<p>I have a problem. For my senior year, I signed up for an extremely tough (for me) courseload. Two honors math classes, three APs, and 3 difficult electives. As school has gone on, I have realized that I am utterly overwhelmed by my schedule. (FYI, 4 hours a sleep every night is just not a good time.)</p>
<p>So, I have decided that the best course of action for me is to drop calculus for an elective that I am more interested in, and just continue to take honors statistics. I hope to be a political science major, and the new elective will be much more relevant.</p>
<p>My question is, is this going to significantly hurt my admissions chances? Do top colleges (such as BC, Duke, Dartmouth) care that much about calculus?</p>
<p>Those colleges will care that you are not taking the most rigorous classes, but if the course load is that hard I would do the same. You may not make it into Duke or Dartmouth, but there are many great schools out there that you could get into.</p>
<p>Take the class you WANT to take. You will be happier, and you will get better grades. Leave calculus for college. And even then, unless you need it for your major, you can still skip it!</p>
<p>Bad grades help no one. If Calculus is threatening to ruin your GPA then dropping it might be your best option. Just check with your GC to make sure s/he will still say you took the most challenging courses.</p>
<p>Yeah, I agree with the others. If you are only getting 4hrs sleep you need to give yourself some breathing room. Don’t make your senior year completely miserable trying to guess what adcoms want. You will still have plenty of opportunities for college plus your peace of mind.</p>