<p>According to the website for the College of Engineering, HS physics is required. My son was planning to take this over the summer at the local community college instead of at the high school. If everything else in his package is very good, does he still have a chance of getting accepted?</p>
<p>Hmmm...good question. My best guess (you probably won't like this) is that if it is <em>required</em> (not "recommended" or "highly recommended") they may not even consider his app. I am saying this because the same would be true if an applicant submitted 2 SAT IIs instead of the required 3, or 1 teacher rec instead of 2. However, I really am not sure and you should probably ask the admission office directly.</p>
<p>sonssecty, NOTHING in P'ton's admissions "suggestions" are required. They are only "Strongly/highly recommended." They SUGGEST 4 units of math, English, Foreign language, etc...but they will still consider the strength of your son's application as a whole, and will not completely bar him from acceptance just because of 1 specific thing.</p>
<p>but, there may still be trouble. Everyone else in the applicant pool for Engineering WILL have completed physics and probably did well on the AP test and/or the SAT subject test. If your son is missing physics (which is monumentally important in any form of applied science), he will be at a HUGE disadvantage and probably won't be accepted.</p>
<p>No, many people don't take Physics until their Senior year, in which case they won't have taken the AP tests or the subject tests. All Princeton will know is how well you're currently doing in that class, not what an AP or SAT score is. I think (but I'm not sure), that as long as you will take it before you get to Princeton, it will be fine, as long as you've shown that you've done well in similar subjects (i.e., other math and science courses).</p>
<p>pk's post made me think of a question for sonssecty: from what I know of engineering, it is strongly related to/based on physics. If your son has not taken physics yet, how does he know that he is interested in pursuing engineering in college?</p>
<p>Also, pk, I had no idea about the requirements vs. recommendations for engineering; I was just going by what the OP said ("required").</p>
<p>Dad's an engineer, so he is very aware of what it's about. Also, he attended a special program over the summer for engineering. He found it interesting.</p>
<p>Truth is, how does anybody know if they'll like something until they're actually doing it. My daughter was majoring in one area, and has found something she finds even more interesting.</p>
<p>Thanks for the encouragement and info. He has done very well in math and science courses, so I guess he'll be okay.</p>
<p>Since it would be good for the admissions officers to know he'll be taking the course over the summer, how could he let them know this? E-mail or phone call? Is this appropriate?</p>
<p>"What else would you like us to know"</p>
<p>jon314's suggestion may be valid. the "What else..." page is for ANYTHING that does NOT fit in well on the rest of the application.</p>
<p>if you call them and say, "my son's going to take physics over the summer," im not sure how they would respond. i doubt they'd be willing to write it down on a post it and stick it on the app folder lol</p>
<p>Thank you. I didn't know there was a special section where you could add information that was not covered in other areas. This is very helpful!</p>
<p>I agree...that section would be the best place for that info.
I totally agree with you, sonssecty...you never know if you'll like it until you try it!</p>