How important is four years of math/language?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>How big a factor is taking four full years?</p>

<p>In math, I'm only doing three in high school -algebra II honors, trig/precalc, and statistics AP. I was placed one grade ahead in math, so I took geometry honors in 8th grade. It was at the high school. Would this count, or do they only look at what you do once you start the 9th grade?</p>

<p>I received B's in algebra II and trig.</p>

<p>However, I've also gotten an 800 on the math portion of the SAT, an 80 on the PSAT, and an 800 on the SATII math IIC, as well as high scores on the AMC and AIME.</p>

<p>Will that help at all? Or is four full years a huge problem?</p>

<p>I've also only done three years of a language -Latin. I've done latin 1, latin 2, and latin 3 honors when honors was finally offered. I did not go on to do latin 4 AP. However, I received A's all three years, and have awards from state/national competitions.</p>

<p>Are those going to be alright?</p>

<p>I'm fine everywhere else.</p>

2

<p>Nobody can help you with the answer to your question without knowing what colleges (or at least what level of colleges) you are applying to.</p>

<p>If you are going to the local community college, you don't need any of these things, but it you are applying to Univ of Chicago, then you will need four years of math for sure, and probably a lot of foreign language study as well.</p>

<p>Where are you interested in applying?</p>

3

<p>Actually, I'd love to go to Chicago.</p>

<p>Yale, also? And given the selectivity, three years can't look good. Other than that, Duke, Notre Dame, and Stanford because I've got legacy everywhere for there.</p>

<p>I'm looking to major in political science or international relations. Other information is at</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=328276%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=328276&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Looking at the uchicago website, it says 3-4 years of math is recommended. But given that so many people apply, four certainly must be a pretty big tiebreaker.</p>

4

<p>Those people that keep posting Harvard/ Yale/ Stanford/ MIT/ Chicago/ Caltech/ Princeton/ MIT/ Columbia/ Dartmouth as Reach and say that they are Reach for everyone are really annoying to me. It just means they have no idea what it takes to get into those schools (and, if so, why do they bother posting chances at all?)</p>

<p>Look you must have retaken the SAT Is and IIs since that other thread since your scores are higher on both group of tests in this thread.</p>

<p>If you really are looking at schools like the ones you mention, here are my "chances" for you and my comments:</p>

<p>Harvard: Slight Reach
Yale: Slight Reach, but almost a match if you could apply ED (do they have ED this next year, or was this the last year?--I know they are eliminating it at the higher schools)
Princeton: Slight Reach
Stanford (legacy): Match with your higher SAT scores, would be Slight Reach if you didn't have the higher scores. Legacy helps you here the most if your parents have stayed active with the school/alumni association since they graduated.
UChicago: Match to Slight Reach as an International Relations major, Match in Political Science--note essays here are more important than any other school on this list with the possible exception of Stanford--and Chicago asks really creative types of questions on their essays.
Notre Dame: Slight Reach (you don't match their profile)
NYU: Match at Stern and Gallatin, Safe match elsewhere (including CAS, which is where you will be applying)
Georgetown: Slight Reach--They get thousands and thousands of International Relations/Political Science majors applying. As a result, this school might be as tough as Harvard/Yale/Princeton to get into if you apply with that major.
UC Berkeley: Match
Michigan (Ann Arbor): Match
Duke: Match
Washington University at St. Louis: Match w/decent financial aid package--some scholarships, some grants, some loans</p>

<p>And even though you didn't ask:
UCLA: Match (and legacy doesn't hurt, even though they aren't supposed to count it)--possible Regents scholarship here</p>

<p>If you really want to firm up your chances at some of the top schools, take the AP Calculus BC course. You can obviously handle the math and it will really make you stand out in addition to your other math honors. Also, if you decide to do this, your chances at Chicago will go to Match for any major--and you would be a Match to Slight Reach at MIT/Caltech if you decided to apply there.</p>

<p>P.S. I had a 800 SAT II Math IIC score myself, but couldn't break 770 on the SAT Math, so congratulations to you. Also, I used to live in the Torrance area and worked with lots of people that live in Palos Verdes--so I wonder if I know your parents. I'll have to ask some of the people I know about their sons and daughters--and their children's college interests.</p>

<p>Best of success to you.</p>

5

<p>I can't thank you enough. I'm sure you deal with anxious college juniors quite frequently, but it honestly, truly helps?</p>

<p>As you said, I just recieved scores from the March SAT (late, due to collegeboard problems? I received an apology letter). I'm glad UChicago sounds okay, the focus on the essays is perfect. I've seen the essay topics, and I prefer those over everything else.</p>

<p>It's comforting to hear, but I'll still point out that I took trigonometry/precalc regular -not honors, and still received a B. It's kind of awkward, and even if I'd like to say otherwise, it's still an excuse, but I had a lot of family problems around then.</p>

<p>I live around Torrance! My father works there, for Honda, but I go to Peninsula HS in Palos Verdes. It's a pretty nice place, even if you run out of things to do on weekends.</p>

<p>Given the Calculus BC recommendation, my planned schedule for senior year includes Web Page Production (elective, easy? But I'm an editor in the class for the school website.), Environmental Science AP, Econ AP, Government AP, English Language AP, and Statistics AP, followed by cross-country/track.</p>

<p>I need the science as a requirement, and the schedule is full. I might be able to do the web page class on my own, and just come in if necessary, but if that's not possible -which class would you recommend dropping to make room for calculus?</p>

<p>I'm sorry for more questions, I believe I'm indebted to you? Much appreciated.</p>

6

<p>It depends on the school. A lot of schools (like the UC's) require 3 years of math, but reccomend four. Do whatever they reccomend. Some schools will count the math you took in seventh and eighth grade, but again it depends on the school. For the UC's I'd say do at least 4 years of math and 4 years of a foreign language (so up to Spanish/Latin 4).</p>

<p>Also, I'm a senior at PV High. Small world......</p>

<p>Yea, yea, we know we beat you guys in practically everything this year. :D</p>

7

<p>ahaha. Football was pretty depressing. So was basketball? And almost everything else.</p>

<p>We still have tennis, but even so. And I'm not sure if you know him, but Fawad just ran a 4:11 mile recently? We need to catch up there, too.</p>

<p>That said, it's a little too late to continue a language, I dropped it earlier to focus on the extracurriculars that mattered to me. I'll have to ask my counselor on scheduling two math courses for next year.</p>

8

<p>I'd probably drop the Statistics AP. One math AP course is enough--especially when it's the toughest one you can take.</p>