Both typically require single-variable calculus (up to the level of AP calculus BC or college calculus 2). Chemistry likely requires more advanced calculus-based math. Biology likely requires calculus-based statistics as well. Both typically require physics, and having physics in high school helps when taking physics in college.
Both majors, particularly biology, have many pre-meds competing for grades in competitively graded (“on a curve”) frosh/soph level courses.
She just have the sem2 final exam remaining, it is AP Calc AB. I will check what is curriculum in Calc-2 that she plans. I don’t think it is DE. After @blossom suggested, I spoke to her about STAT and she tends to agree, but we will see if here course load would allow it
Ours doesn’t. I know several kids who had Bs in the course and received 5s on the AP exam. No big deal, really. So she has a C and a B in high level Math on a very accelerated schedule? That’s hardly the end of the world from a Math or admissions perspective.
If she feels she knows the material, and a 5 implies she probably does, I think taking the college course is wasting her time. She’d be better off taking college level stats, discrete math, etc to supplement HS offerings.
I’d take Calc BC at her school next year IF that is what they are advising. Taking less rigorous community college courses isn’t beneficial IMO.
Figure out senior year when the time comes. I assume there are others on this math track and this may be the point where college courses, maybe MVC or LA, come into play.
Finally, she’ll have great college and career opps even if her HS Math grades stay in this range. That doesn’t necessarily mean she’ll attend one of the half dozen schools you consider “elite”. But there are so many outstanding schools out there that I wouldn’t get too caught up at this point worrying about admissions or less than perfect grades. That’s just a path to anxiety and she probably has enough sources of that already.
Does she have pre-med intentions? If so, the grade worry (among other things) and possible risk of anxiety will continue through college. Unlike for college, where many good colleges that are not highly competitive to get into exist, all medical schools in the US are highly competitive for admission (and they do not like to see repeated courses either).
And in general - these two majors are low paying - regardless of most any school - but likely in part for many doing prep years after while doing med school apps.
The salaries out of schools like UNC and UVA are, to me, alarmingly low.
If med school is in the picture, we know the where matters little. That’s how kids from schools like SE Louisiana or Luther College end up as residents at places like Duke and Vandy.
Low pay levels for biology graduates have been the case for years. That may only be surprising to those who believe that “all STEM graduates have good job prospects”.
Decades, not years!!!
I graduated from college in the 1970s and ALL the bio majors knew you either got a PhD and went to Big Pharma or academia, got a Masters and taught HS bio, or got into med school where pediatricians earned a great salary and orthopedic surgeons earned a spectacular salary.
Nobody was earning a high salary with just a BS in bio.
This is an issue with the school. Ours had similar issues of different policies in different subjects (not necessarily wrt APs), for example when a grade was rounded up, and a few years ago instituted a policy where all subjects have the same standards/processes.
Yes, pre med is one of her primary intention
Then you’re truly over stressing - here’s a list of undergraduate schools that are residents at these top teaching hospitals (in radiology) - I think a bio or chem degree - the where in most cases - will matter little. So it’s great she’s a great student and I hope she gets into a great school - but whether it’s one you hope for or not, it likely won’t move the needle much in life. Good luck.
I was a patient at Vandy in Radiology - and here’s where the residents went to school (first two year residents):
Auburn
CWRU
Florida A&M
Florida State
Fordham
Lipscomb
Luther
Murray State
Northern Illinois
Pitt
Princeton
Tulane
Tuskegee
U North Carolina
U Puerto Rico
U Tennessee
Duke Medical - this was just the early letters of the last names of the alphabet
Arkansas
Michigan
UNC
Princeton
Rochester
South Florida
Southeastern Louisiana
Texas
Taking it further to Johns Hopkins - resident undergrads:
JHU
UMD
UMBC
U Miami
Morgan State
South Carolina
TCNJ
U of Puerto Rico
UT Dallas
Towson
Vandy
and more
If she is serious about medical school and not just “hey, being a doctor looks cool” she needs to do two things going forward:
1- don’t accelerate. Plunging into a subject before she is ready and then struggling is not the path forward. Slow but steady. She does NOT need to be taking advanced classes and then needing tutoring to keep up.
2- forget DE, online, etc. Unless you live in the rain forest and taking online classes are literally the only way to get a hs education, this non-hs stuff won’t help and can hurt. She needs to follow her high schools sequence of classes…like everyone else…even if it means a hard teacher or two or the meanest math teacher in your town
Short cuts won’t work.
Not sure I’d bet the house on the seriousness of a tenth grader’s medical school ambitions. I was certain I was going to be a doctor in high school, and it took me one semester of college to totally change my perspective.
Sounds a little like she’s trying to live up to your expectations,
Blockquote
Which comment of mine made you think that she is trying to live up to my expectation. I feel the opposite of what you are saying, which trying to be parent that is enabler for a child, trying to find ways to remove hurdles, she is much smarter than me in many ways but still a child at times
After get an A+ in Algebra-2 and A in Hons Pre Calc she felt she was ready for AP Calc-AB. I don’t know what acceleration or shortcut you are talking about. I don’t know how a student can determine a next course would be harder or would you have strict grading teacher before you enroll in the class. As a parent I don’t know how/why would you justify your child not taking next course in sequence.
Anyway, she is mostly done with Math and focus is on biology and physics and science classes relating biomed.
She can’t mostly be done with math in HS. She needs to take four years of math in HS, and this summer’s repeat class doesn’t count.
You said she is taking Calc 2 next year at the community college instead of AP Calc BC at the HS (any community college class taken during HS is typically considered dual enrollment.) I would discourage that and take BC at her HS, but it sounds like that’s not on the table. I assume Calc 2 at the CC is just one semester?
Will she take a math class second semester at the CC in junior year? What math class(es) will she take senior year and where?
I agree she should take BC at her high school and crush it. That would be the best way to make up for the AB grade in the minds of colleges. And it should be doable because BC is not that much new material, right? (My daughter only took BC and her teacher said it was basically AB plus two extra units.)
Thanks for your input, I will have her talk to school councillor to make sure she fulfills the requirements. She does not have any math in Jr year at high school, I don’t know why councillor approved it if the requirement to have 4yrs of math at high school. She wants to take CC Math Sem1 in Spring and Sem 2 after that..
I don’t know what the HS math requirements are, my replies have been in the context of college admissions. To be the most competitive she can be, she needs four years of HS math. Taking math at the CC is ok, but not if it’s to avoid a hard class at the HS. My point was that generally colleges would rather see AP calc BC at HS (if offered) rather than DE Calc 2. After calc 2, she still should have another CC/DE math class 2nd sem of junior year. And also need a math class senior year.
Exactly - it’s as I said b4 - it’s as if she’s playing tennis and running away from her backhand. The op himself said the college class was easier or an easier grade. That’s a wrong reason to take it.
Way too high of expectations here.
As a point of clarification, I believe that the excellent advice @Mwfan1921 is providing has been in the context of college admissions that have very low (sub-20%) admission rates, which are often the type of colleges that posters on CC are looking for.
Most colleges in the U.S., however, accept the majority of their applicants. Most colleges in the country would happily accept someone with your D’s background in math. And most of those colleges will have students who receive acceptances to medical school.
Your D may want to reflect about the type of college environment she would like to be in and then research the environment of schools under consideration.