<p>Hey everyone, I'm about to be a sophomore in high school and I have a question.</p>
<p>I went to catholic school all my life, where they expect you to take algebra in 9th grade, but I decided to go to a public high school, where 90% of the kids had already taken algebra and were in geometry, thus putting me a year behind the others in terms of math and public school standards.</p>
<p>As a result, I'm supposed to take PreCalculus senior year. Will taking it and not Calculus hurt my chances of getting into Ivy League schools and other top schools, like Stanford, (btw, I plan on majoring in biomedical sciences) even if everything else is up to par?</p>
<p>Haha thanks a lot, songofmyself, you just made me feel sooooooo much better lolz</p>
<p>And thanks, GAC, but luckily, MIT isn’t a dream school of mine, albeit it is an amazing school. I’ll see if I can take geometry and trigonometry this year, so next year I’ll be right where I want to be. Wish me luck!!</p>
<p>I think your situation requires almost too much context for it to be completely understandable to an adcom. If I were in your situation I would look to see what I could do to “catch up” (I myself accelerated my math course track by a year by taking a summer course; the younger you are when you do it the less time-consuming and difficult it is).</p>
<p>If I understand you correctly, you switched schools after 9th grade? If this is the case, you should check off “switched secondary schools” under the educational interruption section on the Common Application. You will then be given space to explain special circumstances/causes/results associated with this interruption. It is here that you could explain the difference in requirements for math classes at different schools. If you do double up on math next year, you could explain why you did so.</p>
<p>You could also explain anything else about the switch that you wanted to, as well.</p>
<p>(Also, I don’t see how one school being Catholic has any bearing on this, though I suppose more information is better than less for asking questions.)</p>
<p>No, I didn’t switch schools. I went to Catholic school all through nursery to 8th grade. But then I decided to go to a public high school (which is where I am now) and I’m about to enter into my sophomore year. Sorry for the confusion.</p>
<p>And the reason I mentioned about the Catholic schooling is because 9th grade Catholic school curriculum has algebra, not geometry. As a result, Catholic middle schools only provide a very basic course in algebra as they expect you to take it as a high school course, not a middle school one, which is why I’m in this mess lolz</p>
<p>Okay another question (haha sorry): If I did double up on math, would that decrease chances of admission into good colleges? Or would that be fine if I had two math classes in one year?</p>
<p>Around here, it is really common for ambitious students who didn’t have enough algebra entering 9th grade to double up on math in 10th grade so that they can be on track to take calculus in 12th grade. </p>
<p>I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary to take calculus in (or before) 12th grade to get admitted to a top college. But to be honest it would be really hard to test that proposition for un-hooked applicants at the schools I know – 100% of the kids admitted to HYPS, etc., without some obvious major hook, took calculus in high school, and hardly anyone APPLIED to HYPS without taking calculus. Part of the reason for that is that it IS really important in applying to top schools that your guidance counselor say that you have taken the most challenging curriculum available to you. In many schools, the GCs will not make that statement for students who have not taken a calculus track through math, or at least not unless they have done some really extraordinary stuff in other fields.</p>
<p>So . . . if I were you, I would look hard into doubling up on math this year to catch up with the leaders in your class.</p>
<p>I think you’ll be expected to have taken Calculus in high school, especially for the ivies and other top schools… I know for Wharton you are strongly recommended to have taken AP calculus! (which I decided to take even though I have to take a prep course just to be allowed to take ap = =) But good thing you are not applying to Wharton =].</p>