Can I Skip Math In College?

[Orangeator]

So I am a Junior, 16. I am finishing all my Senior classes this year, that includes (advanced) Physics and Trigonometry (already taken geometry;algebra 2... Etc.). I have aced all my math classes so far, 92% or higher. It looks like this year I will be acing Physics and Trigonometry as well. My problem is, I HATE math. After this year I never want to do it again, I may be able to do it, but I am terribly slow at it and every time I do it I get anxious and stressed out. So, my question is, is it possible to not take college algebra or any math course for that matter in college? I always have wanted and aspired to get my J.D. just so you guys know what I want to major in.

[corrado33]

Technically you don't NEED math for a law degree, however math is applicable to just about everything you'd have to deal with. I recommend everybody takes math to the highest level they can. (And Trig is NOT high.) At LEAST take calculus 1. College algebra is a joke and basically a "I need this requirement so I'm taking a middle school level math class in college."

[Dash Lambda]

Short Answer: No.

 

Loud Answer: WHY?! ;-;

 

Serious Answer: I can't think of a type of degree that doesn't almost always require some level of math. Certain fields of math are essential to so many applications (statistics, for example, shows up EVERYWHERE), because it's not just numbers -It's logic, reasoning, problem-solving, etc. Mathematical competency is an indispensable tool in virtually every advanced field of study, from physics to politics.

I used to hate math, but as I progressed I grew to like it more. Turns out that what I hated was arithmetic, crunching numbers is mindless and boring and I couldn't conceivably care less about it. Elementary mathematics is a tiring drudge of facts and figures and recall. Once you start getting into advanced topics, though, it becomes more like puzzles and the focus shifts to understanding, not just recitation. You learn how things work and why they work that way, you learn how to actually use mathematics, and it all starts to fit into the world around you.

Needless to say, math is my favorite subject in school.

 

So I suggest you go a bit further, though if you really hate it that much, well... First of all, I don't understand you, and second of all, you should check the curriculum for the degree you want to get at the college you're planning to attend, that should tell you what math credits you need. A lot of colleges will accept AP scores for credit, so while you can't get out of taking the classes, you might be able to get some out of the way in high school.

 

And of course: 

 

[Bouzoo]

8 minutes ago, corrado33 said:

Technically you don't NEED math for a law degree, however math is applicable to just about everything you'd have to deal with. I recommend everybody takes math to the highest level they can. (And Trig is NOT high.) At LEAST take calculus 1. College algebra is a joke and basically a "I need this requirement so I'm taking a middle school level math class in college."

I do agree, that level of math is not high, but If he's going in law, taking math to the highest level (or actually most advanced levels) is a waste of time for him. 

Now I don't know how things work in where you law, but at our Faculty of Law, you can't even take math as a class iirc.

I'm a math student myself. As matter of fact, a very good friend of mine, from my faculty, is married to a lawyer and no, she never took a single math course.

 

[rmac52]

2 hours ago, corrado33 said:

Technically you don't NEED math for a law degree, however math is applicable to just about everything you'd have to deal with. I recommend everybody takes math to the highest level they can. (And Trig is NOT high.) At LEAST take calculus 1. College algebra is a joke and basically a "I need this requirement so I'm taking a middle school level math class in college."

I highly doubt you could find an acceptable undergrad degree that didn't have a math requirement.  Any program that didn't require any math probably wouldn't be accepted by a law school.  Especially considering math is logic and logic is good for law schoold.

 

Hell I had to take 12 credits of arts and humanities for my chemistry undergrad.  So I doubt any school in the us, at least, that  wouldn't require probably 6 credits of math.

[rmac52]

2 hours ago, Bouzoo said:

I do agree, that level of math is not high, but If he's going in law, taking math to the highest level (or actually most advanced levels) is a waste of time for him. 

Now I don't know how things work in where you law, but at our Faculty of Law, you can't even take math as a class iirc.

I'm a math student myself. As matter of fact, a very good friend of mine, from my faculty, is married to a lawyer and no, she never took a single math course.

 

Really?  She didn't even have a math requirement for her undergrad?

[Orangeator]

6 hours ago, Dash Lambda said:

Short Answer: No.

 

Loud Answer: WHY?! ;-;

 

Serious Answer: I can't think of a type of degree that doesn't almost always require some level of math. Certain fields of math are essential to so many applications (statistics, for example, shows up EVERYWHERE), because it's not just numbers -It's logic, reasoning, problem-solving, etc. Mathematical competency is an indispensable tool in virtually every advanced field of study, from physics to politics.

I used to hate math, but as I progressed I grew to like it more. Turns out that what I hated was arithmetic, crunching numbers is mindless and boring and I couldn't conceivably care less about it. Elementary mathematics is a tiring drudge of facts and figures and recall. Once you start getting into advanced topics, though, it becomes more like puzzles and the focus shifts to understanding, not just recitation. You learn how things work and why they work that way, you learn how to actually use mathematics, and it all starts to fit into the world around you.

