When the prestigious California Institute of Technology announced in August it would drop calculus as an admissions requirement — students must prove mastery of the subject but don’t have to take it in high school — observers of an ongoing education equity debate might have thought it was the last holdout.

According to a recent survey the answer is more complex, that while some schools have revised their acceptance criteria based on the availability of rigorous courses, including calculus, others have not.

Queries sent to 20 top-tier colleges and universities, many of which are recognized for their strong engineering programs, found that 11 do not require it while six strongly recommend or encourage it.

Calculus may not be a must, but it is still expected at many institutions.

Princeton looks for some applicants to complete the class if they have access to it. Likewise, MIT, Carnegie Mellon and Purdue strongly recommend or encourage at least some applicants to take the course in high school.

Cornell was alone among the 20 in still mandating calculus. In fact, the Ivy League school tells incoming freshmen that at least one of their two letters of recommendation must be from a math teacher and they are “strongly encouraged” to make that person their precalculus or calculus teacher.

Caltech dropped calculus, physics and chemistry from a list of required courses while widening students’ opportunity to showcase their abilities through other means, including the completion of online courses through the free Khan Academy.

Ashley Pallie, Caltech’s executive director of undergraduate admissions, noted it was a significant shift for the STEM-intensive titan. The school had required a calculus course for decades, she said, despite pushback from applicants.

“Every year, we would get lots of students who would write in and say, ‘I was on track to take it, but the teacher isn’t able to teach us here,’ or, ‘Not enough students signed up for the class,’ or, ‘The class isn’t offered at my high school,’” she said. “And the answer was always, ‘No. We need to have the course requirement.’ ”

But that changed when Pallie and two faculty members, who set admissions criteria, learned at a February conference on equity and college acceptance the extent to which the course is not available, particularly to low-income applicants, students of color and those living in rural areas.

Pallie credited Melodie Baker, national policy director at Just Equations, an organization that promotes math policies that support equity in college readiness and success, for sharing the information at that gathering. Calculus still has merit, Caltech faculty concluded, but should no longer be mandated.

“So now it’s less about having taken the course and more about, ‘Can you showcase to us that you have proficiency and mastery?’” Pallie said.

MIT follows a similar model; it wants incoming freshmen to have two semesters of calculus but allows them to place out of the requirement either through outside credits or by taking an Advanced Standing Examination.

Calculus is not required for admission to any University of Michigan school or college, including the College of Engineering and the Ross School of Business.

And the same holds true at Harvard, Columbia, Northwestern, Rice and Johns Hopkins. 

The explanation is simple, according to one school’s spokesperson. 

“We recognize not all high schools have a calculus course available to students, so it is not required for admission to Johns Hopkins University,” said Jill Rosen.

Baker, of Just Equations, said colleges and universities should always seek to widen the opportunities for bright applicants so they can one day help solve the world’s most complex and enduring problems.

“When math is used as it was intended, to cultivate and develop talent rather than rank and sort students, the future of STEM looks like a microcosm of the larger society,” she said. “It looks very different from what it looks like today: It looks well-represented.”

The University of Minnesota doesn’t demand calculus for entry to any of its undergraduate programs. However, the school does prefer that students study the topic at some stage: It’s mandatory for some majors, though it can be taken at the college level.

Still, a spokesperson for the five-college system said, “Anyone can get in without it.”

For other colleges, the answer is nuanced. Neither calculus nor precalculus is a requirement for first-year admissions at the University of California, a spokesperson said.

The vast U.C. system, which encompasses 10 campuses and some 280,000 students, does, however, note that those interested in STEM, data science and the social sciences are “strongly encouraged” to consider a math course sequence that prepares them for calculus — either during high school or in their first year at the university.

Sharon Veatch, school counseling department chair at the rural Housatonic Valley Regional High School in northwest Connecticut, follows college admissions criteria closely. Two of her former graduates are now at Harvard and a couple of others have recently graduated from Cornell.

She said universities have become less focused on calculus in recent years: Their decision to largely drop SAT and ACT admissions tests from consideration means they are looking at students more holistically, placing less emphasis on any one class.

But, Veatch said, many top-ranked universities urge students to take the most rigorous course available. For those at her high school, that means Advanced Placement calculus. The campus hasn’t offered AP Statistics for years.

