New to this forum, so not exactly sure how to research if this question has been asked before. My son is currently a freshman, and has known for a while that he wants to either study aeronautical engineering or mechanical engineering. He is taking an intro to engineering class currently, which is an unweighted class. His school offers a number of engineering classes; all of which are unweighted, and my concern is that by him taking these classes his weighted GPA will lag behind his peers, many of whom are enrolled in the IB program. Being that getting admitted to a selective engineering program is already pretty hard, should he pursue taking these engineering classes in HS or take the AP classes which will give him a higher GPA and class rank.
My daughter has chosen to take all of the math offerings possible and many science classes as her main focus. She will take the engineering classes that interest her as electives after making sure she has required courses and the math/science. She isn’t worried about taking a large number of the engineering classes though as they aren’t going to make a difference in admission anywhere.
That said, we don’t have IB and she isn’t worried about selective schools.
I would prioritize math and science over engineering. I’m guessing if these engineering classes aren’t even weighted that he isn’t earning any college credits for them? And if he goes out of state, AP is more likely to be recognized even if those engineering classes are dual.
As far as gaming rank, personally I don’t think too much of prioritizing rank over a student’s interests, but I suppose he might be at some disadvantage with some colleges if he doesn’t make the top 10%. If his school offers many AP classes, he should be able to pursue the STEM APs and still get a decent rank. I don’t have any personal experience with IB but from what I read on this site it is a heavy workload of writing intensive classes and not the best choice for a committed STEM student.
Even though the engineering classes are unweighted they still may offer benefits: for example I’m taking engineering 2 (drafting and design) at my school and we have an opportunity to take an exam to get a Solidworks Associate Certification at the end of the year, which looks good on a resume and may open up opportunities for jobs. Also, if you just take APs, you aren’t differentiating yourself from the other high achieving students, you’re not showing a specific interest in a field (and I’m not just saying this because I don’t like to challenge myself, I will have taken 4 AP’s by the end of sophomore year). Finally, engineering classes offer a easier class to balance out a schedule that is still interesting to the student and allow the student to do project-based learning, learn teamwork skills, learn about the engineering design cycle, visit engineering companies and learn how they work, apply the math and science they are learning to real world things, and see if engineering is really right for them.
That being said, it is important for a dedicated engineering student to take hard classes, especially AP Physics C, Calc BC, and AP Chem, and show colleges that they are a dedicated, hardworking and strong student.
TL:DR Engineering classes have benefits even though they are often weighted and offer a nice complement to an otherwise AP (or IB I guess) heavy schedule.
The Engineering classes (PLTW?) should be taken as electives and should not replace the 5 core classes he should take each year (ie., English, Math, Science, Social Science, Foreign Language).
His goal should be, as indicated above, to take Honors Physics or AP Physics1 or 2 + Physics C, Calc BC (or Calc2 through DE), AP Chem, and preferably AP English Language.