HS math sequence for engineering

[Anonymous]

My DD is interested in becoming an engineer and I don’t know much about what are the best courses to take to prepare for college and be a strong applicant.

She’s currently a 10th grader and is in honors pre-calc, AP Physics and AP Computer Science. She’s got an A in pre-calc and Bs in the two AP classes. I assume she will take AP Calculus AB next year, but what should she look at for science and electives?

I find the counseling at the school to be pretty lacking, so looking to crowdsource better guidance.

[Anonymous]

I assume she will take AP Calculus AB next year, but what should she look at for science and electives?

If she wants to be an engineer, AP Calculus BC, vs. AP Calculus AB, is the preferable option.
Is she in AP CS Principles, or AP CS A?
Since she has not taken any calc yet, I assume she is in AP Physics 1. She should consider taking AP Physics-C once she has completed calculus.

[Anonymous]

My child was just admitted to several engineering schools with AP calc ab and AP stats, and two years of IB physics (our school has that rather than AP).

[Anonymous]

It's worth noting that one aspect is what she will need to be admitted to an engineering school and what will help her once she is admitted. Always take the hardest courses offered at your school. If they offer engineering-specific classes, take those in addition to their math sequence. Look at engineering schools she may want to apply to and review their course pathways for various engineering majors. Ultimately it's important to really know and understand the material - university engineering courses will be fast-paced - what was covered in one year of high school, will be covered in one semester in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I assume she will take AP Calculus AB next year, but what should she look at for science and electives?

If she wants to be an engineer, AP Calculus BC, vs. AP Calculus AB, is the preferable option.
Is she in AP CS Principles, or AP CS A?
Since she has not taken any calc yet, I assume she is in AP Physics 1. She should consider taking AP Physics-C once she has completed calculus.

Are you saying that she would skip Calc AB? Then what would she take in 12th grade?

She is in CS A and Physics 1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I assume she will take AP Calculus AB next year, but what should she look at for science and electives?

If she wants to be an engineer, AP Calculus BC, vs. AP Calculus AB, is the preferable option.
Is she in AP CS Principles, or AP CS A?
Since she has not taken any calc yet, I assume she is in AP Physics 1. She should consider taking AP Physics-C once she has completed calculus.

Are you saying that she would skip Calc AB? Then what would she take in 12th grade?

She is in CS A and Physics 1.

Statistics or it depends on what the school has to offer. Or something at MC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I assume she will take AP Calculus AB next year, but what should she look at for science and electives?

If she wants to be an engineer, AP Calculus BC, vs. AP Calculus AB, is the preferable option.
Is she in AP CS Principles, or AP CS A?
Since she has not taken any calc yet, I assume she is in AP Physics 1. She should consider taking AP Physics-C once she has completed calculus.

Are you saying that she would skip Calc AB? Then what would she take in 12th grade?

She is in CS A and Physics 1.

Most kids do not take both. Calc AB is the slower route. Calc BC is the stronger choice. AP Chemistry would be a good choice for next year. My Engineering DS took Calc AB in HS and then retook Calc 1 in college. It worked out very well for him. He had a strong math basis that served him well..sounds like you DD maybe a stronger student however.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I assume she will take AP Calculus AB next year, but what should she look at for science and electives?

If she wants to be an engineer, AP Calculus BC, vs. AP Calculus AB, is the preferable option.
Is she in AP CS Principles, or AP CS A?
Since she has not taken any calc yet, I assume she is in AP Physics 1. She should consider taking AP Physics-C once she has completed calculus.

Are you saying that she would skip Calc AB? Then what would she take in 12th grade?

She is in CS A and Physics 1.

Most kids do not take both. Calc AB is the slower route. Calc BC is the stronger choice. AP Chemistry would be a good choice for next year. My Engineering DS took Calc AB in HS and then retook Calc 1 in college. It worked out very well for him. He had a strong math basis that served him well..sounds like you DD maybe a stronger student however.

