Colleges that don't require (or require very little) math?

College Search & Selection
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Hey guys! I’m a sophomore in community college, and eventually I will be transferring to a four- year university. My major is screenwriting/ writing and producing for tv.

While I am extremely confident in my reading and writing abilities (I’m writing a series of 5 novels, two television pilots, and a mountain of spec scripts; I scored nearly perfectly on the SAT in both sections, and I blaze through college essays like nothing), I SUCK. At. Math. And I mean, to the point where I probably won’t be able to finish out my general education requirements at all because of it.

It took me two attempts to pass pre- Algebra, 2.5 to pass Algebra (only because my teacher was too stoned to care), 5 to pass Geometry, and I’m on attempt 4 or 5 to pass Algebra 2 and failing miserably. I have done tutoring for 10+ hours each week, tried watching youtube videos with visual aids, asking the instructor questions (he’s pretty done listening at this point), and really everything I can think to do. I don’t know what’s left to try!

When I try and do math, I have to spend hours on a topic to learn it. And I will think I have it down and be totally confident in my ability to do the problems. But then I can’t do them. It makes perfect sense, but then I do a problem the exact way I think I am supposed to, and end up with a completely wrong answer.

I’ve struggled with math for as long as I can remember. I don’t know if there’s some kind of learning disability going on with me, or what. But I have an IQ of 140, so I’m not an idiot, I can assure you. I’m not saying that to boast, I’m just pointing out that I am in fact an intelligent human, capable of succeeding in nearly every other area of life (don’t ask about sports, though xD), just NOT MATH!

I know there’s no getting around the general education math requirements, but as it stands, I’m way behind and it’s going to take me at LEAST two more years to get all my math requirements to transfer, even though I am almost completely finished with everything else.

I’m honestly thinking of dropping out of college, at this point.

Are there any colleges that don’t require math to graduate? I’m desperate.

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As to whether or not you have a learning difference (e.g., dyscalculia) that interferes with your ability to do math, you could have an psycho-educational assessment done, and proceed accordingly and/or you can look at schools with open curricula or that don’t require math such as Brown, Kenyon, Bard, Smith, NYU Gallatin, Hamilton, and Amherst. Some schools like Reed will let you take math or logic or linguistics.

What are your stats?

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A surprising number of colleges simply have a ‘basic math skills’ or ‘quantitative’ requirement. Identify the colleges that you are interested in transferring to and look up their graduation requirements - you can figure it out pretty quickly.

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Since you are in a California community college, you can use http://www.assist.org to see what courses satisfy CSU GE area B4 or IGETC 2A. For UCs, you may need to check each campus individually for what it may require.

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At some UC campuses and other schools, there may be a mathematical or quantitative reasoning requirement, but courses such as statistics, computer science, economics, linguistics, quantitative methods for social studies, or philosophy logic may be allowed to fulfill it. Examples from UCs:
http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirement/qr.html
http://ge.ucdavis.edu/local_resources/docs/Quantitative-Literacy-final.pdf
http://catalogue.uci.edu/informationforadmittedstudents/requirementsforabachelorsdegree/#QuantitativeSymbolicandComputationalReasoning
http://catalog.registrar.ucla.edu/uclacatalog2015-16-8a4.htm
http://ssha-advising.campuscms.ucmerced.edu/students/ssha-general-education/mathematical-quantitative-reasoning-courses
https://my.sa.ucsb.edu/catalog/2012-2013/UndergraduateEducation/QuantCourses.aspx
http://registrar.ucsc.edu/catalog/undergrad-acad/gened.html
https://sixth.ucsd.edu/_files/_home/advising/GE%20LIST%202015-2016.pdf (UCSD Sixth College; other UCSD residential colleges differ)

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Are you saying that you haven’t taken any math at your CC that would satisfy the math req’t?

What is your financial situation? There may be schools that won’t require, but they may be expensive and transfers usually get lousy aid pkgs.

If you need aid, and we recommend schools that are unaffordable, then that is no help for you.

