I might be the biggest moron to walk the earth but I applied to all engineering schools early this year and submitted. I only learned I wanted to do engineering this past summer and decided to apply there instead of liberal arts. Now the problem is that the requirements are different for engineering over liberal arts where most engineering schools im looking at require physics in some form which i do not have…
I have taken AP Bio, honors, chem, AP Chem and AP Psychology thus far in terms of my HS science career and it is more vigorous than most i think. Am I screwed for admissions? What is my best plan of action, take a physics course with a community college in january on top of my 3 other APs and one honor class( which is killing me atm), or if i can switch my applications to liberal arts and give up on engineering(which i do not want to do)
Perhaps you can list what schools you’ve applied to, what you want in a school, your budget, and what state you live in. Then people can suggest schools that don’t require physics.
nova, BU, notre dame, georgia tech, UMD, Bucknell, Carnegie mellon, binghamton, UVA, university of richmond, Penn state, U Washington.
I want a medium sized school with good spirit, band programs, good engineering program, and around the north east. Budget is irrelevant atm and I live in NY.
Scroll down to the second bit, which applies to the College of Engineering. Science requirements are only “3 units.” No physics requirement. Look at the websites to confirm. It appears to not be true that all of those schools require physics.
Many colleges require calculus, did you take it? I suggest you contact your regional admissions rep and ask them about taking physics during your current school year under the plan you described.
I am currently taking calculus. I am definitely going to contact admission reps and see what they say about physics and hopefully I can take that class january…
Very few actually require calculus in high school, although an engineering applicant who completed precalculus in 11th grade or earlier but did not take calculus when offered may be questioned for his/her choices by more selective schools or engineering divisions.
In any case, many colleges do not require physics either, but the same applied to engineering applicants who chose not to take physics. Some colleges will still admit an engineering applicant without physics, but then the student will find physics in college to be more difficult having not seen any of it before at the high school physics level.
I’ve never actually heard of colleges that have a hard requirement for high school physics or calculus for entry into an engineering program. What do students do if they attend a school where that was not an option? I definitely don’t think you are screwed. It may be as simple as noting in your personal statement why you don’t have those “prerequisites” and how you might overcome that. I’d be surprised if that was a strictly-enforced requirement. I think it’s definitely worth contacting the admissions folks at the relevant schools, though.
@boneh3ad My DD transferred high schools so she was not in a position to take calculus her senior year. She atttended a high school freshman year that was horrible in math and very rigid in a student’s ability to take calculus (if you were not part of the chosen 10 as an 8th grader you could never take it as a senior no matter your future grades). She transferred to a great private high school in 10th grade and therefore was on a sllightly different track than the other students at her new high school. Her senior year math course was going to be pre-cal (I can’t remember whether honors or not). We met with Georgia Tech’s admission rep at the National College Fair in April of my DD’s junior year and asked about what my DD could do to be a “good applicant” since Georgia Tech was her first choice. The rep told us that my DD had to have calculus (they didn’t care whether regular or what level of AP). I said that was not possible due to no fault of my DD since she transferred high schools and therefore her course schedule of (geometry, Algebra II and then pre-cal) was the only path allowed for her. The admission rep basically said sorry and that without calculus my DD would not be considered a serious applicant and her chances were basically zero for admission. I again said it was not an option for my DD so the rep then said “make it an option and do whatever you can so that she is taking calculus when she submits her application.” So to answer your question, attending a school where it is not an option does “screw” over the student.
Fortunately we learned of this requirement when there was still time to make a change. I discovered that my DD could take honors pre-cal online through BYU during the summer. Although reluctant to agree to this arrangment, my DD’s high school (the new one) said they normally do not give students credit for online math but understood my DD’s predicament. They put certain conditions on the online course (minimum grades, my hiring a tutor and taking the final proctor by the high school staff). It was certainly the “summer of no-fun” as my DD worked on the course basically four days of each week over the summer. She passed it in time with the required grade to be able to enroll in AP Calculus AB at her high school for her senior year. She applied and was accepted to Georgia Tech (where is now) and Georgia Tech proudly touts that 97% of admitted students have taken calculus in high school. (I imagine the remaining 3% are athletes or special admits).
Having gone through this experience, I now always ask admission reps about calculus for my students. @ucbalumnus more and more college admission reps tell me that “without calculus the student is at a significant disadvantage in the applicant pool.” I see it is true in my students’ admission results. I was frankly surprised when Boston College back in 2013 told one of my students that calculus was even needed for students applying as business majors. This particular student decided not to do what my own DD did and was rejected from BC and her lack of calculus played a role in the decision.
Without physics and only now taking calc (and you don’t mention H or AP,) how do you know you will enjoy engineering, be suited to it, and able to do well? Are you in any math-sci ECs that build upon the mindset?
The questions to ask admissions people from colleges about calculus in high school (when not specifically stated on the web site) should be more specific, like:
“My kid was tracked in middle school to a track that results in taking precalculus (but not calculus) in 12th grade. Is this detrimental for admission to your school or engineering division?”
“My kid will take precalculus in 11th grade. Will choosing not to take calculus in 12th grade be detrimental for admission to your school or engineering division?”
It would not be surprising if, at some schools, the answers to the above questions are different.
@ucbalumnus, I am specific with admission reps like you suggest and was surprised with the answers when I first started asking those questions in 2013. . I always thought colleges would not hold it against students if their particular high school was lacking certain courses, used a track for math sequence or your later described situation. I work primarily with middle class and underserved students (many first gen) and this calculus issue is more prevalent every year. In response to an email that raised your first question situation,here is what my student and parent received from Boston College “To be perfectly honest, without a traditional calculus course, you will be at a significant disadvantage in our applicant pool. I might suggest having a conversation with your counselor and previous math teacher about your options.”
With the advent of online course availability, colleges have told me that students have other options if their high school situation does not permit calculus senior year. I kow always recommend to my students especially those wanting engineering or science that they have some form of calculus senior year or earlier. I like data and really try to study the results of the different high schools regarding admissions. Since I have been pushing calculus with my students, I have seen better results for them in admissions.
To the OP sorry for derailing your thread. One thing that may play in your favor is that two years ago they revamped the AP Physics curriculum and it is now two courses if i remember correctly so the last two years I have had students not take physics and be fine with admissions. You at least have two advanced sciences which is good. Make sure at least one of your recommendations comes from a science teacher from your junior year (math would be fine too). Be sure to show demonstrated interest for Carnegie Mellon, Nova, GT and Bucknell. Go on their website, visit them, attend local presentations, participate in webinars or email the admission reps are some examples. It has been my experience that demonstrated interest comes into play for those schools when it comes to engineering. Good luck.
