Hi, just passing the time during this quarantine by asking some questions I’ve had about college admissions.
I’m currently a junior in high school, and I’m looking to apply to some top engineering schools at some select colleges. I chose my senior year classes last month, and I’ve been having second thoughts ever since. I decided on taking Honors World Literature, AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP Comp Sci, AP Stats, and Multivariable Calculus. I realized after my meeting that my course load is extremely specialized in the STEM field. I love math and science, and these classes would interest me the most, but I’m scared that I won’t look well-rounded to colleges. Will this worsen my chances of getting admitted even though I want to go into engineering? Thanks
As long as you’re meeting your schools requirements to graduate and the requirements for the schools that interest you, then take what you want. Most colleges will want a certain number of years of math, science, language, english, ect. They are all fairly similar but take a look at a few to be sure. How much foreign language do you have?
Have you discussed this schedule with your guidance counselor?
I would look up the HS course requirements of any college you are interested in. You can do this by googling the common data set of each college and checking section C. Typically top tier colleges are looking for students to have a well rounded HS education (4 years of English, Math, Science, SS, Foreign Language). It is not advisable to skip recommended/required classes because you prefer to double down on subjects you prefer.
I’ve been worried about language, but I was hoping that because I’m doing engineering, language won’t be a big deal. I have 3 consecutive years of a language and 2 years in the language’s honor society.
My counselor said it was fine to do this type of schedule as long as I’m sure that I’m taking classes that I enjoy. Just worried that doing what I love isn’t enough.
I agree that it depends on what schools your aiming for. Most schools are forthcoming about what they want to see on a HS transcript so it’s easy to look up.
This kind of schedule wouldn’t have flown at my D’s HS as all students needed 4 years of history and english.
As an aside, my D was very happy to have taken a number of APs/DE in history, english, and FL because they all counted towards her distribution requirements in college and freed up her schedule to take what she really wanted. (She’s finishing up her second year of chem e at Purdue).
It would help others answer your question if you also describe your past courses in:
English
history and social studies
foreign language
art and music
math
science
The answer may be different if you already have (for example) four years of history and social studies, level 4 or AP in foreign language, and some art or music, versus (for example) two years of history and social studies, level 2 of foreign language, and no art or music.
Sorry for not elaborating. Here’s my transcript so far:
English: Honors Survey of Lit., Honors American Lit., AP English Lang and Comp
SS: AP Human Geography (4), AP US History (5), AP US Gov and Pol (haven’t taken)
Language: Honors Spanish 1, 2, and 3 (Spanish Honor Society for 2 years)
Art: Band and Honors Advanced Band (Multiple Superiors at competitions)
Math: Honors Geometry, Honors Trig/Alg 2, Honors Precalc, AP Calculus AB
Science: Honors Physics, Honors Chemistry, AP Biology
Some of the most selective colleges may prefer to see a fourth year of history or social studies, and level 4 of foreign language. Also, if AP English literature is offered to you, it may look odd that you are not taking it since you took AP English language.
Also, ask your counselor whether s/he will mark your schedule as “most demanding” and your overall academic strength and other characteristics as “one of the top few (top 1%)” on the school report that s/he completes for many of the most selective colleges. If not, ask what changes may improve how s/he rates you on these questions.
You should be good as long as you look for the minimum requirements for the schools that you are looking at. For example, I’m studying pre-veterinary medicine and biochemistry at Purdue University and my Junior and Senior year classes were also heavily stacked with science courses. I think you will find that at other top tier engineering schools, most students stick towards the courses that interest them which tend to be STEM classes