What is your GPA? When do you plan on transferring? Aren’t the deadlines passed for many schools? at least the ones that might give you aid?

1 Like
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I know exactly what you mean! And don’t worry, there really are options for bright kids who are outside the box. You sound a lot like my S – also a writer, also with a huge disconnect between verbal and math. One classic definition of LDs is a gap between ability (such as IQ) and performance, or a huge difference between academic areas (such as verbal and math.) Get a diagnosis if you can. The extra time on tests can be a lifesaver.

This year is probably too late at most places. (Though maybe not.) But here are some leads, cuz when we were researching colleges, an absolute requirement was “no math requirement!” These are some of the resources we’ve used and some of the schools on the list for my S. FWIW, he’s been batting .1000, and he’s really just like you, except that he’s applying as a first year and has the accommodations in place.

Consider CTCL schools. (Colleges That Change Lives.) They tend to have a very holistic focus and are not always rigid with Gen Eds. Often you can substitute a language, economics or music theory for the math requirement, or the requirement honestly doesn’t look onerous. (And if it doesn’t look onerous to my S, trust me, it wouldn’t look onerous to anyone.) Three options high on our list are Beloit, Lawrence and Kalamazoo – and don’t get put off by the sticker price, those all offer great aid even if you’re awful in math; S can happily attest to that. (At least for First Years. Don’t know about CC transfers, I’m afraid.) I think they’re all test optional, but he did submit SATs even though his M scores are not exactly up there with his CR and W. I mention that so that you know that low M scores are not the kiss of rejection if your other scores are high. (And there are also CTCL schools on the West Coast, though we didn’t look into them.)

Another helpful resource is the Consortium for Innovative Environments in Learning. It has a bit of overlap with CTCL and includes some excellent, flexible schools with a focus on creativity – Hampshire, Pitzer, New College of Florida, Bennington, etc. NCF has great OOS merit aid (at least for first years.) If you also have a social justice orientation, check out Fairhaven College of Western Washington, which has an option for CC transfers called “upside down degree.” It’s similar to Hampshire in that you can create your own interdisciplinary major (so you could pursue writing your novel), grades are by narrative evaluation, you can take all kinds of regular courses in the main university, and there’s a core curriculum focused on reading, writing and discussion that replaces Gen Ed (including Math.) Again, don’t be put off by the sticker price; as a CA resident you might be in the WUE consortium, and WWU does give merit scholarships to OOS students.

How to know quickly if a school has a rigid Math Gen Ed? Well, the quickie way we found was a site called What Will They Learn – only we used it in the opposite way it’s intended :wink: It seems to have a very conservative focus and lists whether a school requires various Gen Eds, including Math; it gives low scores to schools where, for instance, “Quantitative Reasoning requirement may be satisfied by courses with little college-level math content.” (You know – bad schools like Princeton, Harvard, Brown, he he.) So we’d just quickly google the college name and “what will they learn” to find out if it got a lovely “D” or “F” and hence is actually our definition of A Sensible Open-Minded Place.

Among schools mentioned by other posters, I’d point out that Bard does have Math (which is why it dropped of the list for S), and some of the schools, like Brown and Kenyon, are super-hard admits if you don’t have good SATs all around (including M.) But check out Oberlin and Grinnell. Of course it depends on your GPA, recs, and other stats. But there are lots of great choices out there.

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Well, there is Evergreen State in Washington, which has a completely open curriculum for the BA degree ( http://evergreen.edu/registration/degrees ). However, it will be more costly as a non-Washington resident.

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Unfortunately, I tested at the Arithmetic level at my college, which means repeating Pre- Algebra, Algebra, and Algebra 2, as well as a college- level course such as Statistics. They won’t let me just do Statistics; I have to go through the entire sequence again.

The way it’s broken up at my school would mean staying on an additional TWO YEARS, just for the math, and I don’t know if I can continue to wait (my family is waiting for me to get out of college so they can move to Arizona; the longer I stay in, the longer they have to wait on me because I need to get in- state tuition).

