Demystifying University Admissions: High School Mathematics Courses and California’s Area C

Recently, after more than fifteen months of debate, the University of California clarified the new status of high school mathematics courses: 

• While some statistics and data science courses have been allowed to “validate” or substitute for Algebra II, dating back to at least 2013, such courses will no longer fulfill the Algebra II requirement. Beginning in fall 2025, only courses, such as precalculus, that substantially cover and require Algebra II (or Math III) content will fulfill the third year of foundational mathematics required for admission to the university. 

• At the same time, courses including data science, statistics, discrete math, and computer science, remain valid Area C mathematics courses for juniors or seniors who have taken Algebra II or Math III. Though such courses will not validate Algebra II in future years, they will count toward the recommended fourth year of mathematics under Area C of UC’s required A–G course pattern. Students considering STEM majors are encouraged to take precalculus in their fourth year, but there is no across-the-board admissions preference for precalculus for applicants in general. 

• Though a faculty committee in 2024 had laid out a hierarchy of fourth-year courses based on their degree of Algebra II coverage, the only distinction that will matter in admissions is whether a course validates Algebra II (and, therefore, can meet the third year of the three-year foundational requirement) or not. Data science courses will have the same status as statistics courses, and one will not be preferred over the other (except that AP Statistics courses, along with honors courses and dual-enrollment courses, are worth up to five grade points instead of four grade-points for typical courses). 

These updates are significant, given the increasing importance of data fluency and statistical literacy across academic and career fields. The clarifications are important because of the confusing and controversial process that led up to them. 

Uncertainty has led some high schools to pause or terminate offerings such as data science, even as California’s new Mathematics Framework seeks to strengthen instruction in data literacy and data science. The recent clarifications make it clear that data science and other non-algebra-intensive courses have a green light as part of a high school mathematics sequence, even though they will not replace the Algebra II requirement.