That is not actually true. It was back in my day, but there is a push now to do both. My kid was told to do AB then BC. I pushed for her to go into BC because the teacher was much better. It was the right call for her. But, either version can be fine, and it really depends on what's available at your school, and how they approach it. My kid's school gave her a hard time for taking 4 APs as well as trying to discourage going straight to BC. So, most kids take fewer APs and do both AB and BC. And, this is an engineering program. All this to say that there's no one "right" way. Talk to the counselor and see what the school says.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I assume she will take AP Calculus AB next year, but what should she look at for science and electives?

If she wants to be an engineer, AP Calculus BC, vs. AP Calculus AB, is the preferable option.
Is she in AP CS Principles, or AP CS A?
Since she has not taken any calc yet, I assume she is in AP Physics 1. She should consider taking AP Physics-C once she has completed calculus.

Are you saying that she would skip Calc AB? Then what would she take in 12th grade?

She is in CS A and Physics 1.

Most kids do not take both. Calc AB is the slower route. Calc BC is the stronger choice. AP Chemistry would be a good choice for next year. My Engineering DS took Calc AB in HS and then retook Calc 1 in college. It worked out very well for him. He had a strong math basis that served him well..sounds like you DD maybe a stronger student however.

That is not actually true. It was back in my day, but there is a push now to do both. My kid was told to do AB then BC. I pushed for her to go into BC because the teacher was much better. It was the right call for her. But, either version can be fine, and it really depends on what's available at your school, and how they approach it. My kid's school gave her a hard time for taking 4 APs as well as trying to discourage going straight to BC. So, most kids take fewer APs and do both AB and BC. And, this is an engineering program. All this to say that there's no one "right" way. Talk to the counselor and see what the school says.

Same poster. I do agree about AP Chem, though.

[Anonymous]

https://blog.collegeboard.org/difference-between-ap-calculus-ab-and-bc

The clue is in the names AB and BC. If you comfortably did a strong precalc class that got into limits and simple derivatives, and were comfortable with math team type activity, BC is approachable. If precalc wasn't a breeze, and you got a lot of value from each year of math reviewing the previous year, AB then BC is more comfortable.

[Anonymous]

Preferably Calculus BC junior year followed by Multivariable senior year. AP Chem would be good too.

Of course it depends on what the high school offers, but generally, colleges will want to see the highest rigor math and science classes. And if the high school offers any engineering classes, take a couple of those too.

But balance the APs. It's fine to take honors chemistry instead. Or to max out with Calculus BC senior year. A kid's sanity and stress levels are very important. And you want to make sure there's time for ECs, test prep, and friends and all that.

[Anonymous]

Calc AB or BC
Physic C
AP Chem

If she’s in AP CS A don’t see the need for AP CS Princ. Take an Engineering course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is interested in becoming an engineer and I don’t know much about what are the best courses to take to prepare for college and be a strong applicant.

She’s currently a 10th grader and is in honors pre-calc, AP Physics and AP Computer Science. She’s got an A in pre-calc and Bs in the two AP classes. I assume she will take AP Calculus AB next year, but what should she look at for science and electives?

I find the counseling at the school to be pretty lacking, so looking to crowdsource better guidance.

If your kid is getting B's in the AP classes, they are most likely too hard for her. A B today is equivalent to a C when we were in school. She's not picking up the material and/or the class is too fast for her. It's better to have a strong foundation in a subject.

[Anonymous]

Yes, if aiming for engineering and getting an A in pre-calc, she should skip AB and go to BC. In our school last year, the teacher said about 50% of the kids in honors pre-calc went straight to BC and the other half went to AB.

The next year will depend on your school's offerings. Our school offers multivariate (because a lot of kids finish BC in junior year). For less STEMy kids (this was my kid), you can do AP Stats senior year instead of MV, but an engineering kid would want to continue to MV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Calc AB or BC
Physic C
AP Chem

If she’s in AP CS A don’t see the need for AP CS Princ. Take an Engineering course.

AP CS Principles is not a great course. The county has a good alternative that is something like CS Programming which is honors level. It also satisfies the prereqs for AP CS A.