Each university differs in what they expect from applicants for their high school course loads. If you plan to apply to a specific school, you should know if you need that extra year of math.
Below are the high school course requirements for the Top 50 Universities.
| Rank | School | English | Math | Science | Social Science | World Language |
| 1 | MIT | 4 | 4 | 3-4 | ||
| 2 | Harvard | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| 3 | Stanford | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | Princeton | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 5 | Yale | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 6 | UPenn | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 7 | Columbia | 4 | 4 | 3-4 | 3-4 | 3-4 |
| 8 | Caltech | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 9 | Cornell | 4 | 3-4 | 3 | 3 | |
| 10 | JHU | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| 11 | UChicago | 4 | 3-4 | 3-4 | 3-4 | 2-3 |
| 12 | Northwestern | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 13 | UC Berkeley | 4 | 3-4 | 2-3 | 2 | 2-3 |
| 14 | Duke | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 15 | UCLA | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 16 | UMich | 4 | 3-4 | 3-4 | 3 | 2 |
| 17 | Brown | 4 | 4 | 3-4 | 3-4 | 3-4 |
| 18 | Vanderbilt | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| 19 | WashU | 4 | 4 | 3-4 | 3-4 | 2 |
| 20 | UCSD | 4 | 3-4 | 2-3 | 2 | 2-3 |
| 21 | Dartmouth | 4 | 4 | 3-4 | 3 | 3-4 |
| 22 | CMU | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | |
| 23 | USC | 4 | 3-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 |
| 24 | UW | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 25 | UNC | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 26 | NYU | 4 | 3-4 | 3-4 | 3-4 | 3-4 |
| 27 | UIUC | 4 | 3-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 |
| 28 | Wisconsin | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0-2 |
| 29 | GaTech | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| 30 | Georgetown | 4 | 2-3 | 1-3 | 2 | 2 |
| 31 | UC Davis | 4 | 3-4 | 2-3 | 2 | 2-3 |
| 32 | Emory | |||||
| 33 | Rice | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 34 | UF | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 35 | NotreDame | 4 | 3-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 |
| 36 | BU | 4 | 3-4 | 3-4 | 3-4 | 2-4 |
| 37 | UVA | |||||
| 38 | UT Austin | 4 | 3-4 | 2-4 | 3-4 | 2 |
| 39 | UMN | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 40 | UC Irvine | 4 | 3-4 | 2-3 | 2 | 2-3 |
| 41 | UMD | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 42 | Tufts | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 43 | Purdue | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 44 | UCSB | 4 | 3-4 | 2-3 | 2 | 2-3 |
| 45 | Ohio State | 4 | 3-4 | 3 | 2-3 | 2-3 |
| 46 | TAMU | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | |
| 47 | Rochester | |||||
| 48 | MSU | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 49 | Rutgers | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | |
| 50 | BC | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
* I couldn’t find information on Emory, the University of Virginia, or the University of Rochester.
Fine Arts
There was a subject I expected to be optional, but it is by some schools.
The University of Washington requires a semester of Fine Arts.
the credit should be chosen from art appreciation, band, ceramics, choir, dance, dramatic performance and production, drawing, fiber arts, graphic arts, metal design, music appreciation, music theory, orchestra, painting, photography, print making, or sculpture.
The University of California requires a full year of Fine Arts.
One yearlong course of visual and performing arts chosen from the following disciplines: dance, music, theater, visual arts or interdisciplinary arts — or two one-semester courses from the same discipline is also acceptable.
A community college course or AP exam may be a solution.
Thoughts
A few top schools want to avoid putting people in boxes but also expect their applicants to be taking the most challenging classes. MIT wants Calculus and at least a year of Physics, Biology, and Chemistry. Yale and UPenn don’t want to limit you but expect you to take four years across all five disciplines.
There is not a single university that does not expect you to take four years of English.
A few schools seem to be comfortable with only three years of Math, but if you are looking to enter a more technical major, four would be necessary.
Science was surprising as only a few schools require or recommend four. That said a fair number explicitly state needing Physics, Biology, and Chemistry. This feels like weed-out material, as they want you to take challenging classes to prove you can make it at their school.
I was also surprised at the number of schools wanting three or more years of Social Science. This seems to be a dying field, and I would expect most students to take two years at most.
Finally, almost all schools require two years of foreign language. But only a few require four.