Needless to say, math is my favorite subject in school.

 

So I suggest you go a bit further, though if you really hate it that much, well... First of all, I don't understand you, and second of all, you should check the curriculum for the degree you want to get at the college you're planning to attend, that should tell you what math credits you need. A lot of colleges will accept AP scores for credit, so while you can't get out of taking the classes, you might be able to get some out of the way in high school.

 

And of course: 

 

From what I can find online, to get your J.D. there is literally no math required. You just have to get your bachelors.

[Dash Lambda]

Just now, Orangeator said:

From what I can find online, to get your J.D. there is literally no math required. You just have to get your bachelors.

ಠ_ಠ

...

So it appears.

That serves in large part to explain why the current law system is so hilariously incompetent.

[Misanthrope]

No, even if you can you still shouldn't be allowed.

 

This is the thing: people that hate math always make a huge deal about not liking math and being bad at math. This is a shitty false equivalency: it assumes people who are good at math and even like math don't struggle just as much with other subjects.

 

If I have to will myself to stay the fuck awake through some bullshit administration or social responsibility subject, you can will yourselves to just STFU and deal with math. Most courses are taught cause they give you a minimum of skills society deems acceptable, whenever you like them or not. This is education and you have to take the good with the bad.

[2FA]

Probably you will be able to. 

 

Unfortunately my degree requires Stats, Calc, and Physics. I'm taking Calc next semester and then I'll have all of those out of the way. I wish I could just do my core classes instead of all these general requirements like the ones I listed plus a upper level writing class and a speaking class. Ugh....

 

A fun fact, every physics professor at my uni is absolute trash at teaching. Luckily the one I had was very easy with grading.

[Orangeator]

9 hours ago, DeadEyePsycho said:

Probably you will be able to. 

 

Unfortunately my degree requires Stats, Calc, and Physics. I'm taking Calc next semester and then I'll have all of those out of the way. I wish I could just do my core classes instead of all these general requirements like the ones I listed plus a upper level writing class and a speaking class. Ugh....

 

A fun fact, every physics professor at my uni is absolute trash at teaching. Luckily the one I had was very easy with grading.

Well that is my whole point here... I just wish college was for classes that have at least something to do with what you want to do with your life. I do not need to know Physics and Calculus to become a Lawyer... I should instead be focusing on things like statistics and that type of math that I will actually use with my degree.

[NumLock21]

Depends, some of the classes you taken in high school like math has to be retaken in college. It's something to do with basic requirements. IMO it's a total waste cause, it ain't free you and will be paying for it.

A single college class cost as much as a GTX1080 or Titan X(P)!

[Orangeator]

5 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

Depends, some of the classes you taken in high school like math has to be retaken in college. It's something to do with basic requirements. IMO it's a total waste cause, it ain't free you and will be paying for it.

A single college class cost as much as a GTX1080 or Titan X(P)!

Ugh I know, this is my problem. I want to take classes to get my bachelors that are relevant to law school, that will prepare me for it. Taking Calculus or Physics is not needed or relevant in anyway and going to very much discourage me from continuing college as it is not want I want to do (like I said, I hate math), never the less pay thousands of dollars to do it.

[Sauron]

It depends on your college, but I really don't recommend it. Math is incredibly useful in a wide variety of activities, you may regret not taking it.

[Dash Lambda]

16 minutes ago, Orangeator said:

Well, that is my whole point here... I just wish college was for classes that have at least something to do with what you want to do with your life. I do not need to know Physics and Calculus to become a Lawyer... I should instead be focusing on things like statistics and that type of math that I will actually use with my degree.

The way you're thinking really bothers me.

I agree that college should be more focused, I sure as hell hate that I have to have more humanities credits than science for a goddamn scientific degree, but I don't agree that higher level math and physics is unrelated to law.

I hate it when people working with laws and regulations don't understand how the world works, and as such it terrifies me that people can get law degrees without more than an elementary background in math and science. Even if you can get your degree without it, you'll be incompetent.

[NumLock21]

8 minutes ago, Orangeator said:

Ugh I know, this is my problem. I want to take classes to get my bachelors that are relevant to law school, that will prepare me for it. Taking Calculus or Physics is not needed or relevant in anyway and going to very much discourage me from continuing college as it is not want I want to do (like I said, I hate math), never the less pay thousands of dollars to do it.

Just did a quick search on it, some parents says when their kids went to college, some had to repeat the same courses they taken  in high school and some don't. One of them who has 2 kids, one have to retake it and the other one does not. Other say retaking it adds more materials that was not learned during high school, even if they are both the same course.

So you got accepted to a college already?

[Orangeator]

1 minute ago, Dash Lambda said:

The way you're thinking really bothers me.

I agree that college should be more focused, I sure as hell hate that I have to have more humanities credits than science for a goddamn scientific degree, but I don't agree that higher level math and physics is unrelated to law.

I hate it when people working with laws and regulations don't understand how the world works, and as such it terrifies me that people can get law degrees without more than an elementary background in math and science. Even if you can get your degree without it, you'll be incompetent.

