<p>tttc, welcome. My motto is to keep all your options open. My humanities kid took Calc AB in high school and Physics in college. My science/mathy kid is taking 4-year of everything in high school including English and History. She first hated history so much but she now came around. She discovered through high school that she does like language and is very good at it. You really never know. As mentioned above, calc is needed for business.</p>
<p>o.k. too much info for first post. We’re feeling overwhelmed. S13 is first of 3. S15 and D18 will either benefit from the craziness or get totally depressed! All these kids seem so impressive & my 3 are good kids but not exceptional. I keep hearing the mantra that they all end up at the right school but can I afford it? Is that a different thread? </p>
<p>Our school district is small but has a very high rate of kids who go to 4 yr colleges. they recommend 4 years math (3 required) and 3 years social studies. I’ve convinced S13 & S15 to take 4 years of math, ss and foreign language. It makes it more difficult to take other electives but I feel strongly about the foreign language. What does the cc crowd know about how colleges view foreign language? (this one has been a battle- so far I’m winning but is it worth it?)</p>
<p>Much different than when I went to college in the stone age. Never really gave it much thought so now (a little late to the game, it seems) I’m obsessed.</p>
<p>Regarding foreign language, most school require 2 years. Some require 3 years and many others recommend 3. I think it also depends on what/ where your student wants to study, and what’s available to them. Personally, I think foreign language study is really important in today’s world, so I never think it’s a waste.</p>
<p>My DS is a math/comp sci kid - he took 3 years.
My DD is more likely to go to a LAC, and most schools she is looking at want at least 2, but several recommend 3. One LAC she is looking at recommends 4.
She is adamant that she doesn’t want to take a language next year, and I’ve allowed her to skip it, but that may change after she visits the school that wants more language. Most LACs we’ve seen have a foreign language requirement which you may be able to reduce or test out of if you’ve had sufficient high school language (especially if you have AP language credit)</p>
<p>YDS-even with the middle school math on his transcript, the colleges will look at the 4 years in high school as 4 years of math. The Ad Comm’s we have talked to anyway, all have said that while middle school classes show up on a transcript, they don’t count those for GPA (if they refigure) or for required courses for entry into the college. Say a student took 2 years of foreign language in middle school and none in high school, that would not satisfy the college 2 year requirement of a foreign language, for example.</p>
<p>I’m surprised at all of the schools that don’t have calculus tracks for kids. Around here every school has that option. Some of the smaller, rural schools don’t offer the Calc in the “high school” curriculum but kids can take that class as a dual enrollment class through the university. Our kids have the option to take Stats next year as well as AB/BC Calc or if they want to go farther, various college math classes through the dual enrollment option.</p>
<p>Our kids take Alg 1 in 8th grade, geometry in 9th (for the advanced students anyway) so that gets them to Calc as seniors. There is also the option, which is what our kids did because we knew about this :D, to take Alg 1 in 9th grade, take summer geometry then Alg 2 in 10th grade. This is how 5 years of math shows up on their transcript.</p>
<p>I have learned from this thread that what seems foreign to me is common practice in other parts of the country. Thank you parents of '13ers for all your insight from your corner of the world! As I have said before, my D took six high school classes in middle school. All of these courses are the exact same classes that are taught on the high school campuses. They are all a part of her GPA/transcript and the colleges in our area all understand this very common practice in our state. It does not matter what building you took the hs class in…just that you took it. For example, my D has taken five years of high school foreign language, but only two were in the high school building. This completes the requirement of four years of hs foreign language for the College of William and Mary. My D would be exempt from the fl requirement at this school because she completed the required amount in high school. At UVA, she has met the recommendation of five years of fl for admission, but would have to take their placement test or have AP credit to test out of the fl distribution requirements. D is not sure whether she wants to continue the fl she took in high school or start a new one:)</p>
<p>blueshoe, I also like hearing the different ways different schools do things. A couple of kids in ds2’s class were so advanced that they were taking Algebra I in sixth grade and by eighth grade were in pre-Cal. They actually went to the HS for that class so why a college wouldn’t consider that would be beyond me. They were in class with HS kids and with the same teacher, so I’m not sure why a college would hold it against them that they were little math geniuses!</p>
<p>Totally agree, YDS! They don’t discount de/ap classes just because they were taken on a high school campus, do they?</p>
<p>Oh and kids can start ninth grade with pre-calc here as well. Usually by doubling up with geometry and algebra II in eighth grade. D chose not to do that…doubled up in science classes instead.</p>
<p>We live in a college town in the rural Midwest and because of that have pretty good diversity in our schools, both racially and socio-economic. It is always interesting to see where the college bound seniors go. The HS grad class is about 425 people and generally about 70-75% go to college. About 40% go to one of our 2 flagships and another large group goes to our local CC. </p>
<p>Where else are the students going? Most are going to regional LACs and our smaller state school. Others…</p>
<p>Harvard 1
Cornell. 1
Bowdoin. 1
MIT 1
Mich 2
Wash U 2
Minnesota 2
Texas 1
Northwestern 2
CalTech 1
Brown 2
Carleton 2
Bryn Mawr 1
Vandy 2
H mudd 1
Swarthmore 1
Yale 2
CWRu 1
Mac 1
West Point 2
U Ill 1
U Wisconsin 2
Davidson 1
St Olaf 2
JHU 1</p>
<p>1 student took U Alabama up on their great scholarship offer.</p>
<p>Also worth mentioning that several of the MMF are going to our flagships. I know I missed some but this gives an idea.</p>
<p>I think this is the classic case of YMMV! 
