High School Curriculum Expectations for 2012 Enrollment
Most students admitted to Purdue exceed the minimum high school course expectations (see below). Students who plan to apply to Purdue should pursue the strongest-possible college preparatory program and take advantage of any available Advance Placement (AP), higher level International Baccalaureate (IB) or honors courses.
Students interested in applying for technical programs (engineering, science, health-related majors, technology, and agriculture, etc.) should take as much advanced coursework as possible in math and science (pre-calculus, AP/IB Calculus, AP/IB Biology, AP/IB Chemistry, and AP/IB Physics). Other courses students could consider:
AP Computer Science
AP Statistics
AP/IB English
AP/IB social science courses
Speech
Work/career exploration opportunities (internships, cooperative programs) or Project Lead the Way courses in high school can help students explore career interests. However, they should not replace the academic subject-matter preparation described above.
Minimum High School Course Expectations for 2012 Enrollment
Applicants must meet these course expectations either in high school or through subsequent college-level (not remedial) coursework. A semester of college coursework is equivalent to two semesters of high school.
| Math (1) | 8 Semesters | |
| Lab Science (2) |
6 Semesters | For engineering 2 science semesters must be chemistry. For nursing, pharmaceutical sciences, prepharmacy, and veterinary technology, 2 science semesters must be biology and 2 must be chemistry |
| English (3) | 8 Semesters | |
| Foreign Language (4) |
4 Semesters | |
| Social Studies |
6 Semesters |
1 Beginning with students who apply for 2011 enrollment, Purdue expects 8 semesters of college-preparatory math. View a list of college-prep math courses that Purdue can and cannot accept toward this requirement.
2 Lab science includes biology, chemistry, physics, anatomy, physiology, earth/space science, etc.
3 English includes grammar, composition, literature, speech, and vocabulary, but not journalism, newspaper, yearbook, or theatre arts.
4 Students do not have to take four semesters of the same foreign language. American Sign Language counts if it is part of a secondary school's curriculum.
