Hello, I am a female and a junior in high school. I’m worried about not getting into a good engineer school because I’m not able to take AP physics and my first physics class will not be until my senior year. This is because I don’t have enough room in my schedule. As of right now I’m taking honors chemistry and AP bio, and next year I’ll be taking honors physics and AP chemistry. I’m worried that colleges will look at me not taking AP physics before college as a weakness. If I do end up pursuing an engineer major, would it be more beneficial to me applying undecided to colleges (and later switching schools) or applying to the engineer school?
*Undecided you are probably more likely to get accepted. That being said if you know for sure you want to be an engineer then you should apply as such. There is no guarantee that you can get into the engineering school later on. Finally, even if you apply as an engineer, many schools will still accept you as undecided even if you don’t make it into the engineering college. So, all in all, you should apply to engineering.
*This is based on a few schools I applied to. It really does depend on the school, though. Some schools it doesn’t matter what major you want during the admissions process. It really varies from school to school.
Many pre-engineering students only take Physics their senior year. It won’t hurt you. If you show aptitude in your math/sci on your transcript and your ACT/SAT, you’ll be fine otherwise. Your scenario isn’t a barrier. It’ll be on your transcript that you’ll send in the fall so the colleges will know you’re serious about it. Apply for the engineering schools. Additionally, some schools have barriers to switch into the Engineering college. You need to check how your target schools are set up. Some have no barriers.
Best of luck!
If it makes a difference for admission selectivity, it is likely to be difficult to switch into the engineering division after enrolling.
Generally, it is best to apply to the engineering division, or the specific major of interest if the school does it that way.
If you want to study engineering, apply to the engineering school. It does no good to get into a college when you cannot study what you want. Internal transfers can be extremely difficult, especially if you want to transfer into a more competitive school at the university – colleges are wise to the game of students applying to a less competitive program and then trying to transfer and they generally actively discourage that practice.
Assuming you have excellent grades in Math and Science and whatever math and science standardized tests you took, its not even a close call. Absolutely apply engineering. You are a female in STEM. That is much better than being another undecided humanities female. There are too many liberal arts females, especially from and in the Northeast. There are fewer in STEM.
OP needs to look into what it takes to declare engineering at the targets. There isn’t always a one-size answer.
She wrote elsewhere: “Some of the colleges I’m considering include University of Michigan, Michigan State, University of Illinois-Urbana, Northwestern, Hope, University of Washington, and Michigan Tech.”