Ds1’s college list was so wide-ranging in terms of size and locale that we didn’t bother to even ask or investigate about the policy because it wasn’t going to be a deal-breaker for us. Just knowing that it might happen was enough for us, and we could cross that bridge when we get to it. Ds2 is covered whether we’re talking math or foreign language, with or without the work he did in middle school.</p>
<p>BTW, here, two years of a language in middle school equals only one year in high school. They have, say, Spanish IA in seventh grade and Spanish IB in eighth grade and together they count for HS Spanish I. But my HS still makes them take a placement test to see whether they truly are ready for Spanish II freshman year.</p>
<p>YDS-our middle school foreign language is the same, 2 years of middle school will allow kids that get recommended by the middle school teacher to start 9th grade in Spanish II, but it shows up on their transcript with 4 years of high school Spanish from Spanish II-V, no middle school class credit. Their middle school grades and credit are not added to the transcript. Same if they go to the high school for math in 6th grade or whatever. Those classes don’t show up on their high school transcript but if they apply to college showing that they took multi-variable calculus at the university in 9th grade, and whatever classes after that through senior year (submitting the university transcript along with the dual enrollment information on the high school transcript) colleges get that they are good math students and have the necessary background in math (or science or whatever) for admissions. One of DD’s friends is taking multi-variable calculus right now as a 10th grader at the university. It will show up on his transcript as 10th grade–math–Multi-Variable Calculus–University/Dual Credit so the colleges will see that he took that class at the university and the high school accepted that as his math class for 10th grade. A classmate of our oldest son tested out of all the high school math by 6th grade and his math credits show up on his high school transcript as 9th grade–math–independent study–MIT. Wasn’t an issue for him.</p>
<p>Good Morning and Happy Saturday! Its looking like 90 degrees again here today its been a crazy year for weather. Congrats to all the kids that are now Seniors and the college grads! S13 still has 3 days, but all he has left are 2 finals.</p>
<p>ROLLING ADMISSIONS S13 has 5 rolling admin and 5 EA schools on his list hoping to get those apps done in August and have answers in the Fall. With a winter sport, he is way too busy Oct-Feb.</p>
<p>Walker congrats to your D for getting her choice of campus. So nice that shell get to give it a trial run hope she likes it if its a full ride! My S13 will get to spend 6 weeks on the campus of one of his choice schools, but Im hoping he doesnt fall in love because it probably wont be affordable. :(</p>
<p>BOOK AWARDS Im confused. Does the student actually get presented with a book or is it a scholarship to be used toward books at said school? I asked S13, he never heard of them either.</p>
<p>FOREIGN LANGUAGE/MATH: Our district just started offering Spanish to 8th graders a couple years ago. Its the same class and teacher that teaches the class to high schoolers. At this point, they only offer 4 years of each language, so those kids will only have 3 years in high school unless they add another year once they get up there. PSEO would be an option, but the kid would have to have their own transportation, so thats not an option for everyone. Next year they will offer Algebra 1 to 7th graders, so those kids will face a problem Senior year too unless they add another class. No regular calculus here only AP. Middle school Algebra does show up on my S13s HS transcript and it gets calculated into the GPA.</p>
<p>S13 will only have 3 years of Spanish with a gap. He had a scheduling conflict, so he had to make a choice and chose to not take Spanish 3 this year and is reluctantly taking it next year instead. He wants to learn Chinese and doesnt really want to take anymore Spanish. Most colleges hes looking at only require 2 years, but some recommend 3 so hes doing it.</p>
<p>My kid want to learn Chinese in college, she doesn’t know that it’s not an easy language.</p>
