Dropping Trigonometry for Statistics? NY

Applying to College
1

<p>Simply put, i'm not a well rounded student. I've breezed through my secondary and primary career in all subjects except math. I live in NY where we are required to take 3 years of math to graduate from any high school, and one state exam (Regents) in Integrated Algebra. I'm an excellent student in all my other subjects and even take AP US History and AP Spanish Literature. I've struggled so much through my math courses in high school that they've dropped my average as of 9/2013 to a 75. Freshman year I got a 67 in Algebra, Sophomore a 66 in Geometry. Right off the bat I knew Trig was going to be the nail in the coffin for my aim of a 3.2 GPA by next year. Realizing this I decided that it was best for me and my GPA to switch to Statistics which is an extra class for those who have completed all of the above courses.</p>

<p>My parents and sister were on board with me taking statistics. Upon making the switch with my guidance counselor she gave me dirty looks as if I had told her I was dropping out. Today when I first attended the class there were 6 people in the room. Turns out that the class originally had 26 students but they had all switched upon hearing from the guidance counselor that they needed Trig to attend a 4 year University. I began to have second thoughts as I did the 5th grade bar graphs. </p>

<p>Is it true? I was shocked because my sister is majoring in Sonic Arts and attends CCNY and she took the same path i'm taking. I want to attend a 4 year CUNY or SUNY school and plan on majoring in Political Science, which is why I take AP US. Should I go back to Trigonometry or stick to my decision and stay in Statistics ? This is the toughest decision in my high school career as my guidance counselor offers no real guidance and I have nowhere else to turn.</p>

2

<p>Political science majors should have statistics knowledge for analysis of election and polling results and the like.</p>

<p>At the PhD level, they may need some knowledge of calculus, given the presence of courses like this: [POL</a> 502: Mathematics for Political Science](<a href=“http://imai.princeton.edu/teaching/math.html]POL”>POL 502: Mathematics for Political Science)</p>

3

<p>That’s what I’m thinking but my question is would colleges in NY consider that be a legitimate reason to substitute Trigonometry ? When was the last time Barack Obama or any political figure really had to find sine or tangent.</p>

4

<p>If Obama knew how to find sine or tangent, perhaps he wouldn’t be so set on dictating scientific progress by decree. But that’s neither here nor there, since most politicians of any persuasion think they can outlaw friction, since if it’s a law, it can be changed!</p>

<p>Although the normal path would be trig, I can see that you have no good foundation to be in that course given your grades in algebra and geometry. Without those, you’re just doomed in trig. The only plausible path you have right now is stats, which you have a chance to do well in, but your algebra foundation is weak, so it’s going to be a struggle, but doable.</p>

<p>Take stats and let the chips fall where they may. Then, try and do some remedial work in algebra and geometry before attempting trig again. Quite frankly, the system failed you by letting you out of algebra with such a weak score - it just set you up for more failure.</p>