<p>Sophomore here who wants to be a Mechanical engineer/aerospace major. Next year I was recommended to take AP Calculus AB, but I’m asking to bump that up to BC. I asked about taking AP Physics, but I have to take Physics honors first so that’s a no go. So next year I plan on taking Physics honors along with AP Chemistry since I can’t take AP Physics. To do so, I would either have to drop Italian III or PLTW Digital Electronics (I’ve already taken Introduction to Engineering and Principles of Engineering). </p>
<p>So, drop Italian III and only take 2 years of language or drop PLTW Digital Electronics? Which would an engineering school rather see, since I know they only require 2 years of language.</p>
<p>If you can handle the workload, then take the electronics class. I always felt language was something that should be taken outside of school. Besides my opinion, I’m not sure if your future university will waive your foreign language requirement, so check the schools you plan on applying to. They might not need foreign language, which will work toward your advantage (unless you wanted to take Italian III). The other case would be that they don’t care if you took it in high school; you still have to take two semesters of foreign language, in which case it’ll be a waste of time for you now.</p>
<p>I’ve checked and pretty much all of the engineering schools only require two years of foreign language, so I already have the requirements completed. I would also much rather take the electronics course (don’t like language/writing/english…etc.) It’s just a matter of what will give me the best chances of getting in to a good engineering school.</p>
<p>You will get plenty of engineering classes in college but you might not find the time in your program to take a language. So if you like taking Italian, go for it. I speak Italian as a first/second language at home and I took 4-5 years of French and 2 year of German in High School (a long, long time ago). It did not impede my ability to get a degree in Engineering Physics in college and go on to a Ph.D. In fact, the languages have been very useful to me in my career as a physicist.</p>
<p>You probably have not finalized your list of colleges yet, and thus could be messing up your opportunities to apply at some of them by not continuing in a language.</p>
<p>At some universities the admissions decisions are made centrally rather than separate application to the college of engineering. I believe that Digital Electronics would not be considered an academic course when the university is reviewing the academic rigor of your HS schedule. In contrast, foreign language is definitely considered an academic class. Taking Digital Electronics may be more fun but isn’t likely to exempt you from any of your college classes. In contrast, there are universities that require 3 year of HS foreign language to be exempt from taking foreign language in college.</p>
<p>I spoke with my counselor and my math teacher today. My math teacher said that it’s really important to get a solid Calculus foundation, especially for engineering, even when I’m getting A+ in pre-calc H. She said that I can take BC Senior year. My counselor told me that with AP Chem and Physics H, I should take the digital electronics course, and then Civil engineering/architecture senior year to complete the PLTW program, dropping Italian.</p>
<p>As for schools I’m interested in, University of Michigan is probably my best (realistic) match.</p>
<p>I am assuming your a high school student. PLTW Digital Electronics is a great class but it is useful for Electrical & Computer Engineering students. Perhaps if your interested in Mechatronics Engineering (combines elec and mech engineering), this would be a good idea to take this course. I took this course in high school and found it interesting. I would suggest PLTW course. </p>
<p>Also take all AP Calc, Economics, Physics, Chemistry, or any humanities classes. Finish all the AP classes your high school offers. Because if you get the AP Credit, the university you apply to will accept the credit and this will reduce the amount of classes you have to take for college. Your saving money, faster graduation. </p>
<p>Besides, why do you need Physics Honors for Physics AB, they have nothing in common. Honors takes mechanics in simplified version and covers baby part of electricity. You don’t need honors to sign up for AP physics, your school is misinforming you. A lot of my friends took AP Physics A, B (not sure of the letters but they did mechanics, elect. & magnetism).</p>