Physics in Summer School instead of High school
My sophomore daughter attends a small private high school and is interested in pursuing engineering in college and hopes to go to Cal Poly or UC. Though we know it's not required to have Physics in high school if you have taken enough of other sciences, we learned from my older child's experience with similar career goals that having some exposure to physics before college was beneficial for admissions but also as preparation for college physics. Physics is not strong at our high school and with one teacher at the school who let's just say does not inspire a love of learning physics, we are considering that she take a summer class either this summer or next summer. My question is has your child done summer physics, if so, did he/she like it and where would you recommend taking this class in the Oakland/Berkeley or nearby areas. Thanks for any insight.
Parent Replies
You could look at enrolling her in ATDP. Deadline could be soon, but she can get credit for work she does there as they offer rigorous and transferable lab science courses. My son had a more flexible school schedule and took a few semesters of physics at Laney College w/ Mr. Nicol grom whom he learned much and whom he respected.
I would recommend checking out Tilden Prep. My son took a class there over the summer and was able to get through a full year of precalculus. I think that they offer physics too.
As you research various summer options, do be sure to consider that fitting an entire academic year worth of material into just a few weeks can be stressful (especially if the instructor isn't really so skilled). Our daughter did a math class through ADTP one summer (geometry, I think - it was a while ago now) - and it almost ruined her (and our) summer. At one point she asked if she could drop out. After discussing the implications of each option, we left it up to her to decide if having one class take all of her time/energy/effort was worth it - and she ultimately decided to finish (leaving it up to her did reduce the stress level somewhat, I think). I don't recall what grade she ended up with, and if it mattered in her future plans, but she did eventually graduate from high school, college, and graduate school, so I guess she survived. your daughter may not have the same experience, obviously, and I imagine it will vary somewhat with the instructor.