High School Courses for Biomedical Engineer?

<p>I am new to this site, so I am terribly sorry if I typed this discussion into the wrong section. I am a junior in high school, and I am planning to take 5 APs (for my senior year): AP Physics C, AP Chemistry, AP Lit, AP Gov/ AP Macroecon, and AP Spanish. This is a very rigorous schedule, and I have another class: Pre-calculus. I know this will negatively affect me because I want to major in engineering or pre-med and not having AP Calc will lower my chances of acceptances for good colleges. Yeah... it sucks. Well, I want to know what classes might be better for BME. I do not think I need AP Physics C for it, so I might switch it with AP Bio; however, I think AP Physics C (one of the most difficult science classes in my high school) will make me look better when I apply for Georgia Tech (I live in Georgia). Am I wrong? What classes will help me get accepted to a good engineering school like GT? Will having a strong schedule in my senior year affect my admissions? Sorry for all these questions :/ but thanks!!!</p>

<p>More importantly, how are you taking AP Physics C when you haven’t even have pre-calculus yet, let alone calculus? You are going to be so lost in that class. You absolutely do need physics for biomedical engineering (or any other kind of engineering), but I am not sure how you could go about taking that without any sort of familiarity with a derivative or even a limit.</p>

<p>Also, not having taken some of those classes won’t necessarily hurt you for admissions, per se, unless the admissions people have reason to believe that you reasonably could have taken those classes and opted not to do so. Engineering curricula include calculus and physics courses specifically because they do not require you to have taken those courses already.</p>

<p>I asked my future AP Physics C teacher about this. He said that it’s simple calculus, and he will teach the class how to do the calculus part first and then how to apply it in physics. Overall, he said if I am getting As in Physics B, which I am haha, I will be fine for AP Physics C. I could also study and learn some calculus (through friends) in the summer. However, I am still a bit intimidated. Any suggestions then?</p>

<p>by ap physics c, do you mean mechanics, e and m, or both? take it-as far as i know physics is required in all engineering disciplines. if you can ap out of both, it really helps to lessen the course load</p>

<p>You won’t AP out of either at most engineering school, and for good reason, but the experience is very valuable.</p>

<p>@boneh3ad
By the way, there is no precalculus except trigonometry required at all in calculus. The things you learn in precalculus about quadratics and other functions is covered again and much more in depth using calculus. </p>

<p>The point of precalculus is trigonometry and some of the more “advanced” algebra topics. If a student is already strong enough in algebra, then sure, the only point is trigonometry. If not, then the algebra is important, after all, more people struggle in calculus due to deficient algebra skills than the actual calculus topics. Some precalculus courses also start on limits, which are certainly imperative for calculus.</p>

<p>AP Physics C will definitely require knowledge of differentiation and integration, well beyond jus trig.</p>