<p>I'm currently a high school sophomore and I plan on majoring in International Relations and either a minor in music or history. I took Algebra I in 6th grade, Geometry in 7th grade, and Algebra II in 8th. Math has never, ever, everrrr been my best spot, and I never really liked it either, so I don't plan on taking it in senior year. Since I don't plan on being an engineer, or anything that really has much to do with math, do I still need to take four years? </p>
<p>My schedule has been...</p>
<p>Freshman;
Marching Band
Wind Ensemble
History Honors
Biology Honors
College Algebra
English 9 Honors
French I</p>
<p>Sophomore;
Marching Band
Wind Ensemble {required for 2 years}
AP European History
Chemistry {School doesn't offer Chem Honors/AP}
French II
Pre Cal
English 10 Honors</p>
<p>And this is what I'm planning for junior&senior year~</p>
<p>Junior;
Marching Band
Jazz Band
AP US History
French III
AP Biology
AP Statistics
English 11 Honors</p>
<p>Senior;
Marching Band
Jazz Band
AP Psychology
AP French
AP Government/ AP Econ {it's one semester each}
AP Literature</p>
<p>So, in the end, I'll have 4 years of English, 4 years of Foreign Language, {haha,morethan} 4 years of Fine Art, 4 years of History/social studies, 3 years of Science, and 3 years of math.</p>
<p>[Princeton</a> University | Academic Preparation](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/preparation/]Princeton”>http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/preparation/)</p>
<p>you will see that there is an expectation of 4 years of math. FWIW someone I know applied last year with only 3 years of math and was rejected.</p>
<p>Yeah, I know, but I <em>really</em> don’t want to take another year. And I know that I will not do well if I take APCalc… I think I’d rather the college see me not take it than see an F on my transcripts. ^^;</p>
<p>As long as you realize that most competitive applicants to Princeton will have taken 4 years of math, including calculus. The admissions officers stress that you should be taking the most rigorous classes your high school has to offer and getting the highest grades in them. Best of luck!</p>
<p>A few years ago we were looking at this issue for my daughter, currently a high school senior. Math has been her least favorite subject and we were trying to figure out if she could just do 3 years of high school math, stopping after pre calculus, without it hurting her chances at being admitted to academically competitive colleges. With this in mind, during a meeting with an admissions officer at Barnard College, a small liberal arts college, we asked if it would hurt her admission chances if she didn’t take AP Calculus but instead took an AP class like European History. With no hesitation she told my daughter that she should take the Calculus class. Based on this advice my daughter is currently taking AP Calculus and actually just finished the first semester with an A, a pleasant surprise.</p>
<p>Haha, yuppers. But the thing is that my school only has two teachers in APCalc, and one is insanely hard {Friends that are geniuses in math barely scrapped B+'s…} and the other one is so easy/boring/hardtounderstand that you wouldn’t learn a single bit from her at all. And still it’s hard to get an A in that class.</p>
<p>And I did skip 2 years of math {Skipped 6th grade math&PreAlgebra, which is reason why I took Algebra I in 6th grade} so I thought that might have an affect?</p>
<p>No. What you did in 6th grade will have no effect. If you want to be a competitive applicant to top colleges you have to push yourself and take the class.</p>
<p>Ahhh, darn. But if I do take Calc next year and then Stats senior year, it’d do me no favor if I get an F. D:</p>
<p>Or you can think of it this way, if you can’t handle the work then perhaps Princeton is not the right school for you. Princeton is very challenging academically and the admissions officers want to see that you have challenged yourself by taking rigorous classes and doing well in them.</p>
<p>You need to take 4 years of math and 4 years of science (you should have 4 of everything).
I’m a current international relations (IR) grad student, and quantitative theory is something you WILL be taking in undergrad and grad school. Meaning, statistics. </p>
<p>Princeton states:
“The Statistics prerequisite can be satisfied by one of the following courses: ECO 202, Statistics and Data Analysis for Economics; ORF 245, Fundamentals of Engineering Statistics; or, POL 345, Quantitative Analysis in Politics.”
“The Microeconomics prerequisite can be satisfied by ECO 100, Introduction to Microeconomics; ECO 300, Microeconomic Theory; or, ECO 310, Microeconomic Theory: A Mathematical Approach.”</p>
<p>So if Princeton’s Woody Woo is something you’re interested in, you need to be stellar and take a full course load, as well as maintain good grades in these classes; get a tutor if need be. Princeton’s WWS is in the top 5 for IR.</p>