Ellie asked Ashley Bushey, Greenheck Group AddedThursday, January 22, 2015 at 6:14 PM I find artificial intelligence really interesting, what classes should I take to prepare me for this major? Hi- I'm I'm sophomore in high school currently. I find artificial intelligence extremely interesting and think it would be an absolutely incredible career for numerous reasons- interesting, rewarding, beneficial to a lot of people, etc. I'm having a lot of trouble choosing the correct classes however. I want to take as many science and math classes as possible pretty much. As a mechanical engineer which classes do you think would be MOST helpful to take in high school? I have options such as AP physics (1 or C: Mechanics and E and M), AP environmental, AP chemistry, AP bio, and AP computer science principles in science; and AP statistics in math. Thank you so much! Related to Preparation for College, Special fields and Interdisciplinary Reset Sort By Default Ashley Bushey , Greenheck Group Answered Thursday, January 22, 2015 at 6:14 PM Hi Ellie, When I was in high school I was able to take some project based general engineering courses that helped teach me to think and problem solve like and engineer. The program was called project lead the way. If you have something similar to that available at your school, I would strongly recommend it. I would also suggest taking a programming language or computer science course as you mentioned, as many engineering majors take some form of computer science course. This will help give you a strong base before taking a course in college. As a mechanical engineering undergrad my curriculum included java programming. I would also suggest taking as much math, physics, and chemistry as you can while in high school. This way you have the option of testing out of many general courses required by your college curriculum. If you end up not testing out you will still be ready to succeed come freshman year as many mechanical engineering degrees require math through differential equations and linear algebra, intro to physics, and intro to chemistry. (Heads up though, my high school chemistry was nothing like college chemistry. College chemistry is very theoretical.) Finally, I'm not sure what you mean by "1 or C: Mechanics and E and M", however a mechanics course definitely sounds worth your time, especially if it has a lab component to the class. One more word of advice. The most important thing is that you take classes that interest you. This makes the classes fun and you end up learning substantially more. In high school, I really enjoyed German class so I continued to fit that into my schedule even though it wasn't engineering related. Sincerely, Ashley Ashley Bushey , Greenheck Group Answered Thursday, January 22, 2015 at 6:14 PM Hi Ellie, When I was in high school I was able to take some project based general engineering courses that helped teach me to think and problem solve like and engineer. The program was called project lead the way. If you have something similar to that available at your school, I would strongly recommend it. I would also suggest taking a programming language or computer science course as you mentioned, as many engineering majors take some form of computer science course. This will help give you a strong base before taking a course in college. As a mechanical engineering undergrad my curriculum included java programming. I would also suggest taking as much math, physics, and chemistry as you can while in high school. This way you have the option of testing out of many general courses required by your college curriculum. If you end up not testing out you will still be ready to succeed come freshman year as many mechanical engineering degrees require math through differential equations and linear algebra, intro to physics, and intro to chemistry. (Heads up though, my high school chemistry was nothing like college chemistry. College chemistry is very theoretical.) Finally, I'm not sure what you mean by "1 or C: Mechanics and E and M", however a mechanics course definitely sounds worth your time, especially if it has a lab component to the class. One more word of advice. The most important thing is that you take classes that interest you. This makes the classes fun and you end up learning substantially more. In high school, I really enjoyed German class so I continued to fit that into my schedule even though it wasn't engineering related. Sincerely, Ashley