My DD was able to take Dual Enrollment Calc 1 and Calc 2 through VCU in high school. She will be an incoming Freshman engineering student. I know this topic has been discussed on the VT FB Parents page, but I am still torn and hoping to get more perspectives and/or real life experiences.
Her buddies at VT are telling her to take the credits for Calc 1 and Calc 2 and start with Linear Algebra as a first semester Freshman. They tell her that the intro Calc professors are terrible and that the kids that re-took the content hoping for an easy A really struggled and wished they had just taken the credit. I honestly don’t know how to advise her. How much of a foundation do Calc 1 and 2 provide for future engineering math classes? I am debating having her go ahead and proceed to Linear Algebra, but only taking 12 credits and setting up a tutor from Day 1. Any thoughts/advice?
How hard did she have to work for Calc 1 and 2; how much of a conceptual struggle was it; does she have access to placement exams for other U’s to see if she really mastered the material well enough to skip those classes?
She earned an A in Calc 1 and found it fairly easy. Struggling more with Calc 2. Will end up with a B/B+. Her teacher says she understands the concepts, just works too fast and makes small errors. DD is not enjoying Calc 2 and is adamant that she does not want to repeat. She generally does like math and both her math and Physics teachers say that she is well suited for engineering. The math classes at VCU are a straight transfer to Calc 1 and Calc 2 at VT, so I assume similar content is covered. I will ask her Calc 2 teacher to see if she has any first hand knowledge. The B in Calc 2 worries me, but it is an actual college class (not just college level) and I would be very happy if she earned a B in Calc at VT. I also don’t want her beginning her college career miserable and having to repeat a class she did not enjoy.
I can’t speak specifically for VT but my D wished she had taken her credits for Calc 1 and 2 at Purdue. She found diff eq and linear algebra had a more reasonable grading rubric.
If VT has their old calc finals online, I’d have your D take a few of them and see how she feels.
Engineering is the most “transferred out of” major, and it is because of the math. If Linear Algebra is a real struggle, and she wants to drop it, she will likely be looking for a new major anyway. Better to find that out your freshman year.
This is one of those ask 10 people you are going to get 10 different answers as you’ve probably seen on the parents’ FB page. Mine didn’t take any math classes at VT - took a CLEP test for Calc 1, and then Calc 2 and Linear at community college under the Jumpstart program which provided free classes for graduating seniors. Not sure if it is still running but if it is, it is a great program. Multi and Diff Eq at community college during the year or over the summer. No regrets. No issues with the engineering classes. Classes transfer but grades do not.
This freed up schedule space to be used for fun classes, graduating earlier or starting an accelerated masters senior year. Some of the community college classes in math and engineering are taught by the same professors that teach at VT. As an aside, Calc 2 is a really hard class - a B/B+ is great imo
Would you mind sharing where your Hokie took the summer classes? My thought is that if Linear does not go well, summer may be an option. Not heard of Jumpstart before. Will look into the program. Glad to hear that engineering classes went well despite not taking math at VT. DD is coming in with a lot of DE and AP credits. She should be able to only take 12 credits per semester vs 15 and, hopefully, have a life outside of just academics.
Not sure which classes were taken where, but pretty sure TCC, NOVA, Western and New River. All were taken virtually but they do have in person too. There’s a way to search all the community colleges at the same time and VT has a list of equivalent classes for transfer credits that you don’t need prior approval to take. There are a lot of fun classes, research opportunities and things to do there!
Some calc 2 topics, like integration, are foundational for further engineering math. Others, like convergence and divergence tests of sequences and series, are not. I would have her brush up on her integration techniques over the summer using Paul’s online maths notes and/or Khan Academy. Also definitely don’t miss these two awesome mini-courses:
My son is a Freshman engineering major at VT and I would say take the credits since she can go straight to Multivariable. My S25 originally skipped Calc 1 and was enrolled in calc 2 at the start of Freshman year but dropped it week 1 and repeated Calc 1 (he did get an A). He set himself up to understand Calc 2 and will be taking Multivariable over the summer though a CC. We’ve heard that MV is easier at VT than lower level Calc classes.
S23 was in exact boat (not at VTech but a different highly ranked for Engineering state flagship). We weren’t sure how to advise him, either. He had taken Calc AB and then BC in HS so not even college courses, although got 5s on both APs.
He ended up going straight to Calc 3 and was super glad that he did. He said that it was easy and got an A. And apparently Calc 2 is the most notorious GPA-killing ‘weed out’ course in the engineering sequence at his school, so he was very happy to miss it. Sounds like that’s a thing elsewhere, too.
Of course, YMMV. But as long as she generally finds Calc “easy” (a 'B is fine!), she’d probably be fine going straight to Calc 3. And it may even be a less-risky path than tackling Calc 2 at VT.
I would advise her to listen to students at the college she will be attending if they’re directing her that the professors aren’t great. My son regretted repeating Calc 2. He’d taken AP Calc BC as a sophomore and then covid hit so felt like a partial refresh would be useful. I think a lot of those early Calc classes have bad professors, and he found it wholly unhelpful.
