KalebGetsMoney

Ok so I have a bit of a dilemma. I plan on being an investment banker out of college and realize that I need to go to a top-notch school. I am currently an african-american sophomore in highschool with a 4.0 uw and a 4.16 w. I just took the PSAT and expect to do well because I am very good at standardized testing. The thing I'm worried about in the college admissions is that I am only in Geometry (because I didn't have my head on strait in middle school) and will be on track to take Pre-Calc my senior year. How will this affect my chances on getting into a top school? What can I do about this? Should I load up on electives the rest of the year and then double up on math next year? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

SuperSeniorx2

Hi KalebGetsMoney,

I was in your situation before. I was worried of not being in an advance mathematics class, so I worked hard in my current math class. Afterwards, I request for the professor to sign off or allow me to move up to a higher class than the expected class I was suppose to take (when choosing classes for the next term). If you can do well and prove yourself by earning a high grade in geometry, is there a chance you will be allowed to move up to an advance class? Just thought this could be a suggestion. Well, competitive universities like to see AP/IB courses in the transcript. Are you taking any of these?

KalebGetsMoney

SuperSenior,

Thank you for showing me a possible solution, however I would feel concerned about the material that I would be missing; wouldn't that hurt my SAT/ACT scores? And I am currently in one AP class and two honors classes but I am not aware of any "IB" courses at my school, is IB just another name for AP?

Sikorsky

Perhaps you could take math at a community college during the summer. Talk to your guidance counselor at your high school. It may be that if you took college algebra next summer, you could take precalc as a junior, or if you took precalc the summer before senior year, you could take calculus as a senior.

If you're choosing between those plans, I'd recommend taking college algebra next summer and then taking precalc as a junior.

KalebGetsMoney

Sikorsky,

I agree with you that it would be better to take algebra 2 next summer instead of my junior summer. In a perfect world, should I take Calc AB over my junior summer before I take Calc BC?

SuperSeniorx2

For me, I had to catch up on the materials that I didn't learn (which took a lot of my summer away). After reading Sikorsky's response, I agree that perhaps taking it for the summer may help advance you. I know some of my friends that jump to a higher math level would self-study the course that they missed (such as trig). If independent studying is okay with you, then I guess going to a more advance math level wouldn't be a bad option.

IB is: "The IB Diploma Programme is a two-year curriculum for high school students. Juniors and seniors take six courses in various subjects, providing them with credit at some colleges and universities." If I remember correctly, I think IB has more workload than AP classes, and very competitive. You can look for more details about this by Google, or ask your high school counselor.

Crimsonstained7

You don't need to take AB before BC. I did (because I thought BC would be SOOOOOOO hard), and at midterms in January the BC class was 3 days ahead of us in material... So it goes a bit faster, and you learn more, but it's not much harder.