<p>thank you for all the thoughtful replies to the foreign language question. It is very nice to hear what is the norm in other places & the what the colleges expect/require. It is a little intimidating to read about kids who have completed HS math in 6th grade but quite impressive. </p>
<p>We are still in school so S13 still has one more week of classes & then finals. I, too, want him to start college apps early - I’ve heard that even at schools with no EA or rolling admissions, it is helpful to get everything in as early as possible. But is there such a thing as too early? </p>
<p>Right now we are trying to fine tune the list. I am the only one to keep U of Alabama on the list. Does anyone know about the Computer Science program there? I’ve heard mixed. By the numbers, I think he would qualify for the scholarships they offer.</p>
<p>So interesting how different our high schools are</p>
<p>Our school has actually gone backwards on math. When DS was younger, you could take as far as geometry in 8th grade, and start high school with algebra 2. DS ended up going to a high school out of district and they didn’t have that option - it was a small school and they wanted to keep the class on the same track, so DS and a few others took a year of college stats in 9th. Then algebra2 in 10th, precalc in 11th and calc in12th. (the school didn’t have AP but it was equal to AB/BC.) DS got bored and taught himself calculus in 9th grade so he was pretty unhappy with his highschool math. </p>
<p>Starting with DD’s year, they’ve “backed up” the curriculum and now no one gets further than algebra1 in 8th grade, geometry in 9th etc.
I think it’s ridiculous that they slowed it down, but my district isn’t stellar.</p>
<p>Haystack, that’s an impressive list!</p>
<p>tttc, I don’t know if this is accurate but I found the rankings of CS and U of A is 102. Keep in mind these rankings are for MS and Phd and to give you a rough idea on a certain school.
[Top</a> 100 Universities in USA for Computer Science (MS and PhD)](<a href=“http://www.happyschoolsblog.com/nrc-computer-science-rankings/]Top”>http://www.happyschoolsblog.com/nrc-computer-science-rankings/)</p>
<p>DrG, I wonder whether there’s a listing for CS at LACs – though, obviously, I’m not wondering too much or I’d look it up. :D</p>
<p>Good morning!</p>
<p>Foreign language: As others have said, for us 2 is required, 3 is recommended, but if you take 4 you can often fulfill your college language requirement if they have one. Both D1 and S2 had a language requirement but only took 3 years in high school so had to pretty much start over. </p>
<p>Math: Our middle school decided S2’s year to put EVERYONE in Algebra in 7th grade. S2 and several others thrived, others did not. The problem was they didn’t have any math teachers who were capable of teaching geometry. The teacher that did take the position, left mid-year so they had subs the rest of the year. So that was the last year they gave that option. So S2 took Calculus in 11th grade (AB is all our school offers), and Stat in 12th grade. Almost every major uses statistics so I think it is a useful class, although not having calculus for a full year made S2 rusty when he got to college.</p>
<p>yds, I found this but it still says graduate schools, not undergraduate.
[Top</a> Ranked Computer Science Schools & Best Computer Science Colleges](<a href=“Web Page Under Construction”>Web Page Under Construction)</p>
<p>Math - One more thing to think about, in MD starting with HS class of 2014, UMCP is going to require all students to take 4 yrs of math in HS. Both of my older sons took Algebra in 7th grades, so that means currently they would have to take Calc AB junior yr and then Calc BC senior year. Not an issue for DS 1 who is a math kid, but might be for DS 2.</p>
<p>UMCP is saying that even if you do Calc as a junior they have found students forget too much without doing math senior year. I am guessing a lot more kids will be taking AP Stats.</p>
<p>Book Awards - it’s a real book with a note of congrats. U of C also said they would send him something waiving the app fee.</p>
<p>Schools here also have “backed up” math. Algebra was offered in 7th grade with no extra work other than passing a qualifying exam. Now my 6th grader needs to take 7th grade math online before he can take algebra next year. It is making summer plans much harder.</p>