Thank you for sharing your experience. Glad it all worked out for your daughter.
I never said that. You noted top 10.
College admissions are not a reach for most students. Not even close. There are safer schools for most every student.
This is the stress kids put on themselves. Academics are but one part of an applicant.
And if they end up at #40 or 140 instead of #10, life will be fine.
Many top flight kids spurn top schools for safeties and do just fine. Both mine are examples of kids who turned down perceived reaches for definite safeties. Both have done well and work with kids who chose much higher ranked schools.
Your kid will impact their success more than the school, in most cases, IMHO.
Itās important to know because you may be in a situation of having to handle someone unable to cope with rejection.
My daughterās valedictorian was a 4.0, 10 or 11 APs, a 36 on the ACT and was 0 for 16 in the top 20. She got into NYU full pay and UTK, which she attended. It happens -you need to assure the student is prepared emotionally. Some can and others canāt cope with rejection.
Good luck.
Ps - the counselor you mention - is that a school counselor or private counselor ? If one has a private, and itās anyoneās choice, but that often leads to higher expectations, even if not intended. A student sees money spentā¦I need to deliver, etc.
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Thank you, this is very helpful & appreciate your insight. It is is the school counsellor.
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Sounds like P/F is best route. However, will she fulfill graduation requirement? Does she need one Math per year? Is Linear prerequisite for Descrete or not in her school?
Frankly, I think any admission will āforgiveā P/F or W for very advanced college math for 12th grader.
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Little to no forgiveness needed for P/F. Less forgiveness available for a W, and it might not be coming.
OP may be a California resident, based on other posts focusing on UCs.
UC admission requirements regarding math would be fulfilled by having calculus and geometry on record. Calculus alone will fulfill the CSU admission requirement regarding math.
Linear algebra and discrete math are not normally prerequisites of each other.
On the one hand, my son (who went on to be admitted to HYPM and attend P) did drop his Ancient Greek class and took the W because it was just too much - he officially changed the status to āauditā and still took the NCL Greek Exam and reported that.
On the other hand, I think any HS student who is that advanced in math, should breeze through a community college Linear Algebra course. Itās not considered very hard even at MIT. Iām very uncomfortable with this blaming of the professor. It makes sense to me that example problems would touch on chemistry, physics, etc. as obvious applications of linear algebra.
So I guess my advice would be to drop, but also to reorient yourself in case this student isnāt quite the math whiz you expected? I agree with the rest of the responders that a math class is required both 11th and 12th grade, even if that is āa drop in rigorā to AP Stats.
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Building on this ā Just a note for students who have advanced in mathāfor the UCs, at least as of a few years ago, it was our experience that geometry must be included on the transcript. A higher level math can āsubstituteā for the other lower-level math classes but not for geometry. We learned this the hard way when my son was applying to colleges as he went from integrated math 1 to calculus at a CC and then to post-calc math and never actually took geometry. Of course, things may have changed, so definitely itās good to check.
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One question I have ā if the course is taken P/F will she be able to repeat it in college? Sounds like she probably should retake at some point.
Life is a marathon, not a sprint.
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This is really hard, and Iām sorry she is in this situation. I would probably say stick it out if she can get a B and otherwise switch to P/F if it is before the deadline to do so.
If you really donāt like your current options, would finding a really good tutor help? Does she have any idea how the other students in the class are doing? If they are all doing well, maybe there is just one or two fundamental concepts that she needs to more fully master and then the rest will click into place.
Depending on the university, even if she got an A+++++, she might have to retake it in college, or at the very least, pass a challenge exam before continuing on with advanced coursework.
And really, in this instance, since sheās struggling, she should retake in college. Because you know who would give credence to the whole āthe professor sucksā excuse? Absolutely nobody.
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Linear Algebra requires a different way of thinking. One of my kids, who breezed through everything through Calc BC in high school, took Linear her first semester in college and was instantly flummoxed. She hit the same āpass/fail or drop?ā decision point; she was already in college, so it wasnāt an admissions-implications issue, but she sure didnāt want to tank her college GPA right out of the gate. She ended up going P/F and is convinced to this day that the prof gave her a āpity pass,ā because she remained baffled by the material, and the tutor she belatedly started working with couldnāt help. By this time, sheād decided against the potential CS major that the class wouldāve been required for, so she took her Pity P gratefully and moved on. But a student who intends to pursue a computational major (as taking Discrete implies) is going to need to grasp this material.
Iāve known other kids who found Linear easier than Calc. It all depends how oneās mind works!
I know others have said that a W looks worse and the student should stick it out, but I would still consider pulling the plug and starting fresh with this class in the future. (She could even retake it in the spring, and use the time between now and then to prepare, knowing what she knows now about the content.) As others have said, it depends on the nature and severity of her struggle here. Does she really fundamentally not āget it,ā as was the case with my D? Or does she understand the main thrust of the class, but just isnāt getting an A?
She will be fulfilling graduation requirement, her school did confirm with the UC systems before she started on this path, knowing that she will run out of math courses at some point. Thank you, I appreciate your feedback.
Thank you for your response. As I understand, she is not having trouble with the core course content. She does get it, I have two other kids, one of them being a math major who has graduated from a top math program & based on his input also, she is not struggling with the math per se. I know nobody wants to hear ā the professor is crazyā but unfortunately it is in this case. But i think she is making peace with it & will decide on her best option in the next few days before the deadlines. I am happy to support her with her choice & will provide her guidance based on feedback received from parents, & other sources. Thanks again!
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She will retake it in college, irrespective of grade & her current experience. Thanks for your response.
Thank you, appreciate your kind response very much!
Thank you for your response. I may have not articulated the demands of the professor & class very well, also maybe my child is not a math whiz, but having two older siblings who have breezed through Linear Algebra, one as a math major & both in great schools( I am not choosing to mentions names or numbers just to be chewed out for that:) )we do believe she is fully capable of handling Linear Algebra. I am sorry my intent is not to blame the professor, she has been encouraged by her counsellors to speak to the dean, but we dont want to pursue that path. The chemistry & physics topics were also not the challenge for her, but unfortunately it is not working out in the best manner for her.
How did your son audit the class & still take the final, if he took a W? I would like to know if that is an option we could try. Thanks again for your response.
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Thanks for your response. the general requirement is one math per year, but she was accelerated from her elementary days, the school district did reach out to the UC counsellors & we were told she would be fine. I am not sure if it would be the same for all colleges. Her acceleration happened way before we started worrying about colleges. She is a 11th grader right now. So hopefully her W or P/F will be viewed with leniency.
The UC counsellors who advised us told us she would not be penalized for taking higher level math & we are going ahead with that advise. Thanks!
The rules may have changed. I heard that they are now being stricter with regard to geometry. See this info below. Especially see page two right hand column about geometry for UC.
My son, very advanced in math, was told he was not eligible for UCs because of this .
YMMV of course.
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