<p>I moved to my current high school in 9th grade and somehow got screwed out of advanced math classes because of some requirement that I had to apply for them in 8th grade. I begged and begged my counselor for honors classes, but our school doesn't have a lot of them, and she didn't bother to tell me that there was an advance math class.</p>
<p>While I was recovering from spinal surgery, my tutor told me that I could try applying for a college pre-calculus course to get into AP calculus next year. Wonderful idea, except that I was a semester late, and the school would not finance the classes. So to get into AP Calculus I would have to drive 4 hours a day just to get there and back, and pay $440 for the course. I'm poor, that just wasn't feasible.</p>
<p>So now I'm in a regular pre-calculus class, worrying that I can't apply to any top colleges because I'm not in Calculus and I want to be a Math/Science major. Isn't it even an admission requirement in a few places? Is there anything I can put or say in my college app that would explain my situation. Would any colleges take that into consideration? I am self-studying for AP Calc BC now out of spite, but I know it doesn't mean much since the colleges won't get to see my score before admission.</p>
<p>The only schools that I know that require Calculus are CalTech, Harvey Mudd, and maybe MIT. At least Harvey Mudd, and maybe the other schools also, allow you to be admitted without calculus but must take it over the summer before enrolling, and they made this policy exactly for people in your situation. </p>
<p>You’ll be fine. Ask your counselor to mention it in their letter, maybe, and relax.</p>
<p>It really helps, but it won’t hurt you. Some colleges like to see that you challenged yourself and took Calculus. While it may be worth the effort to get some college credit, it’s only a really small percentage of the whole admissions process. Many other factors will outweigh it.</p>
<p>Depending on your major, you don’t even need calculus to graduate from many schools, so unless it’s a heavily-engineering-focused college that you’re applying to, the answer is no.</p>
<p>Engineering majors at Washington University of Saint Louis are assumed to have a semester of calculus already (AP Calculus AB or equivalent college course).</p>
<p>Caltech, HMC, and MIT freshman calculus courses are accelerated and/or taught at what is normally an honors level, so having some calculus course before enrolling (whether or not actually required for admission) would be a very good idea. Caltech and HMC do state that applicants should have taken calculus in high school.</p>
<p>But most other schools do not assume or require calculus before enrolling.</p>
<p>I didn’t have calculus. I’m an Industrial Engineering major at UF.
A portion have enough Calc credit from HS and many of them start off in precalc becuase it’s a good foundation.</p>