So, I’m guessing that probably rules out public universities the country over? I don’t know… I really wanted to go to CSUN, UCI, LMU, or Chapman. I have a 4.0, so none of those are too terribly far- off, save for the bloody math!!!

I just don’t think I can stay on for an extra two years, JUST for math. I’m doing Screenwriting, for heaven’s sake, not Engineering!

And yup, I’ve heard of Evergreen State. Not sure how many classes they have related to filmmaking and screenwriting, though :confused: But I guess I can check it out.

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I was planning on transferring in Fall 2017/ Spring 2018. I am currently receiving financial aid at my community college, but am ok (I guess) with taking out a loan in the future. I have a 4.0 cumulative gpa. I am planning to take Pre- Algebra either over the summer or fall semester, and then following the sequence, I guess, until I am eligible to take something like Statistics or Math for Liberal Arts (all those classes require pre- Algebra, Algebra, and Algebra II as prerequisites). So… I’ll be here a while!

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I’m confused. You tested at the Arithmetic level at your college- you mean your community college? why do you think that you have to meet those math requirements to transfer? The college you transfer into will ask you to meet their math (or more likely, ‘quantitative’ requirements). You probably have to do two more years of college anyway, as most 4 year universities want you to have done 2 years with them before giving you a degree- so you have 2 years to meet their requirements, not your community colleges.

Unless I missed something in there somewhere?

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UCs and CSUs generally want transfer students to complete a base level math course prior to transfer.

Here is a free on-line math placement test at another university: http://math.tntech.edu/e-math/placement/

Perhaps you can use it to find out what particular topics you may need to relearn. Then self-study those topics and try the placement test again (or at another community college) to see if you can place into a higher math course so that you need fewer math courses.

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Can you retake the test?
In any case, private universities in CA and all colleges outside of CA wouldn’t care if you tested into Pre-Algebra or took which class. Don’t mention it of course. But IGETC = CA publics. So, those are off limits.
For screen writing I can see why Chapman or LMU (or USC!) would be appealing. Do try to transfer. Don’t worry about math. Once you’re at the new college you’ll be under their math requirement. Many colleges have “general education math” classes (like “Geometry and art” or “math for citizenship”).
And a 4.0 college student who scores at Arithmetic level does indicate a huge discrepancy that does beg the question whether there’s a LD, so, investigate.

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I agree with MYOS1634…you need to make an appointment with the learning support services office at your community college. Bring your high school and college transcripts. A discrepancy like you are describing, across multiple teachers and several years, is a strong argument for a learning evaluation.

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You can’t just “take a loan” to pay for college. As a junior, the max you can take is $7500 per year plus MAYBE a $2k in Perkins.

Plus, the worst thing someone in your career could do is take out student loans. You’d likely find yourself with NO TIME for your craft because you’d have to work a lot to pay back your loans.

Either way, $7500 per year in loans isn’t going to pay for much.

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No loan, no public school… Guess I’m dropping out!

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Yeah, I have taken the test twice

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You can apply to USC, it’s very generous to transfers from CA CC’s.

And getting diagnosed for a LD such as dyscalculia may result in your math classes being waived. So, get to it :slight_smile:

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Collegemom3717, In order to complete the MINIMUM transfer requirement for the CSU or UC system, I would need to take a course approved in the GE- Breadth or IGETC. Each and every one of those courses requires Algebra 2 as a prerequisite. I have not passed Algebra 2. Because of my placement, I would have to take pre- Algebra, Algebra, and Algebra 2 as prerequisites before enrolling in any math course that would meet the quantitative reasoning requirement at CSU and UC.

Does that make more sense?

I’ll definitely try and get an appointment with someone.

And for whoever asked, this is my fourth semester at college (2nd year).

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Apply to USC. Excellent for screen writing, couldn’t care less about IGETC, take a lot of transfers and have a pretty good financial aid program for CA residents.
Apply to Chapman, too.
And do get an appointment, because if it turns out you have dyscalculia, you can stop getting tormented and move on to UCLA etc. (a 4.0 is really impressive).