<p>I'm an incoming freshman. I'm also going to major in Biochemical engineering. At USC I'd like to take some interesting classes (that aren't related to my major). However, is it possible to do so? They count as elective classes, right? How many of these "interesting" classes am I able to take?</p>
<p>My son is still deciding where to go, but he is planning to major in Electrical Engineering. I was just looking at a kind of catalog that Vertibi sent us. (It’s called “Undergraduate Bulletin”.) It includes lots of information about requirements and classes for engineering majors. I was trying to figure out if/how my son could possibly fit in a music minor. It looks like there are 16 “free” elective units for an Electrical Engineering major plus there are general education requirements (27 units) in several different disciplines. You can probably find this all online, or look around and see if you have that “undergraduate bulletin” from Viterbi sitting around somewhere.</p>
<p>Inspired,</p>
<p>If your son cannot fit a music minor into his schedule there are all kinds of music opportunities for students. They range from A Capella groups, USC Concert Orchestra, jazz ensembles, pop ensembles, rock groups, etc.</p>
<p>The USC Thornton Symphony is renowned. The concert orchestra is for students who wish to continue with an orchestra experience, but not in a Thornton perfomance major.</p>
<p>Also, there are music classes available for students at the beginning level.</p>
<p>Georgia Girl,
I’m late responding to you (we left to go attend the Admitted Students Reception right after I posted in this thread), but I wanted to say thanks for your comments. There are definitely many opportunities to study and participate in music at USC!
We made our commitment last night!</p>
<p>Son is going to do computer engineering. He has not decided on a minor or whether he will take some interesting courses in various depts.</p>
<p>Any suggestions for first year students coming with 8 AP credits.</p>
<p>Congratulations to inspired’s son and pixeljig’s son who are choosing to attend USC!! Welcome all new Trojans family members and that definitely includes moms & dads.</p>
<p>I’m a sophomore (just finished my last day of classes!) aerospace engineer at USC. I’d be happy to answer any specific questions you have about my program, or the engineering school in general.</p>
<p>inspired: I would take a close look again at the EE course guide and see if those electives are free electives or tech electives. I know that in my program, I only get 4 units of free elective scheduled. I can’t imagine EE having significantly more, and certainly not 16 units.</p>
<p>Now, that being said, you can take more classes per semester than what’s on the course guide. Just be aware that going over 18 units a semester means you have to pay extra. Unless you declare your minor. There’s a new program where if you have very different majors and minors, you can go up to 20 units for the same flat rate.</p>
<p>Thank you ^^. This board has been so helpful. Right now I need a bit of help with housing selections - Son has BK triple, double, Fluor, IRC, Pardee and Marks tower. Is this an ok list?</p>
<p>I read the brochure and MT has the least amount of facilities. No mention about the laundry.</p>
<p>Hawkwings, son would like to jump into CS courses first semester, he has a lot of AP credits in Math/Physics/English, I think its possible to start with some interesting courses? </p>
<p>What would you recommend for a CS freshman who wants to take 18 credits. Thanks.</p>
<p>That housing list is good. However, don’t expect to get your first three choices, they are the most popular and are probably already full.</p>
<p>Your son will definitely take the a CS intro course his first semester. He’ll probably also take math (Math-226 most likely, if he las lots of math APs coming in) and a GE class. Generally, I recommend going with the course plan that Viterbi outline for you, because they make sure that students can actually follow that plan and get all the classes they need to graduate on time. Definitely talk to your academic advisor about what classes to take, they will be able to help you a lot more than I can.</p>
<p>Also: my class strategy was to front-load my classes as much as possible. That meant taking 18 or 19 credits every semester my freshman and sophomore years. It seems to be working so far, my junior year is going to be relatively light unit-wise (though certainly not work-wise) and I’m still going to be on track to graduate in four years.</p>
<p>Thanks! Do the GE classes fill up fast?</p>
<p>New slots in most GE classes are opened up at every orientation session. Popular GEs fill up fast of course.</p>
<p>Remember, Viterbi has study abroad/student exchange international programs in the summer and during junior year. If you plan carefully, you might be able to get some interesting music and/or other classes scheduled with study abroad too.</p>
<p>Great!! Any idea which ones are popular?</p>
<p>It does not matter which ones are popular, what matters is an Engineering student at USC can study abroad and graduate in 4 years with good course planning.For example, this summer there is Engineering study abroad in France, Viterbi semester exchange student programs in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Israel, etc. I heard the locations can change from year to year. I think it is a fabulous opportunity to be able to study Engineering abroad with a choice of locations.</p>
<p>Agreed ^^. </p>
<p>Someone suggested to son that although he has AP comp Sc and AP calc AB and BC credits coming in he should still take the CS 101 and not skip Calc II.</p>
<p>I wonder what the suggestion would be on this board. I am ok with it if he takes those 2 courses to start off with because a strong foundation is necessary given that he will be building up on it during the next 4 years.</p>
<p>However, the ratemy website has terrible ratings for CS101 and CS 126 profs this fall! The good math ones are all full!!</p>