Umm... Yes. Physics is completely unrelated to Law. Law degrees are meant to focus on, well you guessed it, law. If I do manage to become an Attorney, when in my life will I use Physics or Calculus? I will use statistics and basic math that my profession will use.

[corrado33]

11 minutes ago, Orangeator said:

Umm... Yes. Physics is completely unrelated to Law. Law degrees are meant to focus on, well you guessed it, law. If I do manage to become an Attorney, when in my life will I use Physics or Calculus? I will use statistics and basic math that my profession will use.

You are thinking like a little kid. "When will I have to find the area of a rhombus in my normal life after this class?"

 

Higher education isn't there to teach you THINGS. It's there to teach you how to THINK. How to solve problems you've never been asked before.

 

The sooner you learn that the better off you'll be. 

 

What are you going to do if your law plan doesn't work out? Going into law is not easy. I've been told that the test is harder than the MCAT (which I have taken). Some of my friends who are brilliant scientists did miserably on the LSATs. These are people that math and writing comes EASY to. People who can solve differential equations in a snap. 

 

If you have this attitude toward learning now, then I'll make a prediction for the future. There's no way in hell you're making it to law school. You think what you're learning now doesn't pertain to what you want to do? Just wait until you look at a LAW textbook. Or the logic classes you're bound to have to take. It's laughable. 

[Yamoto42]

(Good) law does require a solid understanding of logic and statistics.  The latter of which (to truly begin to understand) at least takes a conceptual understanding of derivatives and integrals.  Even if you aren't that good at applying the formulas, I would recommend at least the 2 semesters of Calc. (around where I'm from, calc 1 is differentiation and 2 is integration.)

 

That being said, I recommend them for the conceptual aspect of understanding how variables relate to one another, especially in charts and graphs.  I don't recommend them for their direct application.  Therefore I can't really recommend Calc III (multi-variable) or DifEq because the benefit vs effort really isn't there for non-STEM professions.

[greaves1111]

There's a certain degree of math that has to be done to satisfy a college's core competency requirement. Past that, any math you do depends on your major. Even most business degrees require accounting and statistics, and that is basically word problem math. It's not TOO bad though.

 

Look on the bright side, if you've done all this math already, studying it again will just be easier.

[Dash Lambda]

1 minute ago, Orangeator said:

Umm... Yes. Physics is completely unrelated to Law. Law degrees are meant to focus on, well you guessed it, law. If I do manage to become an Attorney, when in my life will I use Physics or Calculus? I will use statistics and basic math that my profession will use.

ಠ_ಠ

I feel too strongly about this, this discussion is close to causing me physical pain.

 

I'll just say this: If the highest level of math you've got is trig, then you have no idea what math is. If you don't have a solid background in math, you don't understand how the world works.

[Donut417]

Every degree I have seen you have to take math. HOWEVER, many colleges have a math placement test. So I would assume that if you were to test out of the class, then you could maybe pass the class out right. 

[TidaLWaveZ]

You will almost certainly have to take math classes at a major university.  Law school requires an undergraduate degree as far as I know and unless you're trying to get into law school with a a very particular arts degree or something, you will have to take math classes.  I don't know of any actual majors at the university that I went to that didn't have math for at least an introduction course (including arts majors).

 

The only way out is to test out or get a high enough score on sat/act in math to bypass the class.

[pyrojoe34]

I took two AP math classes/tests in high school (statistics and calculus) which covered my undergraduate requirements for math so I didn't take any math classes in UG. But now that I'm in grad school I took another math class (biomedical statistics) and will likely take another "math" class soon (bioinformatics which is comp sci based math and programming). So, yes there is a way to not take math classes in UG (using AP credits) but you definitely still should. Math is important in every field (even law) and shorting yourself on such a fundamental subject is just not a good idea. You should at the very least take math courses until you have some calculus experience, trig is just not enough.

[Orangeator]

2 hours ago, Dash Lambda said:

ಠ_ಠ

I feel too strongly about this, this discussion is close to causing me physical pain.

 

I'll just say this: If the highest level of math you've got is trig, then you have no idea what math is. If you don't have a solid background in math, you don't understand how the world works.

How is doing AP Physics and trig/precal not enough math to "understand how the world works"... Your argument doesn't make any sense. What does Calculus 2 and 3 have anything to do with how the world works? How is that going to benefit me in my life? It doesn't, the only reason you should ever take such an advanced math course is if your profession could possibly or does use it. I think you just like math a lot and think a little to highly of it. Math is very important, but you only need to know so much of it until becomes something you know, just to know (without any real world benefit).

 

Edit: When is the last time you had a fun conversation with a mathematician? Most I have ever talked to are very bland and have little to no social skills. Sure they may be very smart when it comes to math, but they have no clue on "how the world works" when it comes to politics... Etc. When you only study and stare at numbers you miss the world around you, so the saying should be reversed. The more you love and do math, the less you know how the real world works, such as something simple as having a conversation.