<p>IMO, it’s got to be a very well-considered decision for a STEM kid to apply without at least one math or sci LoR. At more competitive colleges, so many highly qualified kids will have at least one. These teachers can offer a vital (and relevant) first-hand view in that arena. After that, sure, go for an off-subject core teacher.</p>
<p>You’ve done so much research- I’m sure you know more about the schools your kids will apply to than I possibly could.</p>
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<p>Wouldn’t recommendations from whatever math and science teachers the student had in junior year be fine (AP courses or not)? Surely there are potential STEM majors who are only one or zero years ahead in math, rather than two years ahead in math. Remember that engineering curricula at most colleges assume that the student starts in first semester freshman calculus, indicating that the minimum expectation is completion of precalculus (not calculus) in high school.</p>
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<p>And this needs to be the case because many small or rural high schools do not have the resources to offer calculus. On the other hand, the competition is stiff enough that students from urban or suburban high schools usually have calculus available, and woe be the STEM applicant who didn’t take the class that was available.</p>
<p>This is not unlike many gifted or magnet programs; the ones who get in, because of all the competition, are the ones who will, in general, be taught below their natural learning speed.</p>
<p>Not taking calculus in high school when it was offered is often the effect of math placement decisions made years before in middle school. A student who is not accelerated into algebra 1 in 8th grade (or earlier) will not reach calculus in high school (the normal college prep sequence starting with algebra 1 in 9th grade will result in completing precalculus in 12th grade).</p>
<p>Is it really necessary to put that much pressure on middle school students and parents with the claim (not really accurate) that not accelerating in math in middle school closes off the possibility of a STEM major in college?</p>
<p>Yes, it is advantageous in some respects to complete calculus in high school. But it is not essential.</p>
<p>D is one year accelerated (taking Alg 2 as a soph right now) and is concerned that she’ll only be up to AB Calc as a senior, unless she takes a summer course at a college so she can take BC Calc senior year.</p>
<p>Anyone think it’s necessary to burn a summer to do that for a STEM kid looking at competitive colleges?</p>
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<p>Does the high school offer a one year BC course for seniors who completed precalculus as juniors? That is what one year ahead in math students took when I was in high school (it was the only calculus course offered then).</p>
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<p>No, unless there is really nothing better to do. Lots of students enter college having had only AB, or just precalculus, in high school. Also, given how many repeat first semester freshman calculus, many apparently did not learn all that much in AB in high school anyway. So she will not be “behind” with just AB (she will be ahead by a semester in math at most colleges).</p>
<p>Be aware that the first semester calculus course in the summer will run at double normal speed (since a summer session is typically about half as long as a regular semester), while a high school BC course that starts from where AB left off will run at half normal speed (taking a year to cover what is ordinarily second semester calculus in college).</p>
<p>I do believe at some schools it might make a difference…especially if BC calc is offered at the student’s high school…I do recall at one Ivy engineering program we visited the adrep specifically said that they like to see BC
That being said, I would only mess with a summer if that’s what the kid strongly wants to do</p>
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<p>Which one? Cornell and Princeton just say that they want to see “calculus”. Of course, if a student were on track to take BC without needing summer courses, then taking BC would be favored over not taking BC, but is it reasonable for a tracking decision made in middle school to be what blocks admission or requires additional summer courses to become eligible?</p>
<p>Even just requiring “calculus” in high school blocks many students from engineering programs that require it, but fortunately these engineering programs are in the minority, and many of the most widely recognized engineering programs are at state universities that accept students who have completed up to precalculus.</p>
<p>I agree with you that a lack of BC will not absolutely preclude admission to elite engineering programs necessarily. It’s more a case is sheer volume of applications for limited spots…the statement during the PowerPoint at Cornell Engineering was “we like to see BC Calc”</p>
<p>Thanks for the thoughts. She has time to figure it out, next year is Analysis (with physics, it’s a team taught course and anyone wanting Calc has to take it first), it would be summer between junior and senior year that she’d take AB Calc. I think there are probably better things for her to do over the summer though, an internship, perhaps.</p>
<p>And, when I was in CEGEP there was no incentive for us to take multivariable calculus. Although I did take it.</p>