High School Math Decision
Easier math route - Algebra 2 Advanced (soph), Precalc honors (junior), AP Calc AB (senior)
Harder math route - Algebra 2 Advanced (soph), precalc online (over the summer), AP Calc AB (junior), AP Calc BC (senior)
I am a sophomore in high school and I'm currently taking Algebra 2 Advanced. For college/career, I would like to go into either the tech industry (specifically machine learning engineering) or the finance/business industry. I am still pretty split on which one I prefer, but I know both require extensive math knowledge. I am looking to go to college at a computer science focused school (Carnegie Mellon, UT Austin, Princeton, Cornell, UCLA, UMich) or a business school (NYU Stern, UMich Ross, UT Austin McCombs, Cornell SC Johnson).
As I mentioned, I am currently taking Algebra 2 Advanced and it is extremely easy. My test grade average is over 98% and there hasn't been any genuinely challenging lessons so far. Right now, we are doing trig graphs and transformations. At the beginning of the school year, I was actually in Algebra 2/Precalc honors, but I dropped to Algebra 2 Advanced. The only reason I did this was because my knowledge of algebra 1 fundementals such as simplifying radicals, exponents, etc. was lacking because I took algebra 1 during online school and I didn't really care about school back then. Now, I realize that if I had just spent a week or two learning these fundementals I would have been fine in that class. I have a couple friends taking the class and the weird thing is that they seem to have the same exact curriculum as us (they are even a little behind right now), but their tests are a little harder. The weird thing is that we are learning precalc topics right now in Algebra 2 Advanced, but this may be normal.
Based on my college and career goals, would it be worth it to take precalculus online over the summer, then take Calc AB junior year, and Calc BC senior year? (At my school, precalculus is an honors class but I would be taking it online through UC Scout). I have heard that not taking Calc BC will drastically lower your chances of getting admitted to the top business schools. So, I could either take that math route, or I could focus more on different college courses over the summer (community college business and statistics course) and SAT/ACT prep. For reference, next year (junior year) I will be taking AP Lang, APUSH, APES, AP Comp Sci A, and Spanish 3 online, and I have maintained a 4.0 unweighted and 4.05 weighted GPA.
My counselor has told me that taking an entire years worth of precalculus honors online over the summer would be very difficult, but I feel like I could do it. My logic is that we are already doing precalc fundementals in my class, and the class has been extremely easy. And if the alg 2/pre calc honors class can cover precalc in 3-4 months, I feel like I could do it in 2-2.5 months over the summer, especially if that's the only subject I'm focusing on.
Would it be feasible to go this route and would it be worth it based on my goals? Would taking the easier math route and focusing more on extracurriculars and learning about my interests (programming/finance/business) increase my admission chances at these schools?