High School Course Requirements

Students who plan to apply to Purdue should meet or exceed the minimum high school course requirements listed below.

Those who pursue the strongest-possible college preparatory program and take advantage of any available Advance Placement (AP), higher level International Baccalaureate (IB) or honors courses generally are more competitive candidates for admission and more qualified to succeed in college.

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.

If you have completed an international high school curriculum, please review our further requirements. If you have been out of high school five or more years and have not met most of these requirements, visit this page for an alternative plan.

Minimum High School Course Requirements

Applicants must meet these course requirements either in high school or through subsequent college-level (not remedial) coursework. A semester of college coursework is equivalent to a year of high school.