<p>Two years of Mandarin in high school won’t go very far in the admissions sweepstakes. But minimal preparation in Physics will not impress the adcoms as to the applicant’s preparedness for engineering, or indeed his actual interest in the field. He could presumably apply as one of the myriad “undecided” and see if he wants to pursue engineering. As I wrote earlier, he needs to pull better than Bs in that case.</p>