<p>Thus far, I've taken four years of math (up to pre-calc). At my school, there's one calculus teacher and he's horrible. Of the 15 or so kids in the class, approximately 8 of them are failing (all of them high-achieving students). The rest are killing themselves over the weekly portfolios they have to submit for the class (creating a general decline in all other aspects of their life). Zero As. Maybe one or two Bs. My question: since I've already met the minimum math requirement for graduation, should I take the class or will colleges completely ignore my application because I'm not taking the most "rigorous courses possible"? Would it be considered the same if I took classes at the local community college? And if I don't have the opportunity to do that (scheduling issues), how significantly will that hurt my app? I'm intending on majoring in pre-med (because biomed engineering seems out of my reach after this point).</p>
<p>If the teacher at your school is really terrible, don't waste your time there. If you can take math at the local cc, do that. Otherwise, I'd recommend looking into doing calculus via distance ed or self study.</p>
<p>Does your school offer AP Statistics? great alternative!</p>
<p>And if you think you need to explain not taking it at school, is there another class you are interested in that meets at the same time as the horrible teacher's class? That way you could use the time conflict to explain why you couldn't take math at your high school. If you took the comm. college course, I don't think you[d have to explain it to anyone - I think colleges view cc classes taken in high school quite favorably.</p>
<p>If it's going to kill you, don't take it. Think of it logically, marching into a meat grinder or a slightly more rigorous course list?</p>
<p>I'm in the same boat for next year, but I just chose to take a semester of Prob & Stat (The AP Stats teacher is one of the most ridiculous human beings that I've ever met), and then take a semester-long college credit gender studies class second semester (which sounds so much more exciting than any math class could ever be). I doubt it will have any effect on my admissions into any school.</p>
<p>I didn't take a math or a science my senior year, and I couldn't have been happier with my college results. I thought it was way more important to take classes that I wanted to take (Political Science, Comparative Politics, etc.) than take some math or science class I would be bored out of my mind in.</p>
<p>you could also considering doubling up in science courses- that way, youre still taking a challenging courseload with multiple courses related to the field youre interested in</p>
<p>I already have double sciences this year (IB HL next year). I was thinking of tripling to kinda overcompensate, lol. Might add physics next year. Seriously don't want to take Statistics though. Already learned all that stuff and an entire semester/year of it would probably turn my brian to mush. Just hoping not taking calculus (maybe not at all since there'll probly be timing conflicts) won't kill my college app chances.</p>
<p>I will strongly recomend taking a 4th year math. You can take advance math if your school offers, independent study, statistics etc.</p>
<p>if you are good science student and want to pursue science at college then not taking a 4th year math will hurt your admisions chances.</p>
<p>And please check the requirement for math. It is not upto Precalculus or calclus. It is 4 years of study.</p>
<p>That four years should culminate at least into a Pre-calculus course but not that if you are done with pre-calculus at 9th grade you are done with Math.</p>
<p>I know, according to what I see on my transcript anyway, that I don't need to take a math course senior year for graducation. Independent study, at my school, is only for those past calculus and they are still given periodic exams by the crazy calculus teacher. Do you think it would be suitable enough for colleges if I self-studied calculus, took the AP exam, and added physics?</p>
<p>For top schools, you will not look great not taking calc. Graduation requirements are usually a far cry from what top colleges want unless you go to a top HS.</p>