“In general, when I advise students, I say, ‘You need to max out on the curriculum,’” she said. “Because that’s what I’m being told.”

Maxing out, of course, means something different from one state to another as several are reassessing their mathematics offerings.

California has tried to broaden high school students’ opportunities by providing other academic pathways, not just those that lead to calculus.

But there’s been a push and pull between equity and rigor, with the state recently backtracking on a key issue for college applicants: The faculty committee that sets admissions requirements for the U.C. system decided in July that data science could no longer be a substitute for Algebra II. The state Board of Education, which oversees K-12 and is looking at reframing math statewide, soon after removed its endorsement of data science as a substitute for that subject.

Stanford, a crown jewel in higher education in that state, recommends four years of rigorous mathematics — including algebra, geometry and trigonometry.

“We also welcome additional mathematical preparation, including calculus and statistics,” its website advises.

Calculus is not necessary for entry to the University of Wisconsin. But spokesman John Lucas said direct admittance to the engineering program is highly selective, “so, it’s rare for a student to not have taken calculus.”

Georgia Tech is a bit more explicit. Laura Simmons, an admissions counselor there, said in an online video, that students should take the most challenging courses available to them. If that means seeking out a dual enrollment math class at the local college, they should choose wisely.

“We’re never going to pretend that college algebra is the same as a calculus class,” she said.

Increasingly, the marketplace has rewarded colleges that turn away the most students, and the competition to be competitive has become white-hot. Winning that competition may be great for colleges, but the hidden cost is enormous — for the nation and for young people of great promise but little privilege. They are the ones left behind when colleges become laser-focused on exclusivity and lose sight of their vital role in inviting a new generation of students into opportunity and leadership.

I’ve been lucky enough to spend time with thousands of enormously talented, hard-working kids from working-class and low-income families. These are brilliant potential first-generation college students. But for kids in such communities, the belief is pervasive that there’s no point in applying to a selective college.

That belief is poisonous to our society, and there has never been a more important time for a cadre of college presidents to step forward and prove it wrong. It’s time to send a message of hope and opportunity to replace a dominant, powerful message of exclusion.

Here’s the situation today: According to a recent report from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, a mere 3 percent of students at the nation’s most selective colleges come from the lowest-income quartile of American families, and only 11 percent come from the second-lowest quartile — while a stunning 72 percent come from the highest income quartile. And there’s been virtually no progress over the last decade. That’s not a plan to enable social mobility, it’s a way to reinforce a status quo of sharply limited opportunity for the poor, the working-class and a good part of the middle class. 

The nation’s selective colleges aren’t just centers for learning and research. They are also the gateways to leadership in business, public service, law, medicine and much else — and the networks of opportunity and privilege that accompany those roles. Whether the doors of those approximately 200 schools are genuinely open to all who qualify has a broader impact on the nature of opportunity in America.

It’s time for dramatic action to change the odds for low-income kids. It’s time for bold leadership by the nation’s elite colleges to enroll many more students from communities of poverty, color and rural isolation. And I believe that key leaders in higher education are ready to act.

Through my experience leading KIPP, a network of 183 public schools serving largely educationally underserved students, I’ve come to believe leaders in higher education have never been more interested in charting a new course. And it’s clear that when colleges make a priority of sending a message of opportunity, students respond and thrive. Just ask the 41 KIPP alumni who attend the University of Pennsylvania, or the 19 at UNC Chapel Hill, or the 10 at Wesleyan University, or the 34 at Franklin and Marshall, or the 15 at UC Berkeley. If this is possible for students at one network of schools, think what is possible for this nation.

Steven Susaña-Castillo, a KIPP alum, on his graduation day from Wesleyan University. (Courtesy photo)

Here’s how change could begin: Imagine if leaders at 40 of the most selective colleges in the country stepped up, with a commitment to create 100 new spots at each of their schools and combined that with a significant effort to expose talented low-income students to their institutions. That’s the equivalent of adding two Harvard or Yale freshman classes.

Seats for 4,000 new students might not seem like a lot, on a national scale. But the echo effect in low-income communities, among other colleges, and on the makeup of the nation’s future leadership, would be tremendous.

