When colleges say that they require students to take “x years of math, science, etc” in high school before applying do they mean that they want students to have that many years’ worth of credits or physically taking a science class (or whatever other type) each year of high school?
Like I have 4 science and 5 math credits already which would be the equivalent of 4/5 years worth of credits, but do I still have to take math and science my senior year? I got the extra credits from taking high school classes in middle school and over the summer after freshmen year.
While it varies by university, generally they mean X number of credits. But sometimes, particularly in English (and math if contemplating STEM), they also want a class each year.
The exception being foreign language, where most will consider level completed as equivalent to number of years, so long as number of years or courses in HS is not less than 2.
With all the different types of scheduling in HS the order doesn’t matter. If your school has block scheduling where you have different classes every semester it would not be unusual to have 2 units of Science one year and none in another. The important thing is that you complete the recommended number of classes.
There is also the expectation that you will maintain your level of rigor through senior year. You will list your senior year courses as IP (in progress) or planned on your application.
If you have already taken biology, chemistry and physics, you can take a lighter science senior (env sci, physio, etc) but you should still take a science class.
For math, if you have finished calculus, you can take stats but, if you haven’t you should take calculus senior year.
I’ve seen plenty of successful college applicants not take each type of class all four years, and generally the year missing is senior year. They’ll have completed the numbers needed ahead of time, then senior year they either emphasize what they like (taking 3 science courses perhaps, or more art classes) or our school allows them to simply not come to school full time if they don’t need more credits to graduate, so some get jobs or do shadowing, etc. Others merely opt to sleep in and take afternoon classes.
Long gone are the days where school is a bunch of classes spread out over “set” years. English is the only one that is still 4 sequential years I think. Math has pre-reqs, but Alg II and Geometry can be taken together and block scheduling allows two per year if a student wants it.
Calc is not always needed either. Many kids get into college ending math at Pre-Calc. Those aren’t our Top 20 destination kids (or engineers, doctors, or similar), but they remain successful in life in spite of not heading to one of those.
Colleges seem fine with a high school education tailored to the student once basics are met, esp senior year.
Generally true, but I know some students who got into “T20” schools or similar ones with math through precalc, some of them with no math in senior year. The common denominator seems to be that they clearly had a reason – a glance at their transcripts would have allowed an AO to say “oh, they didn’t take calculus because they focused on ________”. As my college counselor put it, if you’re going to subtract something you should add something else of similar value.
What would your senior year schedule look like?
What types of colleges are you aiming for (ie. HYPSM, State Flagship and what state, SLAC, directional, anywhere that has enough merit, etc)?
What major are you aiming for?
What Math, science, and foreign language classes have you completed so far?
Why did you take math and science in junior high and over the summer? Was it to get them out of the way to open room in your schedule for humanities or arts? If so, did you take advantage of that opportunity?
My kids took two years of foreign language in junior high and two in high school. I did a lot of *research about how that would look on an application and I was told over and over that if a student completes a sequence early, they should be filling their schedule with other advanced courses.
Precalculus typically counts as the fourth year of math (since it implies completion of what is usually three years of high school level math prerequisites), although for more competitive college admissions, it is best to take calculus if you complete precalculus before 12th grade and calculus is available to you. Obviously, taking a higher level of math course at a college counts as well. How high a level of math helps (as opposed to being sufficient) for more competitive college admissions is not always knowable from the outside, and may vary by college, although there is a general assumption of diminishing returns after calculus BC.
Some notes:
A few colleges (e.g. Washington public universities) do explicitly state that a math or math-using course (e.g. physics or statistics) must be taken in 12th grade.
UCs require geometry, even if taken while in middle school, to be listed on the application.
CPSLO requires high school level (algebra 1 or higher) courses taken while in middle school to be listed on the application (rather than left to be assumed to be counted) to count for the number of years of math taken.