<p>I'm a senior this year and I have a very heavy schedule--most of my classes are competitive AP's and honors and I even have an extra period, not to mention extracurriculars. This is why I opted to take trigonometry/statistics rather than preCalc this year. I'm probably going to major in poli sci or some type of writing, (definitely not a math or science) so when I signed up I didn't think it was a big deal, but now I'm worried that colleges won't see me as competitive if I haven't completed PreCalc. I can still switch in hopes of looking better to colleges, but I'm afraid of overstressing if I take the class. Any advice is really appreciated!! Thanks!</p>
<p>It really depends what colleges you’re looking at. The beginning math class for many top-tier schools is calculus, so you may be behind by not taking precalc.</p>
<p>I’m not looking at the Ivies much, but I’m applying to schools like BU, Northeastern, Kenyon, Bard, Hamilton, etc. </p>
<p>Okay, well I don’t know the specific requirements of those colleges or what classes they offer. I applied and got into Hamilton and I had taken calculus. Some of my friends got accepted to BU and Bard and had all taken at least through precalculus. If you think it will really hurt your GPA that much, you don’t have to take it. But those schools are all still selective, and they may wonder why you didn’t take the most rigorous courseload possible.</p>
<p>You can just call the admissions offices and ask them what they like to see. My D applied to schools in the same general tier (including Bard) and some quite specifically told us (at on-campus admissions days) what they liked to see, which was indeed “at least to pre-calculus.” But really, it doesn’t hurt to call and ask. My D had question about whether or not having taken through Spanish 3 -but starting in junior high- counted as 2 years or 3 years and all admissions offices she called were happy to give their take on it. </p>
<p>Most schools want to see at least to pre-calculus, unless your math track doesn’t allow it. Sometimes students may be behind in math. If you take math every year but can’t reach precalculus, it may make you less competitive, but it shouldn’t get you outright rejected unless they have it required (which I have yet to see). Precalculus is not a hard class, you really should take it.</p>