Is there a way to force a Mac laptop to stay in a specific resolution?
This works for me on Sierra.  Just paste the following script Into script editor.app 

tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal anchor "displaysDisplayTab" of pane "com.apple.preference.displays"
end tell
tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences" to tell window "Built-in Retina Display"
    click radio button "Scaled" of radio group 1 of tab group 1
    click radio button 5 of radio group 1 of group 1 of tab group 1
end tell
quit application "System Preferences"


Run this script in script editor.app and make sure it works for you.  If it works, just export it as an application and name it something like "Max Resolution.app" or what ever..  

Now you want to enable this application to control your computer by adding it to the list of applications in System preferences/Accessibility/Security privacy. Like this..



Take it a step further by adding it to your login items if you want your computer to always start up with the max resolution.



Let me know how it works out for you.