<p><em>warning! this got long!</em></p>
<p>Hey, everyone. I’m YDS and a first-time visitor to the 2015 thread, shuttling over from the 2014 thread. Such an exciting and stressful time for y’all. Good luck!</p>
<p>I made a joke on our thread about starting a new one for future college freshman parents called “Beware the Calculus Placement” after reading how so many of our kids, my ds included, are struggling with their math classes. I decided to post here to remind everyone that once the acceptances are in and the deposit is made to make sure you get good academic advising when it comes to registering for classes. Several of the 2014 kids (mostly/exclusively??? boys, it seems) have found themselves over their heads. I’ll share ds’s story.</p>
<p>Ds is at a top 10 LAC. When you look at stats, it was a match/low reach for him (he was easily in the top half of the class SAT-wise, not quite in the top quarter), so he should be able to hang academically there. Before he registered for classes, he was notified that he was eligible for Calc III, or multivariable, based on his 5 on the BC Cal AP test and AB subscore. We were worried about that placement from the get-go for a number of reasons. He had a really difficult BC Cal teacher and really busted his butt like never before to get a solid B in that course. We weren’t surprised by the 5 on the test because the teacher really prepares these kids. However, this all occurred junior year; it had been more than a year since he took calculus when he registered for the MV class at college (he took AP Stats senior year). He is not planning on majoring in a math-intensive area.</p>
<p>He wrote the math dept and expressed his concerns at the time, but they assured him he would be fine. And, in order to get the credit for Calc I and Calc II, he needed to take MV, and it would be his last math class ever. Woot!</p>
<p>Well, it hasn’t been fine. He started out with a few low A’s and B’s on homework assignments and a strong A on a group project, but his tests and quizzes were low B’s and worse. Uh, much worse as the semester progressed. When his dad and I learned that he had a low C and was in danger of failing that class with his downward trend we got on him about meeting with the prof and using the tutoring center. He did and actually formed a study group! But, it was too little too late, and there’s almost no way he can pull even a C out of this course. He is dropping the class today. (FYI, he’s making A’s/high B’s in his other classes so it’s not a partying too much thing) </p>
<p>Now that he’s met with his freshman adviser about this situation, he’s learned that he had many, many other options. Unfortunately, they involve leaving that 5 from BC Cal on the table, which is a bummer, but he really could have avoided this whole stressful situation if he’d known to ask more questions. Just because he CAN take MV his first semester at a college 1,000 miles from home while he’s making all kinds of other adjustments doesn’t mean he SHOULD. He also placed into an upper-level class in his language (though that’s going well), so the only actual freshman course he has this semester is his freshman seminar. He knows he bit off more than he can chew, but he didn’t fully understand his options. I think he could have done more due diligence on the front end, and I wish I’d been a little more hands-on in terms of providing guidance and giving him the questions to ask.</p>
<p>As I said before, several 2014 thread kids have dropped their math classes, and others are struggling and stuck. Their schools don’t have a withdraw option after the initial add/drop period (FYI, some of this is coming from PMs to me and isn’t on the public thread) and so they fear their kids will have a D or F on their transcript. In one case, a mom has been shocked to learn that math tutoring is difficult to find at her ds’s top 10 LAC, so that’s something to look into before you commit to a college.</p>
<p>Anyway, I felt compelled to post something in order to maybe save some of you some heartburn next year. I think this kind of issue might be pretty common among the cc crowd, who 1) often opt for the reachier school where academics might be more challenging and 2) have brighter-than-average kids who might have never been challenged before and not know when to seek help (sooner, not later!) or how (what resources are available to them and no, getting help doesn’t mean your dumb). </p>
<p>The good news is ds already has listed the numerous lessons he’s learning that will really help him down the line – things like make use of the prof’s office hours. The profs aren’t that scary and really want you to succeed. Talk early and often to your freshman adviser; that’s why he/she is there, and they’ve seen it all. Form study groups early. Do more research about courses and options before registering. Use the tutoring centers as a matter of course, not just when you need help. I think he has a good deal of pride surrounding working this all out. And now I know we really did need to set some expectations surrounding minimum GPA, consequences for failing a class, etc. Lessons learned for all of us!</p>
<p>Oh, and happy birthday, holliesue!</p>
So, it looks like all of us are thinking along the same lines!</p>