Agreed. Until I just read they were a hs freshman, I assumed they were a senior or Junior worst case. But really a senior.
It blows my mind a freshman is asking this. Thanks to whoever brought that out.
And yes agreed a freshman is years away from worrying about a major.
Don’t worry about college major now. Take the math classes that you are ready for, and if you’re way ahead in math, that’s great - plan for taking further math at one of your local colleges in 11th and 12th, if necessary. Going as far in math, as fast as you are able to, is definitely to your benefit, especially if you’re hoping for engineering or physics, but ONLY if you are able to!
As for your other classes - choose to take the APs that are taught by great teachers, because you’ll enjoy them, you’ll learn a lot, and you’ll probably do well in them. Think of this as being for general education and enrichment purposes, since if you’re planning on majoring in engineering, you may never have the opportunity to take things like art history, European history, econ, etc. in college. If there is an AP that is poorly taught, with a teacher who has a bad rep, avoid it. Who knows? They might get a better teacher for those classes, before you get to 11th or 12th grades.
Don’t do this. And don’t call (you’d be unlikely to reach anyone by phone, anyway, even assuming you’re not trying to call during the holiday break). Introduce yourself by email. Explain your interests and ask about possible career and degree paths. Many professors will be happy to talk to a high school student who wants to investigate pathways in their field, but email is by far the best way to initiate this conversation. It gives the professor a chance to think about their response, respond on their own schedule, and suggest ways to continue the conversation (which could include an in-person or virtual meeting, or it might stop at a few questions answered over further emails).
Btw: I agree with everyone above who has suggested that you are wise to think about your future but not to imagine yourself as locked into a path toward any particular degree or career pathway. At your age, you don’t even know what you don’t know about the possibilities that lay before you. I would expect your choice of career and major to change a dozen times (or more!) by the time you finish college. Explore interests for now, to be sure, but don’t imagine that you’re setting yourself up for a specific pathway, You’re not, and you shouldn’t.
As a data point of one, I echo Shelby’s comment above. My daughter, a current HS junior, emailed a professor during winter break to ask about general questions about potential careers in the particular professor’s field and some other similar questions. The professor was very receptive, thoughtful, and helpful. Further, he introduced my daughter to another professor in his department who is providing additional guidance.
To Shelby’s point, email was likely the correct option for all the reasons they pointed out. I would think that if you show genuine interest, a professor in that field - especially one that teaches and is not solely focused on research - would be amenable to talking to you. They are wired to guide and teach.
" I tried to message 4-5 biomedical engineering professors if I could have a conversation with them and its been about 1 and a half month with no response "
So when I wrote the note, I didn’t realize the student was so young…but the suggestion I made was because the student wrote this above.
Now - did the student articulate their thoughts/desires clearly, etc. to elicit a response - that I don’t know.
I believe I did to the best of my ability, but I guess there really is no harm in trying again and asking for a little guidance so I’ll email a couple more.
So I know I have calculus BC down right now for sophomore year because I’m as of right now planning on taking precal over the summer but now that I’ve heard some stories from people who skipped/accelerated precalculus it seems like a daunting task.
Its just that every student who I’ve seen get into MIT, Yale, Harvard, all the big names, took Calc BC early on in 9th or 10th. This is not the sole reason they were accepted and I am aware of that but it is a common theme among these people. I want to do whatever it takes, and like others said in this thread above, the most important thing for a prospective physics undergrad is to take the hardest math courses they can.
I am so lost at this point, I hate the fact that getting into one of the top schools has so much ambiguity surrounding it, every class I take, every move I make at this point seems like it will impact decisions later on, I wish there was a set of criteria and scores which lead to acceptance, but I can only dream.
I think you are not looking at reality.
You should take Calc by 12th grade - and rushing ahead and not getting the foundation will just hurt you.
btw - those are not the only “top” schools - know who is great in physics?
U of Arizona - easy admit. CU Boulder. Penn State. UCSC. So many more.
You know what you can’t control - who will admit and not admit you - even if you are perfect. But rushing makes no sense. This is what students need to take.
You are creating a false narrative and over stressing for something that is not necessary. You’re a kid - and you need to be a kid. And if you don’t get into MIT, Yale, and Harvard - and the odds are against - guess what - life will go on.
Students who are well matched with MIT take the following classes in high school:
So you know, on a per capita basis, sends the most to Physics PHD. Sure MIT is #3 but Harvey Mudd is #2. Reed, Haverford, Swarthmore, Carleton - but right behind, New Mexico Tech, Rochester, Rose Hulman, Colorado School of Mines, Florida Tech, Lawrence, Franklin & Marshall, Juniata, Illinois Tech - and yes, top LACs are mixed in.