Here’s why this matters so much. Attending and graduating from college – particularly a four-year college – makes an astonishing difference in the life trajectory of a young person. (Workers with a bachelor’s degree out-earn those with only a high school diploma about $65,000 to $35,000 annually, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.) To be sure, college debt is a real issue — but the big picture is that going to college and getting a degree will be the best investment most young people in this country will ever make.

That effect multiplies at selective colleges, which play a powerful gatekeeper role in our society, producing the majority of the nation’s top public figures, business leaders, jurists and more. The human networks that surround them are powerful and multigenerational.

And while some might argue that the academic pace is tough at such colleges, it’s crucial to note that students are more likely to graduate from such academically demanding colleges, because of the stronger supports they offer. This has absolutely been the case for our KIPP alumni, and research has been clear on this for years.

Yet today, patterns of whether, and where, students apply to college are reflective not so much of students’ talent, promise and academic record as of their wealth.

In a crucial 2013 study, Caroline Hoxby of Stanford and Christopher Avery of Harvard reported that “the vast majority of low-income high achievers do not apply to any selective college. This is despite the fact that selective institutions typically cost them less, owing to generous financial aid, than the two-year and nonselective four-year institutions to which they actually apply. Moreover, low-income high achievers have no reason to believe they will fail at selective institutions since those who do apply are admitted and graduate at high rates.”

And indeed, low-income high school seniors with good test scores are actually less likely to enroll in a four-year college than are high-income seniors with only average test scores, according to a 2010 Century Foundation report.

Dramatic, well-publicized action by a sizeable group of selective colleges would do more than create thousands of seats for talented individual students. It would send a message that would be heard in inner cities and working-class and rural communities throughout the nation, inspiring students with a new sense of possibility.

Such a plan wouldn’t exist in a vacuum; it would need to be combined with strong supports for high-need students. The plan could start by exposing more students to college experiences during their middle and high school summers. Imagine, for example, if 4,000 of our nation’s most academically advanced low-income middle school students were invited to spend the summers of their 8th, 9th and 10th-grade years on an elite college campus, preparing for college. KIPP would commit to help build such an effort. Likewise, we are committed to continuing to work to improve the quality of pre-K-12 learning students receive, to prepare them as well as we possibly can for college.

Now is the time for a bold new effort to expand opportunity, and I am convinced college presidents have never been more eager to play a leadership role in reversing a trend of income polarization and social stratification that is dividing our society. Not because it will improve their standing on traditional rankings, but because it’s the right thing to do. And because it will send a message of hope that will echo throughout the country.

In the next generation, opportunity will be the new exclusiveness. Who will step up to lead?

Richard Barth has been CEO of the KIPP Foundation since December, 2005. Over the past 10 years, he has overseen the significant growth of the KIPP network of public charter schools from 45 to 183 schools.

This article was published in partnership with The74Million.org. 

A student walks near Royce Hall on the campus of UCLA. (Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Every high school counselor has that story. The student who thought her dream school was too far from home. The senior who wasn’t going to attend the prestigious university because of the price tag. The valedictorian who didn’t think he was cut out for college.

With the right support, these stories have happy endings. But for students in underserved areas of Los Angeles, a lack of information and resources can make entering college a seemingly impossible pathway for low-income and first-generation students.

The secret weapon for high schools taking these challenges head-on? Often it’s investing in college counselors. Counselors make the vital connections with college recruiters. They coordinate college visits and are the first ones students turn to when issues arise in the application process. They ease parent concerns and guide families through financial aid talks.

Yet with tight school budgets, some guidance counselors are being asked to take on dual responsibilities: high school academics and college prep. The counselors who get to focus solely on the process of getting students into college consider themselves lucky.

“People expect guidance counselors to do everything,” said Downtown Magnets High School college counselor Lynda McGee. Her school averages around 60 visits from college recruiters per year. “Because of guidance counselors’ other duties, they can’t stay informed and have to stay at school. My principal lets me go to (college recruiting events). I can meet (recruiters) face to face.”

USC helps cultivate these college advising positions in Los Angeles high schools through its Southern California College Advising Corps. The school places recent college graduates in underserved high schools to assist students with the application process. Seventy-eight percent of the students in these partnering high schools are socioeconomically disadvantaged and the first generation in their families to apply to college. USC also matches the diversity of advising staff and school population.

