<p>Hello, I am planning on applying to Princeton to major in chemical engineering this fall (2013). Right now, my schedule for next year is as follows.</p>
<ol>
<li>AP English</li>
<li>AP Calc BC</li>
<li>AP Chem</li>
<li>AP Physics</li>
<li>Band/chorus</li>
</ol>
<p>The way my school works, AP Science classes take up two periods for the first half of the year, so I wouldn't be able to take Spanish. I guess my main question is whether I should take Spanish and fulfill the 4-year language recommendation or stick with the science classes that have more relevance to my major.</p>
<p>Any help with this would be appreciated, especially current engineering students at Princeton.</p>
<p>My son is a BSE student so perhaps I can help. Your schedule looks great for chemical engineering. Have you done any java programming? COS 126 is required for all engineering students and can be very time consuming, especially without a coding background. Then again some students just “take” to COS from what I understand but my son found it really difficult. </p>
<p>I am assuming you have a senior credit in Spanish which would have been completed prior to considering AP Spanish. If so, you have certainly fulfilled the recommendation outlined on the admissions page. A second language will only be necessary at Princeton if you decide to switch from BSE to AB, which surprisingly a large number of students do (and some vice versa). Some engineering students (my son included) do choose to continue with the second language. Placement in course levels is done by an online placement test for most languages and the result is fairly accurate although my son chose to place in a course one level higher than he tested for and did very well in the course. </p>
<p>If you do choose to continue with a second language, courses at or above the 107 level (I believe) can be used to satisfy a distribution requirement. This would be your only consideration if you are admitted and remain as a BSE student - can you place into a course level high enough to satisfy the requirement without AP Spanish? Otherwise you end up needing to complete a lower level course before you can enroll in a course at a high enough level. Does that make sense? </p>
<p>You will be grateful for the preparation you gain from the math and physics AP courses if you gain admission at Princeton. I’m not sure the AP English will help that much except to round out your application. It cannot be used to satisfy the writing seminar requirement that all first year Princeton students must take, but I’m sure it can’t hurt.</p>
<p>For BSE applicants, I believe that Princeton is usually willing to accept 3 years of a language as opposed to 4. (I only had 3 years of Spanish, too.) The AP math/science classes are definitely worth it. It looks fine. :)</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the reply.</p>
<p>My high school requires four years of English so I am doing AP just to take a challenging course; it’s a substitute for a normal English course rather than a supplement.</p>
<p>I don’t have senior credit in Spanish. I am a junior right now and I have the option of taking either Spanish 5 or AP Spanish, since I took Spanish 2 Freshman year, 3 sophomore year, and 4 this year. I wasn’t really considering class difficulty, but taking Spanish in general next year, since I only have three years of high-school Spanish so far.</p>
<p>I have not done any computer programming but my dad is an electrical/computer engineer…he could probably help with that.</p>