Does it hurt to not take physics and apply for engineering?

<p>I am currently a senior at high school, and I am planning to apply for bio(medical) engineering. I only took one physics course (a real basic course.. in my freshman year..lol), but took two sciences for 4 years - biology and chemistry. Does this affect my chance of getting accepted to an engineering school? I know that physics is the most important, but I thought that you learn everything from the start anyway in your first year in college.</p>

<p>Well, it won't help.</p>

<p>Depending on the caliber of school you are looking at, some require physics. AdComs will wonder why you didn't take physics. And you don't want AdComs wondering about the level of your motivation. Especially with physics, which is essential to understanding most of the higher levels of science.</p>

<p>Well, since you're applying for bio stuff, it's not <em>as</em> bad. Physics is pretty basic, but if you've had at least one course in it, that's ok, especially if you're planning to take more physics in the future. I mean, I haven't taken biology since 6th grade life science and I turned out okay... Just stress that you've been concentrating on the sciences that you think will further your understanding of what you'll be studying in college.</p>

<p>It does hurt to not take <em>any</em> physics and apply to engineering, but your motivation for pursuing science seems good, and you have taken at least one physics course, albeit a basic one.</p>

<p>In my situation, there is only one physics teacher in the school and he is not so good compared to the AP Biology and AP Chemistry teacher. Right now I’m a jr. in AP Biology. So should I take physics my senior year or AP chem.?</p>

<p>I dont see a problem as long as the other courses you took were top courses and you have shown proficiency through AP or other type of tests on them. Physics, if you understand it, is not too difficult to be taught. It's more of a mindset than anything else. BUT you may find yourself far behind others (with a year or even 2 under their belts) when you start your classes. I'd highly recommend taking a course over the summer in mechanics (at least!). So you'd be fine in applying, as long as your orginal physics grades were fine (you want to be sure it didn't look like a cop out but generally were interested in other things that actually pertain to your major) and other things were in order. But seriously take some more advanced class (local college or community college) before you head to your university of choice or you may be in over your head, not because you don't get it, but everyone else will have a much better basic understanding of it.</p>

<p>This may be off-topic but, if I never took a Biology class during high school will that lower my chances of getting into a good engineering school?</p>

<p>(Jorgy: read my post. No bio since 6th grade and I graduated from Rice.)</p>

<p>well actually.. i was kind of a slacker in 9th grade.. so my physics grade isnt that good (a B-..) But i was also out of school because of the SARS outbreak (i am an international student studying in China) when I was taking the physics course.. so i had to learn everything by myself. However.... I forgot to explain that to the college.. I already applied!
Is this really a serious factor..?</p>

<p>No, it isn't if you're other grades are fine. Especially freshman year. Don't worry.</p>

<p>It's not a killer factor..but it is something. IlliniJ is right. Since youve already sent in your app you can't do anything about it now, but you may wanna see if you can take a physics course elsewhere or somehow refresh your memory from frosh year. I'm a senior in my second year of physics, and I know it so I'm confident I'll be fine in college, but people who don't know what they are doing are a step behind. They don't say that 2/3 of engineering kids drop out for no reason. Most people think physics is hard. So try to get some physics backround..but if you can't...don't stress.</p>

<p>you don't really need physics for biomed. engineering or chemical engineering (or even materials science). You <em>do</em> need it for civil, mech, EE.</p>

<p>Believe me if you are going to a university that is good in engineering and you haven't gotten a good physics background you will feel behind even if you get everything right away (which chances are good you won't) because so many others have already understood it and been understanding it for a long time. At U of I every engineer (except CS) takes the same physics sequence. Mech & Civil will have TAM (mechanics), ECE will have extra ECE courses (Electricity and magnetism). But to say that those others don't really need physics?? Not true at all. I know several people who had to drop out of chemE because they failed physics. They are smart people and did well in physics in high school too. It's often hard and since so many get it, the insanely high curves of engineering & chem courses aren't there to back you up. Physics is the least curved class I've seen. So do what you get to get a background in physics before you go. I can't stress this enough. It will really really help. I know because I did just that. But being a chemE wingardium, I can't believe you would say that because it definitely is important to get through and you will often need the ideas later for math and engineering courses.</p>

<p>Have a quick question: How much physics does a math major needs?</p>

<p>Not much but once you get into upper level math it can get to be physical. Like in Calc 3 it will deal with vectors and it would be easier to understand that the position vector is the integration of the velocity vector which is the integration of the acceleration vector better if you had some basic physics in you. Like the easy ones, not engineering level. Although it may help, it's not required. Also employers might like that you have some real world applicable stuff like physics than math theory behind you.</p>

<p>
[quote]
you don't really need physics for biomed. engineering or chemical engineering (or even materials science). You <em>do</em> need it for civil, mech, EE.

[/quote]

I believe every ABET-accredited engineering curriculum must require at least two semesters of calculus-based physics, including mechanics and electricity/magnetism. Most also require a semester of modern physics as well.</p>

<p>im_blue, you are almost correct. Most programs require two semesters of Physics, but this is not necessarily an ABET requirement. It depends on the major. For some majors like Mechanical Engineering ABET specifically says there needs to be calculus based Physics (though it does not say two semesters), but for many other majors they don't specifically spell it out.</p>

<p>You can read the ABET requirements here:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.abet.org/Linked%20Documents-UPDATE/Criteria%20and%20PP/05-06-EAC%20Criteria.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.abet.org/Linked%20Documents-UPDATE/Criteria%20and%20PP/05-06-EAC%20Criteria.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>