It’s never too early to start exploring your academic interests, especially if you are looking into often competitive fields like Mechanical engineering. Before applying to an engineering school, it’s helpful to gain some skills, pack a resume, and have a competitive transcript. Many engineering schools are competitive to get into and taking the right classes in high school can help your application stand out in a crowd. So what classes should you be adding to your course cart if you are a hopeful mechanical engineer? Let’s break it down.
AP Science Classes
You should try to take a couple of higher-level science classes, especially Physics and Chemistry. In general try to take your science classes at the AP, IB HL, or Honors level when possible. But Physics and Chemistry are essential. Not only will they look great on a transcript but they will also give you important skills that will help you in more advanced classes.
High-level Calculus
Try to take AP, IB HL, or BC Calc. High-level math, again in general, will help you, but taking a high-level calculus course is important. Colleges want to see that you have the math skills to back up wanting to go into engineering and high-level calc will help cement that.
Computer-Assisted Design and related courses
Not every high school offers computer-based electives, but if they do, they are a great addition to your transcript. These electives include classes like Computer-Assisted Design (CAD), Computer Applications, and really any computer science course. Some schools even offer design or engineering electives. These are no-brainers if your school offers them, but if they do not, don’t worry, there are other ways to explore your intended field.
Robotics
If your high school offers robotics courses, this is another elective that you should add to your course load. However, at many schools, this is not a course but an after-school activity. Think robotics team, hackathon, or science olympiad. Adding STEM-based after-school activities is also a great call before applying to engineering programs. Any activity especially that lets you build skills like Blueprint Reading, Drafting, and/or electronics are a great choice.
Engineering Summer Programs
Ok, this isn’t exactly a class, but it’s a way to take a class outside of your high school. Many colleges offer summer programs where you can take college/pre-college classes. These are great and help you explore your intended field more as well as explore college a bit. There are a lot of these programs, but you should be looking for engineering-specific ones.
Take an online course
We love summer programs, but they can be expensive and the dates are usually inflexible. However, online courses don’t come with these issues. We recommend them to all kinds of different students, because of how flexible they are. There are a ton of online courses, but the ones that we love for Mechanical Engineers include:
Georgia Tech’s
U Mich’s
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Starting early is important when you are dreaming of becoming a mechanical engineer. Taking the right classes and gaining some important skills will set you up to be the best candidate that you can be. Need more help planning for college? It’s what we do.
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