<p>Please help with my son's schedule. We thought we had it all ironed out but the school has announced a scheduling change that will affect my son and I'm afraid the resulting load will leave his selection weak. </p>
<p>He is a B student, all honors, interested in studying music or engineering. The problem is the school offers a 2 year engineering sequence that he would like to take (one year fulfills a requirement) and IB music requires 2 periods a day. </p>
<p>This is what his schedule looks like this year (soph):
* Eng 10H
* Math 11 H
* Spanish 5H (not AP)
* Govt H
* Chemistry H
* Advanced Music
* PE/Health (required) </p>
<p>This is what we're looking at for junior and then senior year:
* Eng 11H ----> Eng 12H or AP Lit
* Math 12 H (H Precalc) ----> AP Calculus
* no foreign language ----> no foreign language
* IB Physics, SL ----> IB Physics, HL
* IB Music (2 periods) ----> IB Music (2 periods)
* Engineerning I ---> Engineering II
* H Social Studies ---> pe/ elective (or we could switch, taking the social studies senior year and the pe/ elective junior year) </p>
<p>That would mean he will graduate with only 3 years of social studies and only 2 years of high school foreign language. Social studies is a strength for him but he struggles with foreign language. He does have middle school credit for foreign language and will have completed through level 5H. </p>
<p>Questions:
+ Would you replace the 2nd year of engineering or replace music to take social studies or foreign language-- even if engineering and music are his areas of interest?<br>
+ Do you think it matters if the social studies is taken junior versus senior year? Most kids take it junior year but it may look like he's opting for an easy schedule senior year.
+ For his elective, he could take social studies but it would be non-honors. I guess he could take IB Spanish as his elective but he would only be able to take half a year. Do you think either of these options is advisable?</p>
<p>I would leave the schedule as is, with music and engineering.
Level 5 of FL should be enough. He might be required to take FL at college though.
If his Spanish is pretty good, he might want to take SAT II. But he should look at the test first to determine if it’s worth it.</p>
<p>Look at the type of schools he will be applying to. If it seems like they require more then 3 yrs of SS (unlikely!), he could take an on-line SS class - there are plenty available at low cost that will require minimal effort.</p>
<p>None of the engineers or engineering students I know took engineering in HS. (Not offered around here. CTY has an intro to engineering summer program but it was an add-on, not a substitute for a core academic offering in HS.)</p>
<p>It’s worthwhile for him to explore it in HS if he’s trying to decide if he wants to major in or apply to engineering programs. It’s absolutely not a requirement, particularly if it takes away from the rest of his prep for college.</p>
<p>Check out the kinds of schools he’s interested in exploring. Then do what they suggest. Engineering schools are not shy about posting their recommended HS prep on the admissions websites.</p>
<p>I agree that engineering is in no way required at HS. But lots of kids who think they want to major in engineering have no idea what they are getting into. And if they choose a tech-type school for college, and find out that engineering is not their cup of tea, they have very little recourse.</p>
<p>I think it makes most sense to pursue his interests in HS, making sure he fulfills the minimum admissions requirements at his target schools at the same time.</p>
<p>I agree that it might be a good idea to take an SAT Spanish subject test this year, or at least a practice one to see how he does. It might relieve him of a college requirement. Many engineering curriculum don’t have a language requirement however.</p>
<p>The physics class junior year will prepare him for the SAT Physics subject test next year? Some engineering schools require the Physics or Chem Subject test.</p>
<p>Our school district requires American history junior year and US government/economics senior year, if that is not a requirement for him, it looks like he is good to go.</p>
<p>I’m boggling at how a kid who is “not good at foreign languages” managed to be in a fifth year level course as a sophomore. If it’s truly the course right before the AP I think he’s probably okay. I really think colleges are looking for a certain level of proficiency not x years in high school. That said, if there’s any doubt just make sure he or the GC mention it somewhere on the application. I think most schools, especially engineering schools, won’t mind only three years of social studies. The idea of taking the Spanish SAT is a good one - getting a 600 would get him out of the language requirement at many schools (including Harvard.)</p>
<p>Speaking as an engineer myself, I don’t really see the point of taking two years of engineering in HS. It certainly isn’t required for admission to engineering school - HS math and science are (Calculus & Physics). Most engineering classes have pre-requisites of Calculus & Physics, so I’m not sure how much could be covered in HS before those classes are taken.</p>
<p>So my advice would be to only take one year of engineering, and take IB Spanish or a social studies class instead.</p>