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[prytania3]

Time for a reality check.  If he takes two years of CC courses in math and physics, then he may be ready for freshman level math and physics at Columbia.  No way will this allow him to start at Columbia or a similar university as though he were coming in as a junior.  Your typical physics major is in the top 1-2 percent of their high school class in math. 

Is there any sign of signficant math talent ?

Don't be deluded. Higher level courses at a good community college are just that--higher level. I took financial accounting at Wharton back in the day, and then I took it again at the cc where I teach. It was both better and harder at the cc. Moreover, my mother is getting her BA is at this cc (she's 78), and Columbia recruited her. At my cc, we have many grads who go on to Columbia in both math and sciences and do just fine.

Ands yes, he's got math talent. And I've got pull at Columbia.

All that said, I prefer he go to a state school in VA (though I can't say VA Tech thrills me) as I think 50K/year for undergraduate is stupido.

[terpsichore]

Time for a reality check.  If he takes two years of CC courses in math and physics, then he may be ready for freshman level math and physics at Columbia.  No way will this allow him to start at Columbia or a similar university as though he were coming in as a junior.  Your typical physics major is in the top 1-2 percent of their high school class in math. 

You're kidding, right? I know at least half a dozen people who took their freshman and sophomore math and physics at a CC and then transferred to major universities (including Ivy League) and sailed through upper level physics, engineering, and other sciences majors.

[barred_owl]

Time for a reality check.  If he takes two years of CC courses in math and physics, then he may be ready for freshman level math and physics at Columbia.  No way will this allow him to start at Columbia or a similar university as though he were coming in as a junior.  Your typical physics major is in the top 1-2 percent of their high school class in math. 

You're kidding, right? I know at least half a dozen people who took their freshman and sophomore math and physics at a CC and then transferred to major universities (including Ivy League) and sailed through upper level physics, engineering, and other sciences majors.

I agree with terpsichore on this one.  If Prylet gets good grades at the CC, chances are very good that many of his CC classes will transfer to a 4-year and that those CC courses will be just as rigorous as the same freshman/sophomore courses offered at the 4-year.

[sir_lancelot]

Physics is a great foundation for many things. It is one of the most rigorous degrees though and needs a special kind of dedication especially since it takes so long before you get to the really cool practical stuff. And he'll need lots of maths. I suspect that something like Mechanical Eng. or Materials Science might be better for him. But then, both of those require Physics classes and if he decides to switch he will be in really good shape. Even if he gets his BSc or MSc in Physics and decides to switch, he will still be in good shape.

[sciencephd]

No, I'm not kidding.  I get the course catalogues of several community colleges in the mail every semester, and know exactly what their offerings are.

[galactic_hedgehog]

Well, I guess there are CCs out there that don't have physics majors and therefore only offer intro-level physics for poets, but there are many that do and have upper-level courses.

[prytania3]

Well, I guess there are CCs out there that don't have physics majors and therefore only offer intro-level physics for poets, but there are many that do and have upper-level courses.

Yeah, poets routinely rush to sign up for physics.

[amlithist]

Pry, my two cents' worth:

You may recall I have a daughter much like your son. She didn't drop out of HS, but might as well have; she graduated early just to get out. She did a stint at the CC where I am.  I pulled strings to get her into the biotech program (new at the time) while she was still dual enrolled in HS.  She got As.  She then decided to do a photo major--never mind, she could've had a FT job in the local biotech belt and started out at $30,000 while still in CC, but nooo, she wanted to be an artiste.  I had a fit but said, fine. 

She left home this time last year to go literally cross-country to live in a fairly well known arts/music community/college town where she knew no one.  I gave her some financial help, but not much (as I was dealing with dying mom and didn't have a lot to spare).  She lived hippie poor for awhile, toured with a band for awhile, then came home because she didn't like it. 

This August she left for the other coast--again, knew no one, just struck out to make her hippie way, no housing, no real money but the $400 I gave her (most of which went to gas).  She caught on at an organic farm, worked a month or two doing slave labor in exchange for a room and food; she picked grapes for $10 an hour (Cesar Chavez, where are you?). 

This past week, she started FT at the winery where she picked grapes.  I'm not 100% clear what she's doing, though one e-mail said she was worn out from heavy lifting, hard work etc., but she's having fun.  She's living in one of the vineyard's outbuildings, so there's a roof over her head. 

