What do you need to know about robotic engineering before going to college?

The typical college-prep courses with an emphasis on math and science is the bare minimum and perfectly acceptable for many universities. But, if you want to have an outstanding college resume that opens doors to prestigious schools, make sure you maintain a high GPA and get involved in robotics as an activity (i.e. join your high school's robotics club/team, start your own, or build robots yourself with parts from Arduino, Adafruit or Sparkfun). You only need basic mechanical and circuits knowledge and help from the internet (websites and communities) to build your own robot. Hands-on learning will prepare you much better and faster than book knowledge. The team approach is very realistic because that is how it is done in the workplace. The best case scenario is a little of both: self-teaching through building your own robot and joining/starting a robotics team/club.