High School Course Requirements
Applying to Purdue? Make plans to meet or exceed our minimum high school course requirements.
Become a competitive candidate for admission and set yourself up for success in college by pursuing the strongest possible college preparatory program offered by your school. Take advantage of any available Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB) or dual enrollment courses.
Interested in applying for technical programs like engineering, science, health science, technology or agriculture? Plan to take as many advanced math and science classes as possible. Precalculus, AP/IB Calculus, AP/IB Biology, AP/IB Chemistry and AP/IB Physics are all good choices.
Other courses to consider:
- AP Computer Science
- AP Statistics
- AP/IB English
- AP/IB Social Sciences
- Speech
Work and career exploration opportunities, such as internships and cooperative programs or Project Lead the Way courses, can help you explore career interests. However, they should not replace the academic subject matter preparation described above.
If you have completed an international high school curriculum, additional documentation may be required. If you have been out of high school five or more years and have not met most of these requirements, contact the Office of Admissions to discuss options.
Minimum High School Course Requirements
You must meet these course requirements either in high school or through subsequent nonremedial, college-level coursework. A semester of college coursework is equivalent to a year of high school.
High school-level coursework that you complete in middle school will count toward the math requirement if your middle school coursework is identified on your high school transcript or if your coursework progression is apparent on your transcript.
Course Requirements
| Subject | Time Requirement | Special Notes |
|---|---|---|
| English | 4 Years | |
| Lab Sciences | 3 Years | For engineering applicants, chemistry is expected. For nursing, pharmacy and veterinary nursing applicants, one lab science year must be biology and one year must be chemistry. |
| Math | 4 Years | |
| Social Studies | 3 Years | |
| World Language | 2 Years | Both years do not need to be within the same language. |