My daughter, who will be applying to various U.C. campuses as a freshman in 2024 as an undeclared (non-science) major, is on track to take an U.C honors pre-calculus class during her senior year in high school. Will she be at a disadvantage in the U.C. admissions process since she will not have taken calculus in high school? Do most high school students who apply to U.C. for freshman admission have taken calculus in high school?
There is no requirement by the UC’s that any applicant have Calculus on their HS transcript. However, if Calculus will be a course requirement for her intended major, having exposure to the subject in HS would be helpful since the HS course is usually a year long (a slower/gentler introduction) vs a college quarter or semester class.
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Very few programs have Calculus as a requirement, but the rigor of a student’s transcript is always a factor in admissions. So she will be at a disadvantage in terms of this one subject track (Math) as one part of a broader application with many components. Very, very few students will have the “most rigorous/most advanced” in everything.
Fwiw, my older daughter’s Freshman roommate at her T10 Engineering school had Algebra 2 as a Senior, so this one gap didn’t override a strong application. She took a summer course and adjusted her Freshmen/future coursework to adjust.
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This is good to hear about the no requirement for the UC campus. My son took Pre-calculus over the summer in order to take Calculus I as a senior since Penn and Cornell specifically noted this as a requirement for business.