I agree with this. She self-studied and took a placement as a rising sophomore to get out of pre-calc and into AP Calc AB as a sophomore. During the AP Calc AB year, there were moments when she felt the teacher was talking about something as if it had already been taught (like maybe on a day she was absent), but actually, it had been taught and reinforced during Pre-Calc course. Fortunately, she had all her notes and textbook from when she self-studied and was able to review the concepts that she didnât remember learning, and that allowed her to get back on track quickly. So she is good about making sure she covers all the topics necessary or go back over topics she may have skimmed over too quickly. Accelerated learning more than skipping.
DD will be applying to BFAs and also BAs (schools that have musical theatre opportunities, like a build-your-own program with voice lessons in the music dept and dance classes in the dance dept). For both types of schools, she insist that they be of some high degree of academic caliber because she still also wants to take other classes beyond her major and wants to be in classes with students who are also academically inclined. So, Northwestern is one of the non-audition programs she is looking into, but sheâs also looking at schools like Columbia and Yale, where she can major in Theater/Drama and also take voice and dance (yes, possibly with additional fees, but no where near as much as we are paying now). She is also interesting in directing and playwriting, so some BAs in Drama/Theater give her that flexibility. Half of her list of schools are non-audition schools like the build-your-own and the other half are audition BFA programs.
Her plan is to get as much done as possible over the summer (already meeting with coaches on song/monologue selections now and will be meeting dance coach for choreographer in July). She expects all her prescreen material to be prepared by beginning of August. All her essays (including supplementals) will need to be written by mid-August. This is the agreement we made because she wants to continue to be captain of her color guard section of her marching band --marching band season is intense from mid-August to first week of November. So, she knows it all has to be ready to be submitted prior to the MB season begins. She also agreed that she will likely not be able to do any fall/spring shows. The college courses she is picking now is only for the fall session, so with the exception of the marching band, a rigorous math course could be doable. The courses that she chooses for the spring will not matter as much in terms of rigor (for the academic schools), hopefully, because she will have already submitted her applications by then. She can take it just a little easier on the choices for spring courses, when auditioning takes place.
Not sure if scholarships depend on academic rigor, as @Twoin18 mentioned, but we could definitely use all the help we can get.
I am actually kind of stressed out for her because whether she is applying to the incredibly competitive audition BFAs or the incredibly selective academic schools, it all seems like such a crapshoot in the end. Just trying to find ways to help increase her chances just a little bit, even if itâs looking into the difference between one math or science course and another math or science course.
Oh, I have been doing this for quite some time now. We have shared google calendars, so she doesnât schedule anything that conflicts with anything Iâved scheduled for her. And she and I have to run things by each other before changing anything. Mostly, she tells people to run it by me to fit on her calendar. I often refer to myself as her unpaid secretary.
Good luck! My S is at UNCSA and was a high stats kid. He takes zero academic classes and this seems to be the standard at conservatories who have the best outcomes in terms of acting and MT training. I definitely suggest meeting with a performing arts specific college counselor to go over all of your goals and list to make sure that she has a balanced list and plan. Finishing prescreens and common app in August is a laudable goal and my S had the same, but he had much less success with prescreen schools than those without, suggesting that finishing early is not always the best choice.
My personal view is that she, and you, are working with some misconceptions. Her theater experience will be key in getting in and rigor is not as crucial in the sense of taking the top most rigor level classes. She has already exceeded the rigor needed in math and we donât know about her science. I would continue to maximize her theater, dance, music.
Stats would be a good choice. Does she actually need math since she has done two years of calculus? Did she do geometry?
I think she should take whatever science she will enjoy. Is she interested in astronomy for instance?
The main decision for her is going to be BA versus BFA. Check out the major forum section for the best advice.
I strongly disagree with the idea that she needs a backup. First, she already has experience that pays. But more importantly, it is fine to study theater or music or art or dance at the undergrad level, regardless of eventual career outcome. These disciplines provide access to continued paths in the arts, or grad school. but also any job that requires a BA- and professional schools like med, law, nursing, business. Itâs fine.
