I would like to ask the help of MIT admitted students and their parents. My sophomore is bound to take precalculus as a junior next year. Juniors are automatically assigned to take precalculus in their school. They can take AP Calculus AB or BC as a senior. They will have the precalculus grade from junior year and the Calculus up to the application date when they are applying to MIT.
Is this level of math ok for MIT? The math requirement for MIT says “through Calculus”. However, I hear a lot of kids are taking higher math, MVC etc. My kid may try to take precalculus in summer online etc and try to take AP Calculus BC as a junior if this will affect her application. What level did your kid take for math? Thanks
Yes
It won’t.
MIT is not looking for one-dimensional academic wonks whose idea of a productive summer is to do even more academics. MIT does not award brownie points for taking calculus earlier than senior year
If she can land a good summer internship or something similar, I would opt for that over taking a class.
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I want to start out by emphasizing that MIT offers Calc 1. So, at least some students (enough to fill several sections) show up needing to learn, or at least review, Calculus.
Some high schools offer math beyond Calc BC (our high school did not) and some students accelerate early and end up taking MVC and/or Linear Algebra outside the high school (my student took both through Stanford ULO).
But while MIT students may be more likely to have done this than students who do not go to MIT, this is more a correlation between the type of student who applies than it is a necessary or even preferred course for admission.
Generally speaking, they want to see students maximizing course offerings and taking the most rigorous courses available at the high school.
So, if your high school does not offer MVC or LA, there is no need to take those courses outside the high school, especially if it involves sacrificing interesting opportunities or just even a chance to relax.
If you high school does offer math beyond Calc BC but your kid was either not on the most accelerated path early on or students have to double up or do summer school to get there, there is a section where the student can explain that their interest in math blossomed in high school or that they chose other courses rather than doubling up or activities they enjoy and care deeply about over summer school.
I 100% agree that MIT would rather see a kid pursue their interests and joy rather than skip lunch or summer fun and grind away just to accelerate a little farther in math for their Junior/Senior year.
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A few comments:
– Completing Calc BC in HS is fine preparation for any college.
– In general, I am not a fan of taking pre-calc in a compressed format over the summer. It is critical to have a strong grasp of the material to best move forward in the subject.
– Do not have your child do anything for the sole purpose of impressing MIT. With an acceptance rate of well under 10% the school must be considered an extreme reach for even the strongest of applicants.
– Agree 100% with @skieurope comments above. There are better things one can do over the summer.
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My kid took BC senior year, worked in a fast food restaurant the summer before senior year, and majored in math at MIT. It is a myth that loading up on accelerated classes “impresses” the MIT adcoms.
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Yes.
I attended a high school that did not offer calculus as an option. My precalculus class senior year of high school was the smallest class that I had ever had up to that point (I think it was 12 students if I am remembering correctly). This did not stop me from attending MIT and graduating (four years later) as a math major. Freshman year calculus at MIT was very well taught, and was well coordinated with freshman year physics. They would teach us something in calculus and then use it two or three days later in physics – which worked out very well (you could really see the value of calculus as you were learning it).
I think that it is important for a potential MIT student to do very well in their math classes in high school. A student who aspires to attend MIT would be expected to be very strong in all of the prerequisites for calculus, and if they do take calculus (whether AB or BC) senior year of high school to do very well in calculus also.
I might also add that calculus as a freshman at MIT was the easiest math class that I had at MIT, with linear algebra being the only other math class that was even close. It gets more challenging (and for some more interesting) after this point.
And of course MIT is a high reach for nearly every student.
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Our son did the same. He got into Caltech. He didn’t apply to MIT because it was too far from home. He worked at the Zoo’s restaurant, the summer before he attended Caltech.
Also I just wanted to say, and this is meant as no disrespect but, neither I nor my husband were involved in choosing our children’s coursework. They would ask us for advice on lots of other topics, but we had nothing to do with planning their courses.
We figured they were bright enough to figure that out on their own (with their guidance counselors who were the experts at our school).
The only time they needed our signatures was when they needed a check or credit card. We did limit where they could apply. If we couldn’t afford it, they couldn’t apply.
If you’re doing that much planning, then that says that your child isn’t involved in the process. When they go to college it’ll be a tough transition if you’ve done all the work for them.
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Not every student has equal guidance from high school counselors.
This seems like a reasonable topic for students to ask parents about and for parents to seek additional guidance about.
Many families who post on these boards are coming from countries where secondary curriculum is standardized and admissions standards are very clear and the American system where curriculum varies from school to school and admissions is mostly holistic and context-dependent can be very difficult for them to navigate.
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Our school doesn’t offer math beyond Calc BC and we send kids to MIT fairly regularly (not every year but more years than not). Like any school with a minuscule admit rate, MIT is a reach for students regardless how many math classes they take. When the time comes, have a balanced list and your student will be just fine.
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I hope you find this data, first from the MIT women’s undergraduate survey of mathematics majors and second from the Harvard Crimson of all entering undergraduates helpful. Looking at the MIT data that includes students from MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Brown, some assumption that the admitted student achievement overall (among non-math majors) are similar (but not identical) among these schools would render the Harvard data relevant. Further, on many CC forums, there is anecdote that MIT especially favors those who win awards at the IMO or IPhO.
Any comment on whether MIT favors or disfavors those who take higher math is likely to generate unproductive debate, so the Data will speak for itself. I would in passing note that the number of high school students taking either Multivariable Calc or Linear Algebra has risen very substantially according to the Harvard data over the past 5-7 years. Another very common place where those advanced classes are taken is dual enrollment at a local college, so it’s harder to say what courses are “available” these days.
It is always difficult to generalize about “admissions” as there will always be outliers. For example, an average or median SAT of 1500 will include many below and many above. It’s also hard to say wither a 1600 is helpful. The posts debating this on CC are too numerous to count.
It’s also hard to generalize about what “math major” means, as Harvard has 5 levels of math classes (at least for the first year or two), MIT has generally 3 levels through at least Junior year. If you try to enroll in the top level or two, you’re going to be with a lot of IMO gold medalists from around the world with deep exposure to proof-based mathematical techniques that are qualitatively different from AP, Multivariable, Differential Equations and most Linear Algebra Classes.
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MIT, nor any other college, does not expect students to take math that is not part of their high school’s regular math sequence. If your child is doing what other students do at their high school, there is no expectation to go elsewhere and do more.
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A prime example of correlation does not imply causation.
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Except you could claim that about SAT scores, Grades or any other achievement.
A lot of statistics also comes down to what is perceived to be common sense.
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Or…we could just read what admissions officers say about our processes.
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If, by “you” you mean “one,” then yes, one can wrongly make that claim.
If you are referring to me, then you haven’t followed many of my posts to know that I’d not be making that claim.
But I digress, so to reiterate for the OP, assuming the student has calculus in HS, their MIT acceptance or rejection won’t be based on the highest math class taken. Every year, students with AP Calc AB (or lower) get accepted, and students with Group Theory get rejected. There is so much more to the application review.
And to reiterate what others have said, the applicant needs to apply to a range of universities, as MIT acceptance is never a given
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See what your peers at your high school are doing. If they are taking these but you are not, you are less competitive to get in in the first place. Once in, it should not be an issue