First-generation students aren’t always aware of the application process, face cultural barriers that make moving away to college difficult and might not envision themselves as college material, said Ara Arzumanian, program manager for USC’s advising corps.

“The adviser is helping them see (college) as something they can aspire to,” Arzumanian said. “It is a place where they can fit.”

Value of relationships

High school counselors have to develop relationships not only with students but with college recruiters. This collaboration grows more important as new high schools pop up and budgets for college recruiters shrink. Vince Lopez, director of admissions at Cal State LA, said more Los Angeles schools mean more demands for a recruiters’ time.

Moreover, recruiters are tasked with cramming hundreds of visits into a three-month window in the fall — the height of recruitment visits. It’s difficult to estimate the total number of high school visits, but Lopez said his recruitment team will see 114 high schools within its small corner of LA and attend 250 college fairs.

Local private schools like Loyola Marymount University will travel further for high school recruitment. Matt Fissinger, LMU’s director of undergraduate admission, estimates his team visits 500 high schools nationwide.

“The high school visit is a tried and true method of the recruitment strategy,” Fissinger said.

Prioritizing which high schools they can visit in one season varies with the type of school. But recruiters generally favor schools with a large number of prior applicants, strong academics and underserved populations they’d like represented in their schools. State and community colleges also prioritize their local area high schools.

“We’re working on student equity and access in terms of outreach and recruitment,” said Julie Benavides, vice president of student services at East Los Angeles College. The school strives for a constant presence in its 42 local high schools to answer student questions about the application process. “We hope that’s one of our major outcomes: that students feel connected with the proper resources.”

Personal connection

While other recruitment efforts like mailing lists and social media outreach are certainly cheaper, high school counselors and recruiters agree that a personal connection makes a significant difference in getting students interested in college.

“It’s a big deal,” said Suzy Chavez, counselor at Oscar De La Hoya Ánimo Charter High School. Chavez said her school, with 146 seniors and a student population that is 95 percent low-income, receives between 15 and 20 visits from recruiters per year. “(Students) like having people present, seeing a different person and voice. Those individuals bring PowerPoint presentations, flyers and brochures we don’t have access to.”

To draw more recruiters, schools like Arleta High School that get 20 individual visits from college reps will partner with other area schools for college fairs, drawing 100 college representatives and 4,000 students and families.

The college recruiter’s presence is perhaps most important when it comes to representatives from Ivy League schools, who are looking to visit only a handful of students at each school.

“If they had a good interaction with an individual, that knowledge of that kid as a person rather than a name on paper can make a difference,” McGee said.

High school counselors agree that recruiter visits are one powerful piece to a large puzzle of cultivating student interest in college. But most important for low-income and first-generation students is making connections they can use during the process.

The most important thing “is the ability for two-way communication, whatever that looks like,” said Beth Winningham, college counselor at Arleta High School. She encourages students to call recruiters and admissions offices if they have concerns about test scores or financial aid.

Developing a college-focused culture beginning in ninth grade also helps first-generation and low-income students aspire to college. Many schools require all students to complete a college application as part of graduation requirements. They also partner with organizations like College Summit and the Posse Foundation, which encourage students through the application process and support them once they’re in higher education.

Overcoming the money barrier

Counselors agree that finances are usually the biggest barrier when it comes to getting students to consider college. Some don’t realize that the price tag is often much lower with financial aid and scholarships. Yet even when $40,000 tuition is reduced to $10,000 through financial aid, that gap is still too large for a family that makes $18,000 per year, McGee said.

“I always tell the kids that grades equal dollars,” McGee said, referencing scholarship money. “The higher your GPA, the less likely you’ll have that gap.”

Palisades Charter High School college counselor Ruth Grubb remembers a student who because of the price had initially decided to attend a less rigorous college even though she had gained admittance to a prestigious university. After Grubb encouraged her to call the university to check on her financial aid, the senior learned she was eligible for a full ride at her preferred school.

“The college might be two miles away, but the school could seem like a million miles away if they don’t realize this is for them,” Cal State LA’s Lopez said.