You need to relax - you can get a Physics PHD from attending a zillion schools.
Time to be a kid. And most importantly, you need to learn math - slowly and surely, not rushing through. Tons of kids with Calc senior year get into the top colleges…in fact, it’s likely the most common trajectory.
Good luck.
You really need to stop. You are in 9th grade. Do not take precalc the summer before entering 10th grade and calc BC in 10th grade. That is not necessary and doing so will not guarantee an acceptance to your desired school.
Spend your summer working as a camp counselor or a lifeguard…babysitting, tutoring, hanging out with an elderly neighbor who may be lonely, etc. Guess what? THAT actually looks better for colleges than taking precalc during the summer as a rising sophomore. Find something you enjoy…and do it!!! As noted above, you are a kid.
THIS is what ambition looks like in 9th grade (I will repeat):
Getting good grades in rigorous classes without risking your health. Going out with friends, staying active in school and making a difference in your community, maintaining relationships etc. That is what colleges want, regardless of the school.
Writing a college essay about how cleaning out the yearbook closet sparked an interest in history, spending every Sunday listening to your elderly neighbor tell stories…these activities are more meaningful than taking precalc the summer before 10th grade.
Quite frankly, thinking about a PhD right now, while in 9th grade, comes across as naive (that’s ok you are 14). Many candidates do not last. My daughter’s Prof almost dropped out (she dragged herself through it). You have no idea right now what is involved. Going to Harvard does not guarantee that you will breeze through life.
You do not have to go to Harvard or MIT to get a PhD. You do not have to go to Harvard to get any degree you may decide to get down the road. That is not how it works.
You are a kid. Don’t rush it. Stop planning for a PhD while in 9th grade.
Oh- and if you take Calc BC as a senior, you can still get a PhD.
I do not like to bring up my kids unless I feel I need to (nobody likes to hear it except parents and grandparents): My daughter took Calc BC her senior year of HS. During college she had a research position at a well known institution, published, worked at an Ivy League institution after college alongside PhDs and MDs in her field of interest etc. The posters here can share similar stories.
She attended a strong flagship university for undergrad. She’s in grad school now at another flagship…and this public university was her top choice.
Stop the madness. Enjoy the journey. You are 14 or 15 years old. Stop dwelling on MIT and PhDs.
Again all this is so premature, but it is probably not too early to start learning a very, very important point about PhDs.
In most fields, including Physics, there are too many PhDs being produced already. Meaning there are more PhDs being produced annually than annual job openings where that PhD is really an important credential. And in fact some facing that reality end up dropping out of their PhD programs before getting the degree, so as to get started on something else sooner.
Even so, competitive PhDs programs–meaning their PhD graduates can actually have a shot at some of those jobs–are collectively tiny in comparison to the number of undergraduates majoring in those fields. So, only a very small percentage of majors are going to end up getting into a competitive PhD program to begin with, and then only a fraction of those will actually complete the program and get a job where that PhD is an important credential.
And the really critical thing to understand is that is true at Yale, Harvard, and so on. They may have a pretty good RELATIVE placement rate in competitive PhD programs (although not usually quite as high as their relative undergraduate selectivity), but in absolute terms it is still quite low, and then even many of those people will not actually make it all the way to the end.
Now in a way, that is actually not really a critique of valuing such colleges (assuming they are affordable). Because one of the nice things about them is the Plan Bs available–which for the vast majority will become a Plan A, sooner or later–are generally robust. Which means you don’t need to know in advance what the Plan B will end up being, you can follow wherever your interests and abilities actually lead as they are developed.
But that simply isn’t unique to those colleges. Like on that per capita list above, the Plan Bs for Haverford, Swarthmore, Carleton, Rochester, and so on are all robust too. The same is true for many of the universities high on the gross list–Cal, Cornell, Michigan, Illinois, Chicago (high on both lists), UCLA, Rochester (again high on both lists) . . . .
OK, so if a kid likes Chicago or Rochester or Haverford or whatever, including for the Physics Department but also because of the rest of the college, great.
Personally, when I get a little nervous for a kid is when they are picking a college based on a specific interest that realistically has a low probability of panning out, and that college would not be high on their list otherwise. But as long as you are picking a college that would be good for you even in that scenario–which again ends up the actual scenario for most–then I think it is fine to use something like PhD placement as a sort of tiebreaker.
But again, the list of such colleges does not stop with Yale and Harvard. In fact it is way, way longer than that.
Get a summer job and enjoy some social time with friends and family
That’s one part of all this that really kills me.
