Engineering major

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

I am junior and interested in engineering major- computer science/bioinformatics or biomedical engineering. Do I need to take AP chem and Physics C. I have completed honors chemistry/ Community college Chem 1 A and enrolled in physics 1. Thanks in advance for your comments

2

I took both in high school (now a Math/CS major), and I felt AP Physics C was a better class, but AP Chem was also good. You can’t go wrong either way.

3

AP chemistry duplicates the content of college general chemistry, and AP physics C duplicates the content of college calculus-based physics 1. There really is no point in taking the duplicating courses, although you may choose to take the AP tests after the college courses in case you may eventually attend a college that accepts AP scores better than transfer credit from your community college.

4

It will help you make a decision about whether engineering is really for you before committing to a college to study it.

5

Sorry, what I was trying to ask is whether colleges look for AP physics C and AP chem when considering candidates for engineering majors in competitive programs? Does the rigor of these courses influence the ad com decision greatly?. Thank you for the responses.

6

They can be a plus over regular high school chemistry and regular high school physics (which should be the minimum if you are aiming for an engineering major). But if you have already had college general chemistry and college calculus-based physics, then those would count as more advanced level chemistry and physics courses in place of the AP courses.

7

thank you.

8

Calculus and Physics or Chemistry tend to be important for admission to selective engineering programs.

In some cases this will be reflected in the standardized test requirements. Biology-based engineering programs (Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering) are relatively recent developments (in historical terms) so some schools have started to consider Biology courses for admission to these programs. Note that Biomedical Engineering is very interdisciplinary, so Physics, Chem and Bio can all be important.

http://admissions.tufts.edu/apply/first-year-students/sat-and-act-tests/

In cases where students do not have access to higher level coursework, but otherwise demonstrate high academic potential, engineering “bridge” programs have been developed to improve the probability of success. These programs typically include Calculus and Physics.

I would say that these two subjects tend to be the most important.

http://engineering.tufts.edu/best/about/