Alright, so here goes. I’m going into my senior year and I’m currently enrolled in AP bio and AP physics; however, physics is notorious at my school for having a horrible teacher who genuinely does not know physics and I have heard nothing but awful things about the class. I’ve been told it’s not necessarily that hard to get an A because everyone does so horribly on tests that there’s usually a pretty generous curve, but no one does well on the AP test and going through the class itself is awful because it’s essentially self taught. On the other hand, AP bio at my school is great and I really want to take it but I’m not sure if I’m willing to double up on science with physics if I don’t really need to. I just don’t know if I want to suffer through it my senior year when I could take painting instead and just have a relaxing class I can enjoy myself in since the rest of my schedule is already rigorous. The thing is though, I’m leaning towards going into chemical engineering and I know physics is really recommended for engineering. I’m already in 6 AP classes this year and have taken honors bio, honors chem, and AP chem. I’m looking at schools like the university of Minnesota, Wisconsin-Madison, Michigan, and Illinois Urbana champagne. Would not taking it really hurt me that much?
Did you already take regular physics?
No
Physics will help you for engineering.
Don’t you need physics for graduation?
Not at my school
You need 4 years of lab sciences , including physics to get admitted to UIUC, Michigan engineering colleges, with certainty. If you are girl, have top math SAT scores, you may get away with not taking physics, and still get in.
BUT you need the physics background to start at the very beginning with college level physics if you expect to pass the college class, so for sure take it in high school! It does not matter if you do not get a 5 on the AP exam, what matters is, trying the physics problems and getting exposed to the ideas, so you can pass the class in college.
Also its a good challenge if you have a bad teacher , to try to teach yourself physics. Use Khan Academy,
and the AP Physics review books. Buy the AP book now and start to read it.
Physics is challenging for anyone, but if you get into a top Engineering program at the schools you list, every other chemical engineering student will have taken physics in high school. So you will be behind on day 1.
You can catch up in college, but I suggest using your 12th grade year to prepare for college.
Agreed. 
My sons at Michigan engineering. Had both regular and AP physics and still found physics 1/2 hard at Michigan.
Do you need the AP Bio? If you had to drop one class that’s the one I would drop
Physics is one of the hardest courses for engineering and some schools use it as a weed out course. I can’t imagine not having an intro in high school. Even with a tough teacher, it will at least get your exposed to the material so it wont be brand new in college.
Physics in college will be harder if you have not had at least high school physics (not necessarily AP).
Also, Wisconsin weeds out chemical engineering majors using a 3.5 technical and 3.0 overall college GPA. You do not want to put yourself at a big disadvantage in the physics courses in college that will be included in the technical GPA. The other schools have lower threshold college GPAs to enter or stay in the chemical engineering major (Minnesota 3.2, UIUC 2.5, Michigan 2.0).
Definitely take Physics over AP Bio as an engineering student. You will have to take Physics in college (3 semesters) andn you don’t want it to be the first time you took it. Take Honors Physics at least. If you are not able to do that, you are not able to do engineering because physics is applied math and that is what engineering mostly is.
If you had asked me freshman year, I would have said to take Bio, Chem, Physics and then an AP science. You just got junior/senior year mixed up 
Thats a very good point about college GPA requirements to work your way into your chem E major.
Chemical engineers take classes like thermodynamics, and fluid flow as well as chemistry. So high school physics will help you to decide if chemical engineering is really your preferred major or chemistry might be better for you.
If you have to drop a science, I also would drop AP biology, but to get into your choices you need all the sciences, so stick with bio and physics in 12th grade.
Also some students in chemical engineering are on the biochem side of things, so it may depend on your interests later, whether biology/ genetics/biochem is important to your career. For pharmaceutical research, you need biochemistry knowledge as well as physics, so keeping all the balls in the air in high school, is a good idea for you.
A college major in chemical engineering will not be leisurely. Its going to take all you have got to pass that major,
its a very difficult major, because it bridges the hardest chemistry subjects like organic chem, with the hardest engineering subjects like fluid dynamics. Its very mathematical AND all the memorization that Organic chemistry requires.
High school AP Bio and AP physics together are like a CAKE WALK, compared to what your college years will entail at the top programs you are considering. Remember that while AP classes approximate the college class, there is a lot more spoon feeding in high school. Take advantage of that!
U of Minnesota is ranked 7th in chemical engineering and U Wisconsin is ranked 5th, so about the same as MIT for difficulty. Michigan and UIUC is not much behind these top TEN chem E programs. (both tied for 11th place !)
There is NO spoon feeding at any of your college choices, its going to be sink or swim!
You are basically getting the best chemical engineering education you can get at any of your choices. Good luck.
It will lead to a great job!
Is there an Honors physics you could take? 6 AP classes in senior year is a very heavy load.
This…
You definitely should have some physics in high school before heading off to study engineering in college. However, it isn’t necessary that this be AP physics. And, given that you haven’t had any physics yet, jumping straight into the AP class doesn’t make sense. Take general physics or an honors version if that is available.
About the bad AP teacher: in college you will encounter bad professors too. While they will almost always know the subject, they may be more interested in teaching other classes or just hate teaching. You will be expected to learn the material anyway. You do this by forming study groups, looking at syllabi from good teachers, utilizing online resources, etc. These are things you can do in high school. Besides learning the material, you will have given yourself a solid boost in important college skills.
So what are the senior year 4 AP (besides AP bio and APphysics) that you think are more important than physics for an engineering wannabe? Are any expendable?
You won’t be reporting an AP physics score but do need the familiarity.
Drop AP bio…replace it with Painting.
Take either AP physics 1 or honors physics. Or, if you can take PSEO, PSEO physics 1+2 (regular, not physics for engineers - you’ll need some exposure to physics concepts before you take physics for engineers.)
Physics + painting = you get to take a necessary pre-requisite class and a fun class :-).
Btw please do the take more than 4 APs senior year. You want enough time.ro devote to your applications.