Required/Recommended High School Courses

<p>How important are the required/recommended high school courses of universities? Everything else aside, let's say a college <em>requires</em> 4 history courses. Does that mean if an applicant has less than 4, it's an automatic fail for him/her? Same thing with recommended courses. If you have less than the recommended number of courses, is that detrimental in any way?</p>

<p>Kind of confused on this required/recommended issue, so any help would be appreciated. :)</p>

<p>(BTW, I'm basing these required/recommended courses off of Collegeboard.com)</p>

<p>So if a college REQUIRES that you have taken it, you basically should have taken it unless for some reason your school didn't offer it. (Like for the 4 yrs history thing, my school only offers three years, so I was able to get away with it).</p>

<p>If it's recommended, then it's BEST that you have it. Because between two very similar applicants, colleges will take the one that has take the recommended courses.</p>

<p>Alright, thanks. My school only offers three history courses also, so that's partly why I asked. </p>

<p>What if I were unable to take a course due to scheduling conflicts though? I want to take another history course next year, but I have a feeling that I won't be able to.</p>