I stumbled across this thread and I just want to reassure you that your son will be fine! Many schools and many, many of the SUNY schools want Algebra II/Trig but will look at his entire transcript. With the AP’s and other accomplishments he’s had there should be no problem. My daughter had higher maths but many, if not most of her friends struggled with Algebra II/Trig and didn’t pass. Two of these girls applied to just about every SUNY school because of fear they would have no place to go and the only rejections I heard of were Geneseo and Binghampton which could happen even with the math. One is attending Syracuse. There’s an entire thread on my daughter changing schools at the last minute and she was still accepted and given a scholarship to the very fine school she is now attending. The thing with math, though, is that my daughter had some trouble with it but we did all we could to help because you never know what the future will bring. In my other thread I mentioned how my daughter was an all-state musician and had won many contests and awards from 7th grade on. She didn’t take a lot of AP or college courses because she was so focused on music at a HS that offered a plethora of music classes. Before she took Algebra II/Trig we got her a tutor that concentrated on Algebra I and Geometry. Because with common core, even though she somehow managed A- 's in these classes she felt she didn’t “know” the material. It really helped because when she started Algebra II/Trig there were kids dropping out of the class like crazy and she was understanding! I’m glad we put that emphasis on math because senior year she decided she didn’t wish to pursue a music career anymore, and didn’t want to attend the school that was her first pick because it didn’t have all of the other things that she was now looking at because she was “no longer charging forward with blinders on” (not that your son is, but as she describes it now how she was singularly focused to the detriment of her own likes and wants and needs,). She still loves music and is participating in college orchestra but it is not her major. She went in undecided but is now seriously considering a hard science that requires more math. It’s only been a week and half at school but she’s already talked to professors that tell her not having that math coming in would have limited her choices. She’s still in exploratory mode but enjoys–yes actually enjoys-- college math (the way it is taught) much better than HS. She is at a competitive school as well and there are many kids in remedial math classes (meaning below Pre-Calculus) and they all got in. If you do decide on a liberal arts degree and it’s a SUNY school most are adopting the state mandated general Ed requirements and you only need to take one math course and it can be something like what used to be called Contemporary Mathematics, Logic (in the philosophy department), statistics or… Well there’s one other course I can’t think of, but looking at their curriculums for some of the students I help, and the fact I know students that took Contemporary math and got A’s that couldn’t pass HS geometry, there is math available thats passable. It’s not all formulas and equations and proofs. Without the AP classes and lots of honors other students took (although my daughter did take honors that fit her schedule) she was awarded a generous scholarship. I really think it was because of her success in music, because I truly believe success shows the ability to be successful in other things to schools, even if you find a different passion. If your son is absolutely interested in a school that demands Algebra II/Trig, I’d drop some of the AP and harder courses this year and take Algebra II/Trig and get an almost f/t tutor. You mentioned SUNY Purchase, other than majors that require auditions, it is not overly difficult to get into which is not saying it’s a bad school. I think it just has other priorities and that artistic flair that isn’t measured well on standardized tests.