<p>I am aiming to go to Princeton, but I'm not sure if my level of math is good enough to get into Princeton. Does Princeton (and any other Ivy League schools) care about what math classes you took in high school/the math class you took in senior year of high school before graduating?</p>
<p>They want you to take the highest-level math class offered at your school. You’re not expected to go beyond that, and doing so probably won’t help you all that much. In my mind it indicates privilege more than it indicates intelligence (you’d have to take a college class somewhere, and in most states that costs money) and in any case the higher-level class probably wouldn’t be a whole lot more difficult than single-variable calculus (just more advanced). There’s not much of a difference intellectually between taking multivariable as a senior in high school versus as a freshman in college, and the former is only unusual because most high school seniors aren’t interested in going beyond Calculus BC. </p>
<p>“Good enough to get into Princeton” is a strange phrase because most of their applicants are good enough and still don’t get in. There are probably a few things that would guarantee your acceptance, but none of them have anything to do with taking multivariable calculus or any other class in high school. When people get into Princeton on the basis of their mathematical talent, it’s because they were extremely accomplished in math contests or something like that, not because they took a lot of classes. </p>
<p>Thanks for the answer halcyonheather! I was thinking pretty much the same thing… It seems like these days getting into an Ivy League is mostly about luck. </p>
<p>No, it is not mostly about luck. SAT/ACT scores alone knock out about 98% of people from contention. Then grades weed out more people. Bad recs, ECs/Leadership (lack of) also are within one’s control (to the extent of not being terrible). Plus, there are 8 Ivy League schools, so if you’re qualified, and getting into an Ivy is all that matters to you, then you have 8 shots at getting into an Ivy. So NO, it is not mostly about luck.</p>
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That’s not true, or everyone with high scores (and then some) would get in. If they could reject a lot of people based on test scores alone they wouldn’t have to consider ECs, but almost everyone has high enough test scores. I do agree that it’s not mostly about luck (except insofar as being smart is about luck). </p>
<p>As long as it’s the highest rigor offered at your school with it being manageable and performing at least at a decent amount of performance, you should be safe. </p>
<p>But don’t worry about the Ivy League -they’re like North Korea in college admissions, no one will ever know their true secrets.</p>
<p>Do you think it’s okay that I took SL Math instead of HL Math? SL Math is essentially the equivalent of Calculus AB senior year. My counselor wouldn’t let me take HL Math since I only took Algebra 2 sophomore year, but I’ve always gotten A’s in my math classes… I realize it’s about a whole lot more than a potentially negligible math class choice, but I’m just wondering if this is a weakness?</p>
<p>SL Math should be perfectly fine. But you can’t just skip from Alg 2 to IB Math HL. That would be crazy.</p>