I’ll cut to the chase here: I’m an English/Political Science student with a deeply devoted love for the subjects of English and History. I’m a fair science student, though it is not my favorite subject, and absolutely loathe math.
Since my freshman year of high school, I have taken (note that I am a junior):
3 Years of English (Year One Honors, Year Two Honors, Year Three High Honors)
3 Years of Spanish (Year One Honors, Year Two College Prep, Year Three Honors)
3 Years of Science (Year One Honors, Year Two College Prep, Year Three College Prep)
3 Years of Math (Year One Honors, Year Two College Prep, Year Three Honors)
3 Years of History (Year One High Honors, Year Two Honors, Year Three Honors)
English and History have always been my top courses, as my averages in honors have never, from freshman to junior year, fallen below 96. In high honors, my lowest average has been (in either class) a 94, ranging all the way to a high of 99 (English) and 97 (History).
Science honors was difficult the first year, with one quarter having an 89 average due to the organic chemistry section of biology. After that, however, I began to better comprehend the material in class and picked my averages up to 94s. Chemistry and Physics, my second and third year courses respectively, never saw an average below 95.
Spanish isn’t bad. For a student who only took the language in high school, I received modest grades that never went below 90, with highs of 97 and 98 my first two years.
Math is something else entirely. My first year of Algebra was difficult, though the lowest average I managed to secure was an 89. Second year was Geometry, which I passed with flying colors (never going below 96). I loved geometry because it came easily to me, while algebra did not. Algebra II, however, is awful. I have not failed the course but am waivering between high seventies and low to mid eighties. I have gone for help, have a tutor, and seek assistance from friends who receive better grades than I in the class, which is why my grade has risen a bit to an 84, my highest so far. However, my math SAT final score was 550. I am not taking it again (the SAT), as the old one was far better for me than the new one, and the old one is no longer given.
For senior year, I wanted to drop math altogether. My courses would then be:
Humanities Honors (a college-level course in which I am eligible to receive college credit)
Anatomy Honors (same as Humanities)
Government and Politics AP
English AP
Religion
Physical Education
Psychology (1 semester)
Sociology (1 semester)
Creative Writing (1 semester)
Independent Study in Theater (1 semester)
Now. Humanities, English, Religion, and Physical Education are required by my school. I opted for Anatomy as it is, as I’ve heard, an enjoyable yet challenging course, and as such is one I have desired to take since last year. Gov’t & Politics I will not drop, as I worked incredibly hard to make myself eligible for this class, and it is one of my AP’s.
My electives, Psych/Sociology and Creative Writing/Theater, are courses I have wanted to take since my freshman year. I would have placed into CW my junior year, though they could not fit it in with my schedule and so gave my another course instead.
My top schools are Boston University and Boston college. I have the SAT grades to get into both schools (I checked), and am eligible even despite my unsatisfactory Math score. My grades are the results of my tremendous effort throughout high school. I am challenging myself by taking Anatomy, which, being a science course, was not initially high among my priorities. However, since I know colleges would want to see an additional math or science course, I opted for the challenging one that interested me as well. Overall, I have been told, given my grades, scores, and extracurriculars, that I stand a good chance to get into these schools as an English major (Political Science may be either a double major or a minor).
My cousin told me, as a Pre-Med student at BU, that I could not get into these colleges without math. I am willing to do anything to get into BU and BC, but could not understand her reasoning. She believed it would look better to drop my college-level, honors, credit-eligible science course and take a mainstream, normal level math course, when clearly math is neither my strong suit nor what I desire to study in college.
I would like the opinions of those on this site. I will not reveal my other qualifications, and am asking only this (based, of course, on the information provided in this discussion):
Will I be able to get into BC or BU with my current subjects, while dropping math?
Should I take math?
I should add, also, that I considered taking an online college pre-calc course, as my schedule is too full to merely add in precalc.
Opinions?