Thanks for your previous help, @ucbalumnus, @xraymancs, @skieurope
Updating this thread a bit. He got confirmed to take Linear Algebra at the UC this fall quarter. He is also choosing one of the following courses (times all overlap slightly, so only one can be selected):
- Automata and Formal Languages (upper division CS class that builds on Discrete Math)
- Newtonian Mechanics (UCSB College of Creative Studies -- 1st physics class for CCS physics majors)
- Geomaterials (upper division Geology class with chemistry and memorizing)
He will have to get permission to register from whatever professor, so needs to figure out the priority order in which to talk with the professors. He will need to explain why his experience qualifies him to take any of these classes. No guarantee he can get into any particular one, but there is space. (The CCS program is highly regarded, but probably only well known in California physics circles. We do know HS students who have been allowed to take CCS math classes.)
His favorite from looking at old homework sets is the Automata CS class, because he can do the first few problems now but would need to learn a lot beyond that. My tendency is to let him take whatever he wants. However, I wonder since this seems essentially like 2 math classes and no science class (though he’ll be taking 2 periods of an engineering capstone project at the high school, but he has been asked to do mostly programming).
DH is still against him taking the start of the physics sequence for physics majors, because he worries that when he goes away to college S might not be in the same first physics class as the other physics majors, and so won’t be included in friendships and study groups. DS says the homework sets for the class look interesting, but not all that difficult compared to the homework sets at the summer program he recently attended. Old syllabi imply that tests are oral exams.
He decided against the Astronomy course that was previously his choice for a 2nd class, because he just returned from a summer program where they calculated asteroid orbits from their own observations, and the past homework and tests from the UC Intro Astronomy class are not at all challenging compared to the math, physics, and astronomy learned in that summer program.