Took my S27 to visit USC this weekend and he LOVED it. Thinking this is a high target/low reach for him with a 4.25 recalculated SC GPA and a 32 ACT (we are OOS). He has had an amazing upward trajectory with grades and taken a handful of APs/DE classes. He will most likely apply undecided or to an Arts & Science major but should I be concerned that he hasn’t taken any pre calc or calculus and doesn’t plan to take that Senior year?
How is he graduating high school without pre-calc as a course? Most schools require 4 math classes: algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2 and pre-calc. Some students take an alternative to pre-calc, but generally not those who are college bound unless they have some difficulty in math. Given his ACT score, I am guessing this is not the case. What was his math subscore? Why isn’t he taking pre-calc?
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Its not required at his large public high school. He took Geometry, Algebra 2 and then Trig/College Algebra this year. His ACT Math subset was only a 27. Math is not his strong suit.
My opinion…he should have four years of high school math to be a competitive applicant at South Carolina. What other math courses are available to him senior year…statistics? Or what?
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He’s scheduled to take Discrete/Statistics next year. Thats his school’s trajectory after College Algebra/Trig. But he could ask for an override for trig/Pre Calc with his teachers permission.
So he will be taking a fourth year of math, just not precalc? Is that what this means?
correct.
U of SC says this so he is covered - although I don’t see how one wouldn’t take pre-calc.:
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Algebra I*
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Algebra II
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Geometry
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Fourth higher level unit selected among Algebra III, pre-calculus, calculus, probability and statistics, discrete mathematics, or computer science**
4.25 is on the lower end of the 25/75 but a 32 is on the upper end. Assuming he’s applying next year, have him study and get that math score up. I agree it’s a high target if they truly mean what they say here. The thing with Pre-Calc, is it will open up options, not just at U of SC but potentially others too.
But by their written rule, he’d be ok.
Good luck.
Thank you for this!
It happens. My DS graduated from high school in 2003, and he never took precalculus. He took statistics and economics his senior year instead. Both were better choices anyway for his eventual work as a musician.
The key is to satisfy high school and state graduation requirements and any that your college choices have. If South Carolina does not require precalc…as noted…this is good news for this student.
That said, if the school is classified by OP as high target/low reach, they should ensure that not having precalc is ok for the other schools they are targeting as well.
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Doesn’t trigonometry and college algebra combined approximate the content of precalculus?
Assuming that these are dual enrollment courses (since the course names are typical for colleges), does the college in question list those as the prerequisite for calculus at the college?
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University of South Carolina has an Analytical Reasoning and Problem Solving (ARP) graduation (not admission) requirement. The student should check if they are prepared for any of the listed courses. See Carolina Core Courses < University of South Carolina and put ARP into the search box.
Thanks everyone! I think I’m going to strongly suggest he take trig/pre-calc and his current teacher has already let me know she would support that. If nothing else, I think having pre-calc experience will be helpful if he ever decides he wants to go the business route and it will definitely help with other schools where showing rigor would be helpful for admissions.
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Trig/College Algebra is pretty similar to PreCalc!
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Really? Thats great to hear. He currently has a 98 in that class (both semesters) so maybe that will ease his mind. He’s heard nothing but horror stories about trig/pre-calc and is so afraid he won’t be able to keep up.
Always go by what the school says - and don’t forget, whatever grade he gets and assuredly he’s going to pass - the grades are going to come after U of SC gives him a decision - so he’s not at risk of being rescinded (short of a fail which isn’t going to happen i’d think if he has a 98 now).
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