This research aims to analyze the relationship between the application of realistic mathematics principles and academic performance in mathematics in aspiring students engineering. The participants were 61 pre university students candidates to the engineering careers (28 men (45.9%) and 33 women (54.1%)) between 15 and 26 years old (Mage = 17.82, SD = 1.76). The results showed, the preference of the students for applying the Realistic Mathematical Education Principles in their studies. One found that the reality principle, of guided reinvention and interaction principle was related with the interconnection principle. These findings indicate that the students learn the mathematics taking as starting point the reality principle, generating your own problem solving strategies, learning cooperatively and relating the diverse mathematical areas. Finally, the application of the Realistic Mathematical Education Principles was not related to the academic performance in mathematics.