Rigorous math coursework for philosophy transfer

Transfer Students
1

<p>I am beginning at my local college and plan to transfer to a very high-end liberal arts college after i finish my two years. I took the Florida P.E.R.T. exam which is a new state-wide entrance/assessment exam to evaluate what classes I can take. Due to my high score on the math section I was offered a higher level math test to place into a higher math class than College Algebra (such as precalc, trig, or calc). I more or less know my way around Algebra I & II as well as Geometry and some basic trig and precalc. </p>

<p>I plan to be a Philosophy major and go to law school afterward. I've researched this for a few years. I'm 27 and starting my undergrad.</p>

<p>I'm wondering if I should study (brightstorm.com and purplemath.com) for this exam to get into calc, which I KNOW I can get into if I study hard (most of it is going over known material) so I might show an impressive and rigorous workload right from the start or if I should just shoot for a high GPA and start in any math course and go up from there?</p>

<p>Law schools care more for GPA than workload (Ask anyone at top-law-schools.com's forums!), so since I don't really need math for philosophy this leaves me with back-and-forth concerns. I also know, for example, Amherst only takes math credits starting with Calc, so all other credits are wasted if i was so lucky to take acceptance there.</p>

<p>Anyone have any advice? Study to place into calc and risk registering for classes late, or register for classes early, get a great schedule, and get a high GPA from knowing the math early?</p>

2

<p>TBH if you are great at arithmetic and math do it. If you aren’t don’t try to take calc.</p>

<p>My experience: I took a calc class this past spring and half the kids thought they would be fine with basic math knowledge. Out of the few As, two of them got an A. I received the highest grade in my class because I started from trig and worked myself up. In fact the teacher says every year 90% of my As in this class have either taken calc before in high school or worked their way up to calc in college. A high gpa is much more important and another thing, these math classes no matter how low it is, trig whatever, these will count towards your GPA for Law School. They’ll be easy As and if you take precalc before Calc, though I thought it was completely useless, you’ll destroy Calc. Calc isn’t all that tough it just takes a lot of work.</p>

<p>I would say take Precalc, get a good schedule, get a high GPA. You have time to complete Calc a little later on.</p>

<p>If you are awesome at math just take Calc. The only thing is I fear that since you haven’t taken a college level math class you might fall to the way sides while getting adjusted to the workload. I took my Calc at University so my experience might be drastically different from yours.</p>

3

<p>Excellent advice. I thought precalc was a great compromise and will go in soon to speak to an advisor about my options.</p>