Engineering Course Requirements
Students are encouraged to use the course guides for your engineering courses. Consult your academic advisor if you are unsure of the best plan for your situation. Undergraduate engineering courses are designed as four year degree programs but varies on each students situation.
engineering course requirements
11. In addition to the first-year writing seminars, an engineering communications course must be taken as an engineering distribution, liberal studies, Advisor-approved electives, or Major course. See Engineering Communications Requirement.
International students who declare themselves as engineering majors are taking a huge step towards future careersuccess. An undergraduate degree in engineering is the introduction to a career in engineering. By selecting a goodschool, finding out which field of engineering interests them most, and applying themselves to the program,international students will come out of undergraduate school as a highly educated engineer.
The requirements for an engineering major varies by university. However, most have the basic structure of engineeringprerequisites and core courses. To begin with, students pursuing an undergraduate degree will need to take 60general education courses. General education courses are the same for all students, no matter the degree program.These courses cover virtually every topic and provide introductory principles to each. At some point in the firsttwo years of study an international student should meet with an academic advisor and declare engineering as a major.After these core courses are completed a student will start on their major class requirements that focus on the mostimportant engineering material.
So what classes does an engineering major need to take while enrolled as an undergraduate? There are severaldifferent classes that are made prerequisite, core, and elective courses. Each class must be completed with apassing grade of "C" or better. The first subject that is important to engineering majors is mathematics. Studentsare expected to take courses in Statistics, Algebra and multiple classes in Calculus. Another subject that isrequired is Chemistry. General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry are usually both required. Physics is one of the mostimportant sections of the engineering curriculum. Physics usually come in two different parts. The first sectioncovers Calculus Based Physics I and the second covers Physics II.
Yet, the most important part of engineering coursework are classes directly related to engineering principles. Theclasses in engineering will give undergraduate students a broad understanding of their discipline. Classes include:Dynamics, Analysis of Structures, Mechanics of Materials, and Fluid Mechanics. Depending on the exact field astudent chooses to study, there will be certain "major courses" that make up the final semesters in undergraduateschool. Civil engineering majors for example can expect to take classes like: Geotechnical Engineering, FoundationEngineering, Design of Steel Structures, and Design of Reinforced Concrete. Usually the final course of anundergraduate program is called the Capstone course, which goes over material from all the courses taken in themajor courses. This class is used to reinforce the principles of engineering and make sure future graduates areprepared for careers. Usually, the Capstone course concludes with an exam that must be passed to graduate.Additional courses in the final two years of study include electives, which are classes outside the engineeringdepartment intended for students to get a broad education while having the opportunity to explore new and funsubjects.
The typical length for an undergraduate degree is four years. However, many time students choose to complete thedegree in five years. The reason for this is because of the difficulty of many of the courses. Engineering requiresvery difficult courses in topics like Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Math. To stay on a four-year plan, studentswill need to take 15 credits a semester, or 30 credits an academic year. Because the courses are so intensive, somestudents find it hard to carry 15 credits of engineering classes and instead graduate in the five year plan.
Over time we will be updating this section and including more information for those who want to study engineering in the USA and for other countries, but please feel free to post your thoughts and comments on our Facebook fan page, and also follow us and post questions through Twitter.
All students will continue with the mathematics, physics and intellectual breadth courses common to all programs. A second-term student who has selected a degree program should be meeting with that program advisor for third-term elections.
Some math and science courses in LSA are considered honors level equivalents of the core math and science requirements. A student whose record indicates qualifications to perform at an advanced level should discuss this option with an advisor in the Engineering Advising Center.
Each of the degree programs offered by the College includes credit hours that are common to all programs, subject to appropriate adjustment for equivalent alternatives. See individual sample schedules for required programs in each program section of this Bulletin. Some programs may have a higher minimum grade requirement for some courses.
Engineering 100 introduces students to the professional skills required of engineers and provides them with an overview of engineering at the beginning of their program. An important component of the course is the real-world engineering project. Important engineering skills developed in Engineering 100 include:
Advanced Placement (AP) English Literature credit is assessed as English departmental credit and can be used towards the Liberal Arts Courses (LACs) of the Intellectual Breadth Requirement. You will not receive credit for Sweetland Writing Center courses.
Engineering 101 focuses on the development of algorithms to solve problems of relevance in engineering practice and on the implementation of these algorithms using high-level computer languages. It is centered on quantitative and numerical problems that are suited to computational solutions. These often arise as part of larger, more complex problems in engineering practice.
Engineering 101 also ties itself to the introductory physics and math courses, and provides concrete examples of some of the concepts being covered in those classes. Sample problem types might include:
In addition to the problem-solving component, students who take Engineering 101 will learn aspects of the C++ programming languages and be exposed to the MATLAB programming language. C++ and MATLAB are used today in many fields of engineering. MATLAB is also popular and has powerful capabilities for handling computation involving matrices and for visualizing data using 2-D and 3-D graphics. It is important to note that MATLAB will be useful in future math and engineering courses.
Engineering 151 provides an accelerated alternative to Engineering 101 for students either with previous programming experience or with strong motivation and natural intuition for algorithms. It introduces students to the algorithm development, procedural programming concepts and languages covered in Engineering 101 but at a faster pace. It also introduces object-oriented programming, engineering analysis methods and additional topics such as parallel computing or embedded systems. Visit the Engineering 151 website for more detailed information.
The mathematics courses of 115 (4 credits), 116 (4 credits), 215 (4 credits), and 216 (4 credits) provide an integrated 16-credit-hour sequence in college mathematics that includes analytic geometry, calculus, elementary linear algebra and elementary differential equations.
All students with strong preparation and interest in mathematics are encouraged to consider one of the honors-level math sequences. Qualified and interested students should consult their engineering advisor about these options. It is not necessary to be in an honors program to enroll in these courses.
Chem 130 (3 credits) with laboratory Chem 125/126 (2 credits) is required by most degree programs. Students will normally elect these courses during the freshman year. The following degree programs require additional chemistry: Chemical Engineering and Environmental Engineering. Students expecting to enter Chemical Engineering normally elect Chem 130 (3 credits) and/or Chem 210 (3 credits) with Chem 211 laboratory (2) during the freshman year, depending on U-M placement exam results. Students expecting to enter Environmental Engineering normally elect Chem 130/125/126 and/or Chem 210 during the first year, depending on U-M placement exam results.
The usual first-year schedule includes Physics 140 (4 credits) with laboratory, Physics 141 (1 credit). This course requires completion of Calculus I. A second course, Physics 240 (4 credits) with laboratory, 241 (1 credit), is required by all programs and is normally scheduled in the third term.
It is important that our students learn about modes of thought and areas of human accomplishment beyond the purely technical. This breadth can be designed by students to provide context to their engineering work by learning about human modes of thought, the structure and history of the human societies that they serve as engineers, how humans behave and interact, and how humans express their aspirations in the arts, literature and music. This breadth will help students to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental and societal context. This breadth makes our students more flexible, creative and better able to work with diverse groups.
We cannot precisely define all of these possibilities for every student so we strive to create a broad intellectual opportunity for students to pursue their interests both beyond and within engineering. Students are encouraged to use these credits in a coherent way to build a foundation of understanding in both the liberal arts and other disciplines that might contribute to their development of creativity or professional foundation. 041b061a72