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My daughter left the 8th grade with a h.s. math credit, a foreign language credit, and a science credit. She has done well academically (4.35 gpa weighted at end of sophomore year). They haven't gotten a report card yet, but she had a 97 average on her progress report earlier in September. So far, she has had:

9th Grade: Biology I Honors, French II Honors, Geometry Honors, English I Honors, Lifetime Wellness, Speech I

10th Grade: Algebra II Honors, Chemistry I Honors, English II Honors, French III Honors, World History Honors, Criminal Justice

11th Grade: Advanced Algebra/Trig, Biology II Honors, English III AP, French IV Honors, Criminal Justice II/III, U.S. History AP, and Art.

12th Grade: Plans to take English IV AP, French AP, Chemistry II AP, U.S. Gov't AP, Economics Honors and Keyboarding. If she takes the math, she'll take Pre-Calculus Honors.

Although she has made A's in all her classes, she absolutely could not stand her 10th grade math teacher. In her opinion, his teaching methods were extremely poor, which frustrated her and made every other small thing he did seem huge. Unfortunately, that particular teacher would be the one teaching her senior year of math should she choose to take it. Since she will already have four h.s. math credits, is it really necessary to take math during her senior year? She certainly doesn't want her lack of math next year to reflect poorly on college applications, but she'd rather not be miserable during her senior year. I don't know if it matters, but she plans for her college major to be International Studies/Political Science and then plans to pursue a law degree. Advice? Thanks!

By Anovice (Anovice) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 04:14 pm: Edit

Hmmm... I would say that if she plans to NOT take a math, she needs some more science. Really, all she has is chemistry and biology. I'm not sure how her curriculum works but do they offer physics or earth science or environmental science. I would also say that she could look into options with a local college- I've found that to be extremely enjoyable socially and academically.

With the intent on majoring in political science, I would initially say that math/science aren't really needed but if she changes her mind(I know we all say we won't but it is a fact that most college students change their majors AT LEAST once) you wouldn't want her lack of math/science to hold her back.

... just some ideas!

By Matth (Matth) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 04:43 pm: Edit

I wouldn't risk missing that year of Math. A lot of colleges will not consider h/s credits taken in middle school, and will still want to see those four years of required core subjects taken while in h/s.

By Over30 (Over30) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 05:30 pm: Edit

Can she take a math class at a local college? Mine will have to do this because he will finish all of the math offered at his school junior year.

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 05:33 pm: Edit

does her school offer AP statistics? That might give her something math-like while avoiding the teacher she dislikes. If you decide to go with pre-calc, distance learning courses are an option in addition to community college.

By Ahwosg (Ahwosg) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 06:09 pm: Edit

its a really bad idea to leave off before even taking precal. and most colleges want 4 years of math. for instance, middlebury requires Math IIC as an SAT II -- which seems really random given its background -- but you'd need precal for it. So yea, suck it up and take it. Precal isn't very hard to learn on your own anyway.

By Looking1 (Looking1) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 06:41 pm: Edit

Most children take math in middle school, not so that they can not take it as a senior, but so that they can take a higher level. The more competitve schools want to see that you take math every year, including senior year. YOu can be sure that everyone else who took math in 8th grade is taking math now. It will put her at a disadvantage at the more competitve schools. Some schools won't care, but you proabably arent looking at those

By Splashmom (Splashmom) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 07:42 pm: Edit

Thanks for all the advice. She probably will just have to suck it up and take it during her senior year. Between school, work, and her EC's, I don't think she could squeeze in another minute for something like a class at the local college. I wouldn't say that she has a weakness in math, but it has generally been her least favorite class; combine that with a dislike for the teacher and that gives it more of a "yuck" factor. It's hardly worth jeopardizing a college acceptance, though.

Anovice, you're probably right in that she may need to expand on the science a bit more. She heard they may offer an Ecology Honors class next year (right now they just offer regular Ecology), so if that happens, she'll probably take that.

