I want to major in political science or journalism, but I was asking if it would be possible to not take college math if I take Ap Calc an and Ap stats in high school. Do I have to take Ap Calc bc to get out of college math? Or do I have to take math in college regardless? Has anyone been in this situation?
Colleges may have a math or quantitative reasoning requirement, although it is usually not as high as calculus and statistics (except at places like MIT). However, satisfying it with high school work is likely to require a passing test score (e.g. AP score or college math placement score).
At some schools, the political science major may require a quantitative methods course specific to the major.
You would need to check with each school. Some will allow you to use an AP exam to place into a higher-level class, whereas others would allow you to skip entirely. It’s all based on each college’s rules.
Google search:
AP credit
You should be able to find what classes the specific school typically awards credit for for each AP exam. These vary by school, score, and even your major. One school my daughter wants to go to won’t accept her 5 on AP Calc AB for calculus credit for her major.
Just look up your favorite college’s core curriculum or requirements. Colleges with the leanest cores include–
Sarah Lawrence
Vassar–now has one quant requirement
Brown
Hampshire
U of Rochester
Bennington
Marlboro
Evergreen (I’m pretty sure)
College of the Atlantic
Smith
Bryn Mawr has a few requirements
Grinnell
Amherst
Wesleyan
Hamilton–but requires one “symbolic” or quant course since 2014 but that sounds broad to me
Johns Hopkins
NYU Gallatin school
These schools may have distribution requirements, but you can hunt and peck until you find the courses you think fit you best
Quest has set classes, but little math and the math is super cool.
It would depend on the score, school, major.
For example my D is a pre-pharmacy major and prerequisites include Stats and Calc 1. But if someone has a 4 or 5 in AP Calc AB and AP Stats then they satisfy that requirement. They won’t have to take it again.
Agree, the answer is “it depends.” It depends on factors such as: 1) does the college accept AP credit for math; 2) how you do on the AP exams; 3) what the math requirements for that particular college for your particular major are etc. You can check online to see the requirements for colleges you are considering as well as those schools AP policies. Nobody here can can answer your question with certainty.
Amherst has an open curriculum but also doesn’t accept AP tests for credit. Only for placement, sometimes. The only required class is the first year seminar and whatever your major requires.