It sounds like she is in a hyper-competitive environment. It might be time to hone in on what she actually wants to do and stop worrying so much about compiling the most rigorous academic record, and do what she most enjoys academically. PMâing you.
Totally agree
This.
Kids that are serious about a career in performing arts rarely target USNWR T10 schools. They shoot for Julliard, Curtis, Conservatoire de Paris and such.
Unless the goal here is to use this route to gain admission to a T10 school, in which case it will be more useful to try and convince the AO that her passion is real through higher accolades in the arts.
Taking another math class will be pretty useless IMO.
Isnât the main decision for now really about whether the preferred schools are Yale, Columbia, Northwestern, etc where academics are the critical element of admission (or sheâs looking for top academic merit scholarships such as Indiana 2021 Wells Scholars: Meet the Scholars: About the Program: Wells Scholars Program: Indiana University Bloomington) or colleges with top MT programs where academics are barely a factor in admission? Thatâs what should determine next yearâs course choices.
Performing arts students most certainly apply to T10 schools. Agree with the rest of your post.
Top achievement in the arts can reduce the need for top rigor for top academic schools as well. They understand the commitment and value the contribution on campus. But basically we are saying the same thing: BA (top academic school) or BFA (school of the arts or conservatory).
Yes, I agree that top arts achievement is very helpful for T10 schools. But thereâs a third category of BFA combined with top academic scholarship at a less prestigious school. I donât know the MT world as well as the dance world but there are a bunch of these schools that have strong ballet programs and holistic academic merit (Indiana, USC, Utah etc). Given how many of Dâs classmates decided not to continue with dance after graduation because it simply wasnât affordable, going to college at very low cost can be an enormous help for an arts career.
SO this is not the case for MT programs. MT is solely based on audition and most of the schools that give academic scholarships would not care about this level of rigor (Pace, Fordham, etc). The only schools that have any academic component (NYU, Northwestern, Michigan) do not offer merit scholarships or are very very limited.
There are all kinds of options and paths. It is good to research each school thoroughly.
In general for MT my understanding is that kids who want to continued in performance who go to T20 schools (other than Northwestern) are generally highly hooked and already have agents/significant performance careers. Generally their programs are not suited for someone who is looking to continued in the world of MT or acting.
Learning something is never useless.
For the purpose of what OP wants, it is. Sorry. But I agree with your sentiment overall.
I personally know kids who went to T20 schools and continued in acting or MT but that doesnât mean these personal anecdotes translate to a general picture 
Last I checked, OP is not taking any math classes. Or applying to college.
Answering the OP: while a career in the arts will not require any math past calculus, it seems the student enjoys math. If she wants to take math, she can take math. Which math will make zero difference to admissions, so she can take what she likes. Taking schools that admit by auditions out of the equation, the rest will look that the schedule in total to assess rigor. They are very unlikely to microanalyze course by course.
Just want to expand on my hurried response about many options. Aside from BA w/extracurricular and electives in a performing art, and the BFA option, there are dual degrees, double major, major/minor. Some students donât even major in the performing art.
It can depend how immersed the student wants to be in the performing art. That can change in the final year of high school, too, so applying to different options can be wise, as your daughter is doing.
Summer programs and other summer opportunities can be important too.
For music majors, there is a great essay entitled "Double Degree Dilemmaâ in the Read Me thread in the music major forum. It uses hypothetical individuals to illustrate different paths. It might translate to other performing arts.
What does the OP want? To show rigor? Any of these classes will show that. Will it help for admission in arts major? Nobody knows, although many people on CC think they do.
Life is not a straight line and what somebody wants today may not be what they want tomorrow.
That class is likely to be a more advanced, college-paced version of the physics class she took before. Since she completed both Calc AB+BC, she may enjoy Physics I and clearly has the math ability for it, so I would indeed request it.
As for math:
Discrete Math one semester, Linear Algebra the other? Or calculus-based statistics&probability? All in all, she can pick anything 
Make sure she reached level 4 in Spanish (would be 3rd or 4th semester Spanish in college depending on how fast the college classes are and how in-depth they are).