Im a senior in HS rn. A lot of my classes and extra curriculurs point towards engineering. (Eg. general engineering and tech classes, engineering research at a nearby university, FRC robotics) but I’m not taking AP Physics C because I did really poorly in AP Physics 1 freshman year (ended with a 77). Everyone I’ve talked to that are in the schools I’m interested in (UIUC, U Mich, UMD, Purdue, Georgia Tech) took AP Physics C. I was too afraid of risking dropping my GPA, which is currently a 90 weighted, 89 unweighted. My SAT is a 1500. I want to use senior year to increase my gpa one last time. Am I affecting my acceptance chances significantly by not taking AP Physics C? If anyone is in one of the schools I mentioned or is in a similarly competitive school for engineering, please lmk if you were in this situation as well, thanks
These schools expect you to take the most rigorous classes in Senior year. Saying that as long as your schedule has rigor that should be fine but if out of state your grades scores could be too low for all except Purdue. Saying this… Physics is very hard at all schools mentioned and the first 2 physics are serious weed out classes. Try to figure out why you didn’t do so well. It is much harder in college. Also what math class are you in now and what is the highest math offered at your school? As an example, my son in Michigan engineering had physics c and multivariate calculus in his senior year. Some might just have Calc 1 and that’s fine also
I’m in AP Calculus AB for senior year, but the highest math offered is multivariate.
For engineering, most of the schools on your list are reaches with your GPA. And, all will want to see the most rigorous courses on your transcript. You will have better chances if one of these schools is your state flagship. Add safeties and true matches.