Algebraic Topology Need! In India, generally during the graduate years, we follow a course work pattern, unlike many places in the U.S where students are exposed to research during their undergraduate years itself. 
As, a graduate student, we have basic courses like, Algebra, Analysis, Rings and Modules, Measure theory, Topology, functional analysis etc.. Generally topology is one subject, which i don't find that much of interest. But in some universities, students are forced to take Topology, and Algebraic topology, during their graduate years, and i have seen many students facing trouble, as they have to study a subject which is not of their interests. My question, would be, for a student whose research are in Analytic and Algebraic Number theory, does he needs to know Algebraic Topology?
 A: Well, I'm not an expert in Number Theory and I don't know if your interests may include in the future things like Weil conjectures and $\zeta$-functions for algebraic varieties, or on the contrary, you'll try to avoid any contact with Algebraic Geometry and Homological Algebra.
But, just in case, your interests lead you towards the first issues, then you'll have a nasty encounter with something called $\ell$-adic and étale cohomologies. I wouldn't like to be in your shoes at that moment, without having seen before any other simpler cohomology (as the singular cohomology you're going to learn in Algebraic Topology) and the classical Lefchstez fixed-point theorem.
More generally, except you're not going to use Algebraic Geometry at all in your research, nor Homological Algebra, or your use of the first is limited to the most classical aspects, you'll have to be familiar with sheaf cohomology and derived functors such as $\mathrm{Ext}$ and $\mathrm{Tor}$. It isn't impossible to learn sheaf cohomology without knowing a word of singular cohomology, and the same applies for derived functors, but you'll clearly have a tremendous gap at that point.