Am I happy?  Hell, no--there's no reason on earth she needs to be busting her ass doing manual labor.  She's one of those kids who could get straight As in whatever she wanted, if she put her mind to it...but it was usually too much trouble, so she'd do just enough to get by.  There's no reason for her to be living poor as a church mouse, either.  But she's happy.   It may very well wear off after awhile, and she's welcome to come home at any time.  But she's one of those kids you can't tell anything to...maybe like Prylet? 

FWIW, your comment about getting their stuff together when they turn 20 made me laugh:  she turned 21 in August, and I hope she starts to get hers together by the time she's 30, IF we're lucky.

Like my husband (and even, surprisingly, my ultra-anal mom) said: if she's going to play around and do this kind of stuff, better to do it now while she's young, not tied down, etc., and get it out of her system.  (And, oh, hell yeah--had I tried to get away with something like this when I was her age, my mom would have come unglued and beaten me to death.  No questions asked.)

I don't worry about it any more (well, not a whole lot); it doesn't do any good anyway.  And like someone else alluded to, you and I will both become a lot smarter in the next 5-10 years, when our kids are closer to 30.  For the time being, I'm pretty much resigned to the idea that I don't know nothin'.

[liquidambar]

Time for a reality check.  If he takes two years of CC courses in math and physics, then he may be ready for freshman level math and physics at Columbia.  No way will this allow him to start at Columbia or a similar university as though he were coming in as a junior.  Your typical physics major is in the top 1-2 percent of their high school class in math. 

You're kidding, right? I know at least half a dozen people who took their freshman and sophomore math and physics at a CC and then transferred to major universities (including Ivy League) and sailed through upper level physics, engineering, and other sciences majors.

Chime.  I know multiple people who have done exactly what Prylet is considering:  two years of CC and then Virginia Tech physics.  Yes, you do need very good math skills to succeed in physics, but the CC part isn't going to make or break him.

[mythbuster]

Pry,
   I have a friend with a PhD in Physics who works for some giant hedge fund. He does Bayesian modeling of markets. He admits that the PhD is overkill for the job, so I would think that an undergrad in Physics would also be desirable. Heck, I'd love to meet a financial planner who had a clue about the stats and math involved in those crazy graphs that Charles Schwab touts being available online.  Physics may also lead to engineering, which is always a good job bet.
    Also, has he been watching Big Band Theory on CBS? Sitcom about a bunch of astrophysicists- has it's moments but also puts out there the physicist stereotype.

[dellaroux]

Pry,
   I have a friend with a PhD in Physics who works for some giant hedge fund. He does Bayesian modeling of markets. He admits that the PhD is overkill for the job, so I would think that an undergrad in Physics would also be desirable. Heck, I'd love to meet a financial planner who had a clue about the stats and math involved in those crazy graphs that Charles Schwab touts being available online.  Physics may also lead to engineering, which is always a good job bet.
    Also, has he been watching Big Band Theory on CBS? Sitcom about a bunch of astrophysicists- has it's moments but also puts out there the physicist stereotype.

Big Band Theory?

Is that like, about Artie Shaw and why his guys were or weren't better than Bennie Goodman's?

Didn't know that was such important stuff, I'll have to tell my dad....

[mythbuster]

Make that Big Bang Theory. Stupid edit function shuts off too fast.

[dellaroux]

Awww....I was just thinking it was about dueling clarinets, or something....

Actually, I also have made a practice of taking off time between degrees, ever since high school. It helps integrate what is learned cognitively with whatever it is one learns while living ones life, inductively, I suppose.

I means that one is older than other students each time one does the next round of work, but that has never seemed to be a bad thing, either.

The must-go-to-school lockstep is really only a recent invention, anyway. And it works for some, but not for everyone. Prylet's own healthy patterns will appear.

[prytania3]

Pry,
   I have a friend with a PhD in Physics who works for some giant hedge fund. He does Bayesian modeling of markets. He admits that the PhD is overkill for the job, so I would think that an undergrad in Physics would also be desirable. Heck, I'd love to meet a financial planner who had a clue about the stats and math involved in those crazy graphs that Charles Schwab touts being available online.  Physics may also lead to engineering, which is always a good job bet.
    Also, has he been watching Big Band Theory on CBS? Sitcom about a bunch of astrophysicists- has it's moments but also puts out there the physicist stereotype.

Myth, you don't need either a degree in math or physics to read those charts. I'm in English and I'm a pretty good chart reader. You just have to learn the formations.

Okay, so I'm liking the idea of physics a lot. I just hope Prylet is not bipolar like his mother and this isn't some manic phase.

[sciencephd]

You don't need a degree in physics to spell validation thread, either.