There is just a mountain of evidence that in order to have your best chance at the most selective colleges, it is a TERRIBLE idea to neglect your social and ethical development. Like, seriously, you need to take that just as seriously as you take your academic path, because that is how holistic review works. And the vast majority of those kids with great numbers and “impressive” EC lists and so on not getting into these colleges didn’t fail because they didn’t do enough in those areas, they are instead not rating quite high enough in these other personal/fit areas.
And then studies also say kids who focus from an earlier age on social and ethical development also get better numbers on average anyway! It is like these holistic review colleges actually know a thing or two about healthy development and what paths are most likely to lead to continued development in college . . . .
So these kids neglecting their social and ethical health in pursuit of more selective college admissions are doing that all for nothing, in fact worse than nothing, because it is actually far more likely to be counterproductive than helpful.
But too many ill-informed people keep insisting otherwise, that kids have to sacrifice healthy development to get into these colleges. And that is tragically wrong.
I have a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from MIT. I have a master’s degree in a subfield of applied mathematics from Stanford.
I did not take calculus until I was a freshman at MIT. I attended a high school that did not even offer calculus as an option. In my senior year of high school, precalculus was the smallest class that I had ever been in (I think there were 12 of us in the class).
You do not need to “jump ahead” in math in order to get into a highly ranked school. However, if you are good in math and if you end up in a major that uses math (physics is one obvious one, economics and acoustics are two other examples, there are many more) then you are likely to be using calculus quite a bit in the future. This is something that you want to learn very well. I have personally used multi-variate calculus on the job multiple times.
Students who do very well in the prerequisites often find calculus to be quite straightforward. I have heard multiple times that students who are weak on any of the prerequisites can find calculus to be very tough.
I do not think that jumping ahead is the right approach. Wait until you are solidly ready.
A’s and A+'s in math classes that you are very ready to take will help you get into a highly ranked school more than taking calculus in 9th or 10th grade.
I agree with you on this point. In the US, admissions to highly ranked universities is insanely stressful and what you need to do is insanely ambiguous and opaque.
However, you do not need to attend a “top 20” university to do well in life. MIT graduates and Stanford graduates routinely work alongside graduates from UNH and U.Mass and San Jose State and in most cases no one cares where any of us got our degrees. Also, graduate students at Stanford and other top ranked schools come from a very, very wide range of undergraduate schools.
My last piece of advice (at least in this message): Do not try to guess what admissions at a highly ranked school is expecting you to do. Instead, do what is right for you. Whatever you do, do it very well. You do not need to impress anyone. You do not need to jump ahead. Just be you.
My daughter graduated with a BME degree. She chose the major because like the OP it was a good combination of the things she was interested in. Though people told her she should consider Mech because she could get the same jobs but it would be more flexible she insisted she was not at all interested in traditional mech jobs so that flexibility was not important to her. It was the “bio” part of BME that was most interesting to her. She got great internships and a job working as a research and development engineer with a medical device company which was exactly what she wanted to do. Her classmates also got good jobs. At her school BME was considered the hardest engineering major and they got tons of hands on project experience which led to lots to talk about in interviews and a lot of good practical experience. I’m always a little confused by the negativity surrounding the major that a few people have here on CC.
I have no issue with any major anyone chooses - as long as they can pay their bills.
I think what people have said is statistically, it is low paying vs. others - and that’s true.
I think it’s wonderful your daughter graduated with a degree she loves, had a great experienc and has a job she seems to enjoy. We should all have that…and most in society don’t.
Typically, when people look at best, they use $$ as a barometer, whether right or wrong…
Congrats to her.
I also think it’s a solid major. I have family members who majored in BME who were very successful straight out of undergrad.
Yep - She knew the salary would maybe be lower than some other engineering majors going in, but if salary was her only barometer then she probably wouldn’t have chosen engineering at all. The traditionally highest paying engineering disciplines were not interesting to her at all.
Thanks a lot everyone for your replies, I don’t think skipping is a good idea anymore and I’ll talk to my counselor to change that. I do have extracurriculars inside of school, orchestra, Mu Alpha Theta, DECA, etc. But I am lacking a little bit outside, I’ll see what I can do about that. Again thanks once more, I will focus more on the social aspect of my life because it seems that that’s also a crucial part of admissions that I had previously been neglecting.
True but forget admissions. Look at life. No one wants to be lonely and miserable. We all need positive human interaction. You’re in 9th grade.
As long as you meet the graduation requirements and the minimal for college which I showed above - you shouldn’t even be focused on college. Not admission. Not anything. For two more years.
Focus on being a well rounded kid. Get involved. Do well in school. But be a kid.
Being miserable and alone is no fun. A college name can do nothing to help you there.
Interact with others in things you enjoy. Not things you think sound impressive.
Good luck.