Should I drop Spanish 3 PreAP for Engineering 3?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

I am currently a Junior in High School, I was given the opportunity to join the 3rd year Engineering Course at my school without participating in either the 1st or 2nd course (There is a 4th year course but it requires knowledge from EA3). My family recommends me to take Engineering 3 but that is where the problem comes to hand. I am shooting for the AP Capstone Diploma which involves the courses, AP Sem. and AP Res. I have to pass 4 AP Exams to qualify for the diploma (this does not include Sem/Res), this is why I refuse to drop Psychology AP. I am currently in my second year of Spanish, if I pass the class with an A after exams I will be in contention to join the Spanish National Honor Society (which I will achieve). Taking this into consideration, should I drop Spanish 3 PreAP off next year’s schedule given the fact that I will be inducted into the Spanish National Honor Society?

I am suspecting being in this Honor Society will show my excellence in the course.

Here are my suspected classes for next year:

Finance Academy 4-Accounting 2
AP Research
Economics AP/Government AP (both 1 sem each)
Eng 12 Lit AP
Environmental Science AP
PreCal
Psychology AP
Spanish 3 PreAP

2

Spanish nhs doesn’t matter. What does matter is that most competitive colleges require 3 years of a foreign language and recommend 4, while most selective 4-year colleges want 3 years. If you can’t take Spanish over the summer, you’d be dropping a core course for an elective, and it’ll hurt you in college admissions.
AP capstone diploma is also meaningless for admission purpose.
So your real choice isn’t Spanish vs’ engineering, it’s AP psych and capstone diploma vs. engineering.

3

What does a high school level engineering course even entail? I can’t imagine it really being useful for a prospective engineering major, or that it would teach you anything of value that you won’t just end up learning in college engineering courses. A prospective engineering major should have a solid understanding of math, physics, and science–this usually means a good foundation in calculus, physics, and chemistry.

In addition, @MYOS1634 ‘s point about colleges’ minimum foreign language requirements is key. And, more than that, it’s always good to have some knowledge of a foreign language, particularly Spanish. A high school level engineering course will probably not teach you anything you won’t end up learning anyway, or it may teach you things that become irrelevant in 2 years, or it may not teach you anything at a level that’s actually useful. But having knowledge of a foreign language is always a plus. Stick with the Spanish.

4

Have you taken all three of physics, chemistry, and biology?

Looks like the list above contains the following “core” courses:

English 12 Literature AP
Precalculus
Spanish 3
Economics AP / Government AP (assuming that this is some sort of requirement)

And the following elective courses:

Finance Academy 4 - Accounting 2
AP Research
Environmental Science AP
Psychology AP
Engineering 3 (that you mention)

Seems like your best schedule consists of the four “core” courses, with additional choices from the electives based on your interest. If you want to take Engineering 3, drop one of the electives, not Spanish 3. If you have not taken physics, you should add it instead of an elective.

5

Question: what on Earth is AP Research?

6

AP research is described at https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/apcourse/ap-research .

7

Huh. I had no idea that was a thing.