<p>“Also, while calculus wasn’t required for graduation even from my public magnet, there was strong peer pressure among elite U contender students in the better local public HSs and moreso, public magnets like the one I attended to complete it before graduating HS to demonstrate one’s intellectual/academic bonafides.”</p>
<p>I don’t think there was ever any situation you were ever in where you <em>didn’t</em> perceive there to be strong peer pressure to demonstrate some sort of bona fides.</p>