Hey! So I got my senior schedule and there were some problems with it as one of the classes I already took over the summer. I was wondering which would be beneficial as a student looking towards applying for engineering (Mechanical or Electrical), AP CSA or AP Chem?
Here’s my schedule so far:
CTE Mechatronics and Robotics
AP Gov (required)
AP Physics 1
AP Calculus AB
Feedback and suggestions would be great!
The one that interests you the most. The CS will obviously have relevance, but may overlap with mechatronics. Check the syllabi. Chemistry will have relevance to materials. There’s no wrong or better answer here.
No English? Foreign language?
Already did my 3 years of Spanish. I took my last required unit of English 12 over the summer. All credits in those two are met 
Do you have 3 years of lab science - bio, physics, Chem?
Neither is better if you met requirements for college. But if you only have two sciences, take chem.
Neither will impact your choice of major more than the other per se if you already have 3 years lab science.
I have Bio Chem and Anatomy( ik it was a dumb decision) but I’m taking physics this year to make my classes better geared for engineering.
So Bio, Chem, Physics and Anatomy.
Then take whichever class you want? Or don’t take an AP at all and take something of interest - nutrition, theatre, whatever.
You don’t have to “gear” to be an engineer - there’s a ton of great schools and you don’t have to hit every little hot point.
You’ll be fine.
Good luck.
Thanks
BTW, the question to ask isn’t really what will get you into ME, but rather what will get you to graduate in ME. It’s a difficult major with a high attrition rate. Do you love math? Do you have a deep understanding of the pre-calc material? It’s the number one correlate to success in engineering.
FYI, my son has a BS/MS in ME with and undergrad mechatronics concentration and a thesis involving mechatronics and boundary layer aerodynamics.
Good luck!
I agree. From your former posts, it sounds like your GPA is quite good and you’re pretty confident about your interest in engineering.
You’ve dabbled quite a bit in engineering, but haven’t exhausted the most rigorous courses in the core STEM disciplines at your school. For example, you’re new to physics.
So I agree that you should focus on getting a nice solid foundation in the core subjects: math and physics are the big ones. Try to knock it out of the park with calc and physics next year. If you rock calc AB, you can start with Calc 2 in college. The AP physics 1 test won’t count for engineering physics requirements, but the knowledge will help you a lot with taking physics in college.
You’ll take some chem and programming classes in college, so it doesn’t really matter which you choose for next year. AP chem is regarded as very challenging, but if you pass the exam it might get you out of taking gen chem in college. AP computer science might not get you any useful college credits for your major, but it’s probably less demanding than AP chem, allowing you plenty of energy to focus on your math and physics classes. And any programming experience will be helpful for an engineering major.
Look at the requirements for your freshman year at your first choice college. Chances are it includes at least a semester of Chemistry. Depending on the university, there might be a bunch of Chemistry majors and premeds as well as other engineering majors in your class. If it were me, I would want come out swinging. Either testing out of Chemistry all together, or having a running start, having seen the material some before attempting college chemistry. The curve is likely to be brutal in college. Now if you have never coded before, or are uncomfortable coding, I would go with CSA, unless the class has a bad reputation at you school (meaning, the former students say they didn’t really learn anything in it). Good luck!
It really makes no difference. Colleges don’t consider potential major in the admission decision. By the time you get to Computer classes in college, the stuff you learned in high school will be outdated anyway.
This is not correct for many colleges.
Foundational principles of computer science do not get outdated, although what you learned in high school a decade ago would obviously not include new discoveries made within the last decade.
To add to @ucbalumnus’s great point, some schools like Cal Poly exclusively admit competitively by major. Aspiring CS applicants are only measured against other CS applicants. Ditto for all majors at CP.
You already take 3 AP classes next year, why take 1 more if you don’t really need to? Take something easy and interest you, use the extra time for college applications and try to enjoy your final high school year. Good Luck.
No music, art or drama? No PE or health?
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