(fwiw I've only read the OP, not the replies - sorry if I duplicate!)
....
And if you ask what science he WANTS to take next year his topic choice is AP Biology over AP Physics or AP Chem, but I think that's partly because the other students say that AB Bio is a good class with a good teacher.
Which is a perfectly good reason to choose biology - if he takes biology over chem or physics next year, it's not going to put him out of an engineering career forever. It might be better to take biology with a good teacher and get, gasp, a good grade, have a good year, enjoy a teacher who is inspiring, and see how he feels about biology at the end of the year rather than suffer through a year of physics with a boring or difficult teacher. He'll still be able to get into engineering school if he's got the grades and the SAT scores etc. I'm not saying don't take the math/science etc that he needs - just saying that one science course vs another science course at this point isn't going to mean he's stuck.
...
What classes is your ds thinking of for next year? What is his counselor recommending? What does he have on the horizon for this summer? Are there any opportunities for local internships or are there any local STEM programs for high school students? Local colleges/universities that offer summer programs for high school kids? My ds (who was probably born with engineering in his genes and has always shown a strong interest in math/science) has been most inspired by programs he's participated in run by our state university. One was a robotics camp, the other was a 3D modeling camp. The key for both that turned him on wasn't the actual camp subject matter, but for the first, he was working in a lab on campus for two weeks with grad students. It was like he'd landed "home" - he loved that experience and that got him very excited and comfortable about someday going to college. The 3D modelling class was, in his words, "BORING".. but there was a new engineering building under construction and the class toured it one afternoon - and heard all about the labs that would go in and heard about the types of things that would be studied there.
polarbear