<p>My son is still a Freshman in High School. Based on his academic skills and interest, I feel like a potential academic area of study in college may be Engineering. Certainly it is far too early to direct him toward one area of study and in the end it is most definately his choice.</p>
<p>But, his favorite (his view, not mine) and strongest academic areas are math and science and his least favorite are english and reading. Regardless of his favorites, he is still a very strong student across all subjects. </p>
<p>Based on this, I want him to take courses that may best prepare him for College Engineering while not limiting his academic electives to the math and science courses.</p>
<p>That said, as he plans his high school academic course schedules, what high school courses are best to prep for college engineering. Is it simply the obvious Math/Calc and Physics or are others advised? For information, he is in a large public high school that offers essentially all the APs and course electives usually available. Thank you!</p>
Yes. Chemistry definitely - perhaps his interest will be in chemical engineering. Biology as well - maybe biochemical engineering could be a focus.</p>
<p>Regardless of whether he actually ends up in engineering, any student with a strong interest in math and science will need the “Big 3” - chemistry, physics and biology - to be competitive for admissions in most top schools. Not all need to be at the AP level, but at least the intro courses are necessary. Technology/programming courses can be an addition, but are not a substitute for the basics.</p>
<p>If your S attends a large high school, there might be an elective that teaches CAD and provides some engineering guidance. My S took it as a senior. The science-y kids take as a tech credit, and the non-science kids take it to get a science credit. </p>
<p>However, my son, now in computer engineering, wishes he had taken some programming. During HS, he did not know which engineering he wanted. Most kids in his beginning programming classes at UIUC already had programming experience.</p>
<p>If he has the opportunity, I’d advise him to take some computer science classes, in addition to the most rigorous math and physics classes available.</p>
<p>The general preparation in high school should include as much math as possible (at the minimum, completion of precalculus; calculus if the student is a year ahead of the normal sequence) and good high school level (or honors or AP) courses in physics (especially), chemistry, and biology. Computer science, if available, is also desirable.</p>
<p>But don’t neglect humanities and social studies subjects. Good writing and communication skills are important everywhere, although it is understandable that students less interested in the analysis of fictional literature may not be engaged well in typical high school English courses.</p>
<p>The programming classes sound like a good idea. And as everyone else is pointing out, taking the most advanced math and physics classes is the best way to not only get admitted to engineering but to actually graduate in it. As for biology, you might not take it as an engineering major, but it’s considered a requirement for admissions at a lot of schools. Cal Tech doesn’t require it but MIT does along with 2 years of a foreign language.</p>
<p>Don’t neglect music and artistic endeavors, if they are of special interest and you might do some type of mechanical engineering and design, product engineering, sound engineering.</p>
<p>An artistic background will be helpful with engineering projects you will be making, in school and in the future. Music and math have been connected in numerous studies and are well known.</p>
<p>The most important requirement is 4 years science (at least 2 with lab) and 4 years math. Biology is very important for civil engineering, too. If your can get CAD and/or computer programming, great. Most schools want 2-3 years of foreign language. For the rest of it; the standard college prep track for the school plus arts. Include honors and AP where possible without exploding your son’s head. Add fun ECs. After all, high school is also where kids learn social skills, which are needed to succeed in life.</p>
<p>Even my biologist husband finds that being able to do most of his own computer programming is useful. In general Americans don’t take enough math - BC Calc by the end of senior year, for a good math/science student should be expected, and many will have more. I agree though that the standard college prep curriculum, and time to explore your own interests is really key.</p>
<p>All - thanks so much for the great comments. The programming available looks to be JAVA 1 and 2 (after a prereq of Computer Tech). I don’t know if he’ll be able to fit that in (or if he really wants that) but as I suspected, it would be good preparation. And yes, parent1986, I agree on the music and foreign language bucasmom. Hopefully he’ll continue with band and Spanish. He’s been doing well in both.</p>
<p>DS-1 is only a HS junior, but has been very involved in First Robotics after school. Not a class, but an after school activity that has been very helpful with lots if interaction with engineers and building.</p>
<p>Also, don’t know if your school has Project Lead the Way, (our school system calls it the Engineering Academy). By the time he graduates he will have taklen 6 “engineering classes”: Introduction to Engineering, Principles of Engineering, Computer Integrated Manufacturing, Digital Electronics and a Engineering Design and Development.</p>
<p>He has dropped some AP sciences classes to do this, so I’ll be interested to see the results when he gets to college. He will still take 4 years of Math and Science and do at least 2 AP Physics classes and 2 AP Calculus classes (no one is allowed to take BC without AB first.</p>
<p>Repeating some of the advice upthread. Math through AP Calculus, either AB or BC. Bio, Chem and Physics, and probably AP Physics. Computer science is also a great suggestion.</p>
<p>Some of the more selective colleges require SAT subject tests, which for engineering should be Math Level 2 and either Chemistry or Physics. Take Math Level 2 late in the year he takes Pre-Calc. Take Chem and/or Physics late in the year those classes are taken.</p>
