She never seemed to do well in unscripted situations. When answering any questions in an interview, even from friendly interviewers, she always seemed to be thinking “what did my staff recommend I say for questions like this?” rather than “I will answer this question with what I believe in”.

American public schools suck

Who runs American public schools?

As others have said, It depends on what kind of programming you do. Some areas requite a lot. Others not so much. It’s logic, not math, that is needed the most.

You may want to check if your college has a different kind of programming degree. As I understand things, there are basically two kinds of programming degrees. “Computer Science” has much steeper math requirements and focuses on applications that deal with Science or engineering issues. “MIS (Management Information Systems)” degrees focus on actual programming that businesses need, not programs that are science or engineering focused.