u/ouushiidings

I’m a California high school senior applying to UCs for fall 2027, and I’m worried that not taking calculus will hurt my chances at schools like UCLA, Berkeley, and UCSD (my top school is UCSD). I’m planning to major in biology, and AP Precalculus is the highest math class I’ll be able to take before graduating.

For context, my school requires students to take Precalculus before Calculus, so I can’t skip a math level. There was an option to take Math 1 in middle school, which would’ve allowed me to take Math 2 freshman year and put me further ahead, but I didn’t take that option. I started with Math 1 in freshman year instead, and an additional math requirement now applies to me.

Some students at my school are taking Calc BC senior year because they started math earlier in middle school, so they’re about two years ahead of me. The additional requirement didn’t affect their sequence the same way it affected mine.

I did try looking into taking a math class over the summer to get ahead. I talked to both my high school and community college counselors, but there weren’t any eligible classes available, and my community college had discontinued the course equivalent to Precalculus.

My question is whether I should try taking a college-level math class during spring semester to show that I’m willing to challenge myself academically and there’s also no available college math class for fall semester currently. Would the UCs even see that I’m planning to take it when they review my application, and would it make a meaningful difference in admissions? Or would it be too late to help?

I know I should’ve taken Math 1 in middle school if I wanted to get ahead, but I can’t change that now, and I’m trying to figure out what I can realistically do at this point.

I’d appreciate any advice, especially from people familiar with UC admissions. I don’t want to overload myself with another class if it won’t make much difference, but I’m worried about being at a disadvantage for not taking calculus.