Last year of h.s. Math for college gen Ed requirement

[TwoEdgedSword]

Daughter wants to get first year of gen ed math done at local junior college while in her last year of h.s. and have it transfer to four year institution.

 

She's not sure which college, and has to give a general plan to the h.s. counselor.

She's considering Probability and Statistics or College Algebra. She doesn't like math.

Any suggestions?

(I know you have no idea if it will receive dual credit or not.)

Thanks.

 

(also posted on hs board)

[katilac]

If she did well in Algebra 1 & 2 in spite of not liking it, she would probably not have any problems with college algebra. 

 

One thing I have found is that courses with identical names vary a lot from school to school. In order to make a more informed decision, I would try to find out what book is used in each of those classes, and have a look at them in the bookstore (or samples online).

 

A syllabus is also a great help, so you know exactly what is covered. Sometimes you can find them online by googling "XYZ community college probability and statistics syllabus." If not, just call and ask. 

[mom2att]

My dd took Stats and College Algebra as DE courses. They rounded out her high school transcript for math, AND completed her college math requirements. She's a Linguistics major at a large state uni, and is thrilled that she does not have to take any further math classes.

[Mom22ns]

I would have her do College Algebra because it is more likely to be accepted. However, if you know where she is likely to go, I'd check their requirements.

 

Dd's college requires College Algebra or above and doesn't accept stats. Ds's college requires Pre-Calc or above. They do take Stats, but consider College Algebra remedial. 

[bettyandbob]

This is going to depend on the university she attends.

 

The school I attended does not offer or take transfer credit for college algebra. The lowest math courses it has are statistics and calculus.

 

If she might study a subject like psychology or government, I'd suggest statistics. However, to.make this decision you need to check with schools she hopes to attend and understand that it still might not work out--schools do change their policies on credits transferred.

[AngieW in Texas]

It depends on where she is going to end up. Both of my older girls were required to take statistics for their majors (one in Arts&Technology, the other in Speech Pathology), but I don't see it listed for the major my youngest is looking at.

 

She is still taking statistics though (right now, actually) and is really enjoying the class. She took Math for Business (actually college algebra with business applications) last semester and it was a huge struggle for her (especially since she wasn't going to be satisfied with anything other than an A, which she got). She is finding that statistics would have been better to take first and would have made that class easier.

[Bootsie]

The math class(es) that she will need in college will depend on not only what university she attends but also on the major she chooses.   

[FaithManor]

At ds's college, college algebra is considered remedial and does not count towards graduation for anyone. If students test into college algebra they have to pay to take it, and then still take pre-calc in order to meet the math requirement though there are some majors that allow a substitution of a specific statistics class.

 

You really need to have an idea what she is going to major in, and what colleges she will apply to and then consult their requirements first before making a decision.

[MerryAtHope]

Several of the majors my ds is considering require Statistics--I agree with the other posts, you need to know more about her perspective major and college attendance. If those things are up in the air (very normal!), that's fine--but know that a course taken now may or may not end up meeting the requirement.

[bettyandbob]

With regard to statistics, there are different levels of intro statistics courses. So just as college algebra may not be accepted everywhere not every statistics course would be accepted.

 

My dds degree and the grad program she is aiming for require both calculus and statistics. She's graduating high school this year with the equivalent of a semester of calculus and AP statistics. The courses are required for grad school admission, so she has to take the again and have them as actual courses on her transcript not stuff she placed out of. But now she's had an intro to both so should be ready for the classes her university will offer.