<p>I go to a really good private school and I really do not like the math sequence. </p>
<p>9th- Geometry
10th - Alg 2
11th - Alg/Trig
12 - Analysis</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>9th-Geometry Honors
10th- Alg 2 acc
11th - analysis acc
12th - ap calc ab or bc</p>
<p>I'm not allowed to place into another course even if I take a placement test to show my capability. The only way for me to get into AP Calc by senior year will be to get a 95% + in alg 2 next year and go into analysis acc for junior year.</p>
<p>If this doesn't work out, will it be really bad for college? (I don't intend to be a math major or anything associated with it)</p>
<p>You can't take analysis (ie pre-cal?) over the summer?</p>
<p>Other than the obvious CC goal attending a top tier, what type of undergrad major do you see for yourself? </p>
<p>My kid is not at all interested in a math or science major in college (probably psych or IR), so we're perfectly comfortable with him missing calc in HS. </p>
<p>9 - Honors Geom
10 - Honors Alg II
11 - Honors Trig
12 - AP Stats</p>
<p>Maybe the same logic could apply to you?</p>
<p>It depends on your major. If you plan on majoring in engineering, for example, they'll definitely want to calculus. If your transcript demonstrates a clear preference towards math/science courses, I'd also reccomend trying to take calculus.</p>
<p>As someone who is much, much more inclined towards the humanities, however, I made a huge mistake by deciding to take calculus. I stuck with it through the first semester (ended up with a C) and then I dropped it. Ultimately, I don't think my colleges could have cared less about calculus being on my transcript. I could have saved myself a lot of stress and unecessary studying if I decided against taking it.</p>
<p>for top colleges ? probablyyyy. especially if you're going into something technical like engineering.</p>
<p>I'd suggest u take it if ur going into mid to top universities.
College admission officers know that Calculus, esp. BC, is one of the hardest courses that are offered in high school level.
Also it's impressive when u take high level math class even tho ur intended major is far from the use of math. It shows determination.</p>
<p>Calculus does have an application in the humanities .... higher statistics uses linear algebra (which is difficult to learn without calc). For exaples, phonetics in linguistics (the science of the sounds of human language) sees calculus applications with formants (resonance frequencies that characterise each unique vowel), which require Fourier transforms to analyse. </p>
<p>Can't you take replacement courses in a community college?</p>
<p>
[quote]
You can't take analysis (ie pre-cal?) over the summer?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Or even dual-enroll during the school year (which is what I did). </p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm not allowed to place into another course even if I take a placement test to show my capability.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Interesting policy... I'm really quite fed up with inflexible course placement requirements as a whole.</p>
<p>Hopefully I will do really well in Algebra II next year so I can be in Analysis Accelerated for junior year.</p>
<p>When I started at my school last year, I had a placement test for both math and French, which is the only point we could skip a year in either subject. </p>
<p>I plan to major in IR, Political Science, or maybe Psychology.</p>
<p>in short, if you want to do engineering, science related fields, or any field that requires number crunching yes.</p>
<p>otherwise, i think, majors such as ir, psychology, stats would be fine</p>
<p>Advanced statistics requires a fair bit of calc actually .... ;)</p>
<p>^ very true, but i dont think the OP would be doing that kind of advanced statistics in hs, certainly not in AP</p>
<p>For most of the top schools, Calc in some form (AB or BC) is pretty much expected and you can be sure that most people competing for a spot will have it. That being said, however, you can still get in without Calculus as some people in the IB program end up beginning college with Calc. Nevertheless, if I were an adcom, I'd pretty much expect Calc. </p>
<p>Perhaps you can speak to your math chair about possibly skipping?</p>
<p>If I were an admissions officer, I would expect Calculus, too. I could take AP Statistics (pre req is alg 2) as an elective, which would show that I'm trying to get as much math as possible. I'll just try really hard next year and get an A and hopefully be able to get into Analysis Acc for junior year, then AP Calc AB for 12th grade.</p>
<p>As someone who actually is going to a top college right now, as opposed to just speculating about it, plenty of people here haven't taken calculus in high school. Some of my friends haven't even taken precalc. It is true that a significant portion of the freshman class has had calculus experience -- I'm always surprised by how many of my humanities friends are taking linear algebra or the like -- but you will by no means be rejected from colleges for not taking calculus in high school. If there are other (challenging) classes you're more interested in, go for those by all means.</p>
<p>That said, galoisien is right about calc being useful in the humanities/social sciences. Anything with more than very basic level statistics will require calculus to really understand, so if you're considering those sorts of majors, keep that in mind. There's still plenty of time in college for that, though, if you're not a math major.</p>
<p>^ Good perspective, Rhapsody. :) Thanks for the insight. (I think I was taking the "AP Calc is practically expected" thing from a Wharton thread.)</p>