Getting accelerated hs credits over the summer
/By Joyce Szuflita
I had an inquiry from a parent who wanted their child to take Geometry in the summer between 9th and 10th grade, to get a jump on some accelerated math classes later in high school.
I asked Jessica Applestone, College Consultant and this is what she recommended:
”I am an educational counselor and also the mom of a sophomore. I think its always great when kids show interest and rigor, and colleges love that as well. Taking Geometry over the summer is a great tactic to get ahead, and there are a number of options to take it over the summer. My students have taken courses through One Schoolhouse (https://www.oneschoolhouse.org/), Johns Hopkins GTY program (https://cty.jhu.edu/programs/online) and of course, the cheapest and the most accessible option—community college classes which are now offered online from many different colleges throughout NY State (https://explore.suny.edu/courses/243095). The other option is to wait till next summer and take pre-calc (this is what my child is doing) so that your child would take Calc AB in 11th and BC in 12th. This can work out well if your child is not a geometry whiz and needs a bit more time to learn the basics—something that a compressed summer class will not offer. Many kids, even those strong in STEM fields, struggle with geometry, and I wasn't sure how it would go with mine, so I chose to have them take Geometry for a full year and then Algebra 2 this year.
There are many wonderful summer programs for STEM kids, especially young women. So great places to check out are Teen Life (https://www.teenlife.com/category/summer/?program-type=summer) for lots of ideas and the Cooper Union, which offers STEM Saturdays and summer programs (https://cooper.edu/academics/outreach-and-pre-college) and NYCity public schools offer free programs throughout the City (https://insideschools.org/resources/free-programs). My child attended a biomedical engineering course at WPI last summer and loved it and I think their programs are excellent (https://www.wpi.edu/academics/pre-collegiate/summer-programs) and it's great to get the feel of what a STEM school is like and whether that is the right fit for your child.”
