Currently I’m a female high school sophomore interested in majoring in engineering in college, most likely Mechanical or Aerospace. Note that all gym classes are required & my school offers no science or math APs besides Calc AB. Please give advice for my schedule based on my future intentions, keeping in mind that I’m shooting for Top 50 schools.
Freshman Year:
English 9 - 1 credit
World History 9 - 1 credit
Biology - 1 credit
Media Productions 1 - 1 credit
P.E. - .5 credit
Small Animal Science - .5 credit
Geometry - 1 credit
Spanish 1 - 1 credit
Agri Science - 1 credit
The summer after freshman year I took Algebra 2 online to accelerate even further in math (I was already on the most advanced track).
AP Literature & Comp. (w) - 1 credit
AP Calculus AB (w) - 1 credit
Chemistry 2 (w) - 1 credit
Physics 1 (w) - 1 credit
American History 11 - 1 credit
Spanish 3 (w) - 1 credit
Engineering Design 2 (DC) - 1 credit
Co-Op Program (basically work release) - 1 credit
Senior Year:
AP Language & Comp. (w) - 1 credit
Physics 2 (w) - 1 credit
Advanced Writing (w) - .5 credit
AP American History 12 (w) - 1 credit
Spanish 4 (w) - 1 credit
Advanced Biology (w) - .5 credit
Anatomy/Physiology (DC) (w) - 1 credit
Thermal Cutting (DC) - .5 credit
Advanced Weight Training - .5 credit
Co-Op Program - 1 credit
**possibly taking dual enrollment Statistics/Differential Equations
I have a full-time summer job in an ag-related field (I live in a rural area) and will be taking co-op junior/senior years to go to an internship in the engineering department at a local company that designs and machines parts for naval ships.
Webb Institute is a no tuition college (still need to pay for room and board) that offers an abet accredited degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. http://www.webb.edu/ which you might consider if you fall in love with the work you do at your internship.
Does your state offer dual enrollment? Some states have programs that allow students to enroll in college classes while still in high school. That might give you more options. Ohio calls its program College Credit Plus.
@BuckeyeMWDSG Thank you for letting me know about that program! My state has a similar program called Course Options that is basically what DC is for us.
You can check the recommended coursework of the colleges you are interested in to get a feel for what they will be looking for since the answer to your question may vary by school.
@BuckeyeMWDSG Lol, I don’t have any desire to go to Notre Dame anymore (too expensive & after visiting, I didn’t like it). I wish they’d let you change your username or at least delete your account to start over. Anyway, thank you for the advice about checking the recommended coursework for specific schools. I just started a spreadsheet to organize that
One option is to see if you could take Calc 2 Dual Enrollment. I would not take Diff Eq next…usually you take Calc 2, Multivariable Calc and then Diff Eq.
Not sure why you accelerated only to not take any math senior year. You must take math if you want to be an engineering major.
Also consider taking Physics or CHem senior year as dual enrollment.
@bopper@ucbalumnus The reason I said diff. equations is because that was the math course I saw that was offered at the closest CC to me, which is 45 minutes away and still very small. I’ll take your advice and take dual enrollment Calc 2 online. They don’t offer any math past Calc AB or any math electives at my school.
After Calc AB, make sure to take Calculus 2 (you’d need it, then Calculus 3 or Multivariable, before Diff.Eqs).
You don’t need to take both AP English Lang and AP English Lit, you could take one of these two and take English Honors.
Make sure you have 4 credits in History/Social Science, foreign language, and English. Then, focus on your math/science choices.
You don’t need to take Anatomy&Physiology. Since you can dual enroll, see if the local community college offers classes in Astronomy and anything related to technology. Programming can be a good class to have, too.
Yes, calculus 2 is typically the prerequisite for multivariable calculus (calculus 3) or differential equations.
Multivariable calculus may be a better choice than differential equations if you have a choice, but it is understandable if you do not really have the option due to limited offerings at your nearby community college. Some colleges combine differential equations and linear algebra, so taking only one of these may result in transfer credit not being useful, due to the need to retake the entire linear algebra + differential equations course to get the “missing” part.
@MYOS1634 The only English honors offered is English 10, so if I dropped an English AP I would have to take regular (is that what you meant?). I was also thinking of taking programming so I’ll look into that instead of anat/physiology. Thanks!
@ucbalumnus I guess I’ll take what I can get, between multi variable and calc 2. Thank you also
If the college offers diff eqs, it will offer calc2 since calc 2+3 are pre-requisites for diff eqs.
You could take dual enrollment English both years then, or AP English language as a junior and dual enrollment English as a senior.