Again, thanks so much for all the advice. It really does help to hear the voice of reason from several different people. Honestly, until I found this site and did some research recently, I didn't realize how competitive it has become just to get ones college application noticed.

By Anovice (Anovice) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 07:59 pm: Edit

"Honestly, until I found this site and did some research recently, I didn't realize how competitive it has become just to get ones college application noticed. "

I don't mean to offend anyone here, but I think that CC board members tend to worry a little bit more about their self image(in colleges views) than most of the random population. You'll notice that most kids here have extremely high SATs and are involved in most everything... absolutely the top of each of their schools. I know lots of kids who were no amazing stars who got into great schools. I'm not saying that having the knowledge provided by CC is bad, but I think that sometimes it makes us(the students AND parents) worry a little too much!

Good luck with math and science!

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 08:43 pm: Edit

Will the middle school Algebra definitely be shown on her high school transcript that is sent to colleges? Some high schools will only show high school classes, not middle school classes so it will still appear that a student has only taken "3" years of math even though they did one in middle school. It's good to check this out.

Also, your daughter's decision really depends on the type of school she's planning to apply to. My daughter also would prefer not to take math senior year - she will most likely be applying as a history major.

She has found that many colleges do not require 4 years of math on the high school transcript although they might "recommend" it. Some only recommend three years. My daughter's guidance counselor explained it to her this way: if a school "recommends" something, you will be at a disadvantage in admissions if you do not meet that standard. Doesn't mean you won't get in - just that everything else in your package will have to be that much more solid against the others applying at the same time.

The situation is somewhat different at the most selective colleges/universities - they do want to see the standard 4 - 4 years of math, 4 of English, 4 of language, 4 of science in competitive applicants.

But if your daughter is not aiming for the most selective schools(i.e., Yale, Swarthmore, Harvard, MIT, etc.), 3 years can still be workable as long as the rest of her grades,
SATs, etc. are top notch, which it certainly sounds like they will be. Again, double check on whether that middle school algebra will actually appear on her high school transcript.

In any case, it might not be a bad idea for her to do some research on the requirements and recommendations of some of specific schools that she might be interested in applying to to get an idea of how the math situation will play out.

A final factor to consider is that many schools will require at least one semester of math to graduate anyhow. This is the main reason why my daughter is leaning towards taking that 4th year of math - she has never been strong in math and she is worried that taking a year off from it may make it difficult to pick it up again in college.

By Cowgurlsblu (Cowgurlsblu) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 09:14 pm: Edit

I did not take a math class during my senior year of high school and it didn't seem to harm my application at all. Granted, I wasn't applying to Ivy Leagues, but I am now a sophomore at Grinnell College (a fairly selective LAC). I made it very clear in my application and essay that political science was my passion and, while I had made it through Calc B, math was not something I planned to continue. We have no GE requirements, so the college did not have to worry about placing me in a class and I didn't stress about "re-starting" math after a few years off.

By Bookiemom (Bookiemom) on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 02:07 am: Edit

My D did not take math as a high school senior. She took Alg/Trig junior year and then stopped as her schedule was full with other classes. She has now gone back to math as a college soph because she has declared a double major in biology, and you have to go through calculus for some of the classes. She has college algebra now and is doing fine. I don't think you have to have math as a high school senior if you are applying to colleges below the top tier.

Math was not required at her college for a general education requirement if you received above a certain SAT score.

By Nngmm (Nngmm) on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 09:21 am: Edit

It probably depends on the kind of sghools she will want to apply to. If she wants to keep all her options open, she should take the class. It always looks bad when kids don't take advantage of what's offered at their school.

By Peggy (Peggy) on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 09:35 am: Edit

Just my 2c worth. My daughter also took Algebra I as an 8th grader, and it showed up on her transcript. You might ask your counselor for a copy of your transcript and see how it comes out.

Peg