What courses do I HAVE TO take to become an engineer?

Maths and other Sciences such as Physics and Chemistry are important to engineering, and you may need to focus on Biology if you are interested in Biomedical engineering. However, Engineering is now a field that requires skills that will allow working in teams with different types of professionals and with persons from many different backgrounds to get a better sense of a problem and find more suitable solutions.

So, even having knowledge about history and social studies allow engineers to better understand the problem that they are trying to solve and offer solutions that will be more beneficial to and accepted by communities. Being able to speak more than one language enables engineers to be better communicators as we live in a more global space and can learn and share knowledge in different parts of the world.

So, if you want to be an engineer, I suggest that you focus on all the subjects in high school and aim to do your best in each of them. Having diverse skills will make you an exceptional engineer in the future.

While math and science classes are an important foundation for engineering, there are a lot of other classes that will help to make you a successful engineer. Clear, concise, persuasive writing can help you get your ideas across. Art classes can be very helpful to engineers to understand design and perspective and as another way to share your ideas. Business classes that teach you about return on investment can help you bring a broader understanding to the designs you are creating and recommending in your job. And finally, I recommend taking a personal finance class because no matter what happens, you are probably going to need those skills! Good luck!

My answer might come as a surprise, but art classes really helped me in becoming an engineer. Might not help with the courses you will take in college but greatly helped in real-world application. I equate my ability to easily visualize a two dimensional blueprint or assembly instructions to the real piece of equipment in front of me to my art classes. Learning about how to draw in 2D from a 3D object, or sculpt a 3D piece from a 2D drawing really helps hone your sense of dimensions and perspective.

I would recommend adding various computer science courses to your list of courses you need to take. Include ethics classes and writing classes as well as history. You want to be well-rounded and have a solid ethical foundation. Some schools teach ethics classes in engineering and computer science. English classes so that you are a good writer and get comfortable writing. A lot of what you do will be writing up your work whether in academia or in industry. This can really set you apart as an engineer. Make sure you take stuff that you enjoy or are just interested in.

First and foremost, congratulations on deciding to want to be an Engineer. Engineering is fun, hard, and rewarding! I wish you a long and prosperous career.

I know it’s hard for you to fathom now, but a career can be 30+ years. So, wouldn’t it be great if your interest matches up with your career?

There are many facets of Engineering, i.e. Electrical, Mechanical, Industrial, Civil, Chemical, Bio, etc. And within Engineering, there are various departments that do various work. So, it will be difficult to prepare for all types of Engineering. This is where high school classes come in to help narrow down the scope of interest.

As you enter High School, my word of encouragement would be to take various AP courses that will challenge your mind and provoke curiosity. Find classes that interest you the most and this will help you guide you to find appropriate Engineering discipline. This includes math. Different engineering disciplines utilize varying degrees of math. See which math interests you more.

With that, there are always basic classes that will be helpful for all professions. I would recommend classes that will optimize the following skills: Language proficiency (writing, reading), public speaking, finance, and people skills.

With that, I wanted to share my older daughter’s story:
With the same philosophy as above, I encouraged my daughter to take as many AP classes as possible during high school to find her joy and passion. She quickly gravitated to Chemistry and Biology. So, we encouraged her to continue her journey in college. She tried Bioengineering and Neuroscience in college and quickly got excited with neuroscience. She graduated with two bachelor’s degrees: Neuroscience and Economics. After working in the neuroscience field for a couple of years, she just started an MD/PHD program emphasizing on neuro-science.

When you get to college, you will likely attend an ABET accredited program. An ABET accredited program is important because it assures the program is meeting the needs of their students, preparing graduates to enter their engineering careers, and responsive to the needs of the professions and the world. The engineering program will provide the courses you will be required to take. I would go to the websites of a couple of universities you are interested in attending, and see what courses the programs (electrical, mechanical, chemical, etc.) require. You will see they will tend to have a lot of engineering, and some math, physics and science. Depending on which engineering program you are most interested in, you might see more chemistry, or more software courses. This could help direct you to other classes in high school that you might take.

I would also recommend taking things like electronics, woodworking, or other hands-on type classes. I think the insight you gain from these types of classes helps develop you into a terrific engineer. In addition, they are a lot of fun. Don’t forget to include the fun with the work!

Coding and/or fabrication/design – chances are you’ll touch a little on coding in some of your math/sciences classes, but coding practices are universal regardless of the language you are coding in, and these are skills you can apply in any field/industry. Coding is also one of those areas where there is always more to learn (languages, methods, etc.) and there is no substitute for practice and experience so even if you have done coding before taking a class or too in it in college won’t hurt. Plus, coding can be super fun. I have always enjoyed the problem-solving aspect of it and the rewarding feeling I get when I have done all the troubleshooting and it finally runs!

I am a chemical engineer, and the classes that helped me build a foundation for my junior and senior coursework in college were chemistry, physics, calculus, and linear algebra. I would also like to encourage students to take statistics, which is becoming increasingly more important in all engineering careers.

Physics!!! It was the gateway high school class for me that opened my eyes to how math and science were actually applied for engineering.

Your focus on Science and Maths is correct. It’s really good that you are aware of where you need to spend your energy. Further, please read articles/ blogs/news on Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Machine Learning, ChatGPT, Information Technology, Computers etc. This is for a computer science field. If you have some other focus of Engineering in mind, then please read articles/blogs/ news in accordance. It’s good to start early so you get a head start.

I took typing, programming and drafting in high school that I thought were very helpful. However, that was an eon ago. Perhaps all kids already know how to type properly already but if not touch typing is very helpful in report writing in all the classes. Drafting was useful because we had to draw in process engineering, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering but now probably need to know PowerPoint, instead. EXCEL will be very useful as well. So basically, information technology classes. I also wished that I was a better writer in college for report writing. Lastly, presentation skills are useful as well because you will have to communicate your ideas.