think the 2 things have anything to do with each other. Regardless of his area of major interest, no college is going to look down on him for a significant EC that isn’t all about his major. Colleges want kids who are interested and interesting.
Colleges want a diversity of opinions, so that’s really not an issue. I think math nerds tend to have a bit of reputation for being apolitical and I suspect that being more involved with issues that he cares about will be considered a plus.
Thanks everyone, kid will continue multivariable math class in high school.
You know he can combine the two. Has he thought of starting a math tutoring program or something so he can help and still use math. When he is ready of course.
My son was a math nerd and the biggest social justice warrior at his HS. He found his “peeps” at MIT; was not a problem for admissions nor for his academic success. Had many inspiring professors btw-- lots of ways to turn “activism” into change if you have the right tools.
Agree with the suggestion of Brown earlier- there are some incredible professors there combining data science and other disciplines- maternal and fetal health, economic access and workforce participation, regressive tax policies around the world and what that means for GDP and social mobility, disease eradication, global nutrition and poverty… some fantastic opportunities for a math geek across a wide range of departments.
Yes he has become a math science tutor since the incident, this is only math related work he does besides class room.