<p>Do not worry at all about preparing for any college major while in HS. That’s what college is for. He should prepare to get accepted to a good college. For this he should take the most rigorous courses in every subject he can. If regular English is best for him, fine, he should take that and learn as much as he can. Since his interests are in math and science he should take as much of those as he can. You may want to have him find out if he can skip some courses and take just the AP version instead- this what can happen in our district for AP Physics (but not AP Chemistry).</p>
<p>Note that HE needs to be taking charge of his life and HS course selection. You are gradually losing control and he is taking up the control of his life. By the time he is a senior you should be merely advising and he will be telling you his college and major plans. Do be aware that most entering college freshmen are either undecided or will change their major. A solid background in the math and sciences offered by your HS will be enough to handle college versions and show him his interests in the various aspects of them.</p>
<p>Do not neglect the arts and other areas. This may be his only chance to take courses in many areas he won’t find time for in college. A lesser grade in a “nonacademic” (colleges determine which courses they will use to calculate the gpa they use- no one knows exactly which are or are not counted by any college) subject or less than a 4.0 because he took classes that are hard/out of his strengths is better than never gaining the experience. Treat HS as not only the springboard to college but as the finishing touches on life experiences you want him to have as a child/emerging adult.</p>
<p>There are many majors besides engineering that he may want. Be prepared for him to surprise you. I know our HS’s don’t offer any specific engineering type courses- there’s a course in every college to explore that after HS. My son is into the abstract (no way into engineering but excellent in the science/math required for it)- he ended with a college math major and added computer science to that. He planned his college courses to include comp sci so it was easy to add that, and he ended up with a software job for now despite doing more abstract and fewer programming classes than some. He only had a couple of outside of HS computer sciences classes before college- the HS class he wanted conflicted with French so he took a semester of AP music theory instead. HS can include many courses totally unrelated to one’s future college major. </p>
<p>Encourage him in participating in extracurricular activities for his interests. He does not need to gear these towards a future in engineering. If engineering is in his future he’ll gravitiate towards those activities that an engineer would. Find out about local opportunities to investigate engineering and offer those to your son.</p>
<p>If he can handle it it is always best to not waste a class period with a study hall. He should be preparing for the rigors of college by stretching himself when he can in HS. Junior year HS grades are the last ones seen by admissions committees so don’t worry about him overreaching this year or next. If it turns out he needs a study hall he can back off and have one junior year. Four years of a foreign language are good in getting out of any college reqs for that in many schools - 3 for a BS typically. Be aware that he may be competing for a college spot for an entire university, not just a specific college/school such as Engineering.</p>
<p>When he graduates from HS you want to be able to say he had the chance to explore as much as he could in many areas as well as prepare for college. If reading is a weakness of his try to have him take as much as he can in courses than will force him to improve his reading and writing skills.</p>
<p>My engineer son (who is now successfully employed) didn’t go heavily into the computer courses offered at his high school, although he took all the math, physics, and chem offered, and graduated with enough AP credits to get sophomore standing. Instead, he found space in his schedule for a couple of hands on courses - a research and design hands-on lab course where he built stuff, and auto mechanics. I think the hands on courses helped him decide that he wanted to be an engineer.</p>
<p>(High school AP courses in history, lit, and economics helped free up his schedule in college, which is very helpful since engineering usually is a very structured and course-heavy major.)</p>
<p>Another high school doing a disservice to its best math students by forcing them to slow-pace calculus… he should be aware that a real college math course will cover material at about twice the pace of what he will see in high school.</p>
<p>Note that AP Physics B is probably best thought of as like an honors high school physics course, since a college physics course for scientists and engineers will be calculus-based, which AP Physics B is not. AP Physics C is calculus-based.</p>
<p>OP: we are in the same exact boat, although my S2 is a h.s. sophomore. The only thing I would add is to find all types of summer camps for him to find out what he likes and doesn’t like…we found he loved robotics…took 3 science/math courses during one summer at our local community college…also did the ID Tech and Emagination camps…he’s also involved in a Vex robotics team, which is very similar to First…</p>
<p>My S2 is an average student in the honors math & science classes. Actually getting an A in honors Geometry as a sophomore, but having some struggles in honors Chem. He will have some tutoring to help him out a bit. He will probably take honors Physics next year, not AP. And maybe AP Stats and AP Calc AB as a senior.</p>
<p>He’s had programming over the summers, microbiology classes, physics, robotics, and basic comp. sci. His interest is leaning toward mech. eng.</p>
<p>He is taking 3 h.s. years of Spanish and has also taken a year of Art and an intensive writing couse this semester, which will always help him. And some sort of Computer tech class next semester, since the writing is one semester only.</p>
<p>My son is a sophomore ChemE major and in high school he took math through AP Calculus AB, biology, chemistry, physics, then AP Chemistry. He couldn’t fit in AP Physics senior year because his school added an extra History semester and he hadn’t taken Consumer Ed yet. He also took Drafting and Project Lead the Way. He took Calculus I again in college even though he got a 5 on the AP test. Probably would have done ok starting in Calc II but felt more comfortable doing Calc I, got an A so nice GPA boost. He wished he had taken AP Physics but was perfectly well prepared for college physics. ChemE majors at his school only have to take one semester of physics so he is done with it.</p>