Hello,
I have a question for a friend. He is in a position where he is very academically advanced in math (Calc BC next year as a soph) but is looking for a BS. What BS programs have the most extensive math curricula? I’m looking for current students/parents, as I’ve looked at the course catalogs and a lot of them just have “independent study” etc. after linear algebra/multivariable.
Many thanks!
what grade is he going to enter
Andover, Exeter, Middlesex & St. Marks all have math past Calc BC. These are just ones we looked at in our search. Most schools have a course catalog available on line so you can see what they offer. We used this as a starting point then discussed with the schools if necessary (mostly to rule out some day schools that didn’t have courses past Calculus in their course catalog).
He’s going to enter as a sophomore. Looking at the top-tier schools as far as I know. It seems like most schools offer up to linear/multi but he really enjoys statistics, maybe independent (post-AP) study in that area will be good for him.
If he finished AP level statistics and continue in the area, most top-tier schools seem to support it in independent study. A major statistics based research sounds nice. Sophomore - Calc B/C, Junior AP Statistics, Senior Statistics based research project.
Larger schools have many offerings for kids past calculus – Andover, Exeter, Choate, and Lawrenceville come to mind. There is a class of 9th graders taking BC calculus at Andover this year, so there would be plenty of company. Lawrenceville has an honors calculus based stats class that you can review on their website. AP stats is not calculus based and would likely not be challenging for a very talented math student, who would probably want a calculus based approach to statistics.
Hi @essaysarefun. What a marvelous situation for your friend and her son.
I would like to second @gungablue 's comments. When my daughter and I were looking at BSs, I remember a very poignant story that a department head shared from Andover. There was a student at Andover that had taken or placed out of every math class the school offered by the time he finished the 10th grade. (And, on a side note, Andover’s math offerings are uber extensive.) Anyway, the school arranged for a Harvard professor to come to school and tutor this young man for his last two years at the school. Andover rocks when it comes to math.
If the child is that gifted mathematically, he may also want to strongly consider Exeter. Exeter’s teaching methods (the Harkness method) might be really appealing to a math savant. The Exeter crowd tends to be a bit nerdier (I mean that as high praise), and the young man may feel a bit more that he has found his people, so to speak, among his peers at Exeter.
Best of luck to your friend and her son!