<p>I plan to major in mechanical engineering this fall at UA. Would it be possible to double major in physics as well? Or is this kinda like impossible with that combination?</p>
<p>It depends…</p>
<p>Will you be coming in with a good number of AP credits and/or dual credits?</p>
<p>Engineering requires about 130 credits to graduate (this is typical of all/most colleges). If you don’t come in with enough credits, I’m not sure how you could fit in the Physics req’ts for a second major. </p>
<p>It’s very difficult to double major with Engineering because Engineering has more req’d classes and less Core Curriculum req’ts. That means less overlapping of classes with other majors. </p>
<p>There is a physics minor that some Engineers do. </p>
<p>My younger son is a Chemical Engineering major. He came in with 45 AP credits and got an additional 7 or so Spanish credits. Even with those credits, he can’t fit a second major because it would require add’l Core classes that don’t do anything for him. He’s doing 3 minors…bio, chem, and math. He’s also pre-med, which is why he’s doing the extra chem and bio.</p>
<p>My son’s suite mate is a chem engineering/political science major. He did have some AP credit coming into Alabama, but this will be the second straight summer that he will take classes to satisfy his requirements.</p>
<p>Momreads, is your son’s friend taking summer classes at Bama? Or is he taking them at a CC at home in the summer? </p>
<p>My D will come to Bama with 29 AP credits (hopefully) and 10 dual enrollment credits. She wants to be an EE and possibly start a Master’s in something, probably engineering. So I was wondering if my D was able to take CC credits at home in the summer to potentially have more freedom to choose classes at Bama.</p>
<p>Your D can take CC classes this summer if she wants. She should check to make sure that the classes will transfer fully and take the place of particular req’ts.</p>
<p>If she’s going to be an Engineering undergrad, which Core Req’ts will she still need to cover?</p>
<p>Will she have both Frosh Comp classes covered?</p>
<p>Here are the Engineering Core Req’ts …they have less than other majors…</p>
<p>COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING CORE CURRICULUM/GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS
To achieve a general education while pursuing a specific degree program in the College of Engineering, each undergraduate student enrolled in that college will construct a curriculum that includes coursework in the following areas:</p>
<p>6 semester hours of written composition (FC). </p>
<p>6 semester hours in 300- and 400-level courses, preferably in the students major, approved for the writing (W) designation. The (W) designation indicates that one of the conditions for a passing grade is that students write coherent, logical and carefully edited prose in a minimum of two papers, at least one of which will be graded and returned before midsemester. All (W) designated courses are taught and graded by instructors who have at least the masters degree and preferably are limited to an enrollment of no more than 35 students. The (W) requirement must be satisfied with courses taken on this campus. </p>
<p>9 semester hours of humanities (HU), literature (L) and fine arts (FA) area courses. A 6-hour discipline depth study is required and may be taken in either HU, L, and FA or HI and SB. There are no mandatory general education requirements for literature or fine arts, except as required for a specific engineering program. </p>
<p>9 semester hours of courses in the areas of history (HI) and social and behavioral sciences (SB). A 6-hour discipline depth study is required and may be taken in either HU, L, and FA or HI and SB. </p>
<p>12 semester hours of mathematics (MA) and natural sciences (N) area courses, to include 2 hours of laboratory. Mathematics must be at the MATH 125 level or higher. </p>
<p>Either 6 hours of foreign language (FL) or computer (C) are required in addition to the humanities requirement. FL courses can count as HU credit if 6 hours of C courses are earned. </p>
<p>Pre-professional, major and/or elective courses applicable to the students declared major program of study. Students are to consult with their major departments/program areas for specific course designations that fulfill this requirement.</p>
<p>A course may be used to satisfy only one core requirement. For example, if a course carries a designation for both foreign language (FL) and humanities (HU), it may only be used to satisfy one of these core requirements. An additional course or courses must be completed to satisfy the remaining requirement.</p>
<p>General education credit may be earned for courses taken at another institution, provided the courses transfer as the equivalents of courses that have been approved for general education credit at The University of Alabama. The (W) requirement must be satisfied in courses taken at The University of Alabama.</p>
<p>Scroll DOWN to the bottom to see the Engineering Core Req’ts.</p>
<p>[University</a> of Alabama Undergraduate Catalog 2010-12](<a href=“Page Not Found | The University of Alabama”>Page Not Found | The University of Alabama)</p>
<p>Cuttlefish123: My son’s suite mate took classes at Alabama, as he lives in state. Since we are OOS and the OOS tuition is steep, my son decided to finish out his general ed requirements at one of our community colleges, taking world lit and art history classes. This will allow him to do his majors, as well as a masters degree – all in four years.</p>
<p>Thank you for the link M2CK. I am looking up everything right now. So far I have come up with credit for AP Lang, AP Lit, AP USH, Macro, and Calc AB. This year she is taking Calc BC, Micro and AP Stat. Potentially 29 credits. </p>
<p>From the UA catalog: “9 semester hours of courses in the areas of history (HI) and social and behavioral sciences (SB). A 6-hour discipline depth study is required and may be taken in either HU, L, and FA or HI and SB.”
If D has APUSH credit of HY 203 and HY204, (HI designation), what is left to take of this section? An SB credit? I am not sure how to read this. And since she already has AP Macro (EC111 and SB desination), does that mean she is done with this part of the core?</p>
<p>Thank you for your help.</p>
<p>Thank you momreads for your help as well. There are so many opportunities at Bama and I would like to maximize them for my D. For planning purposes, I am trying to figure out what credits she will have at Bama. </p>
<p>So your son is trying for his master’s dgree as well. That is great. Does he have the whole 4 years planned out? Who can help with the tweaking of the schedule so as to finish it in 4 years?</p>
<p>*From the UA catalog: “9 semester hours of courses in the areas of history (HI) and social and behavioral sciences (SB). A 6-hour discipline depth study is required and may be taken in either HU, L, and FA or HI and SB.” </p>
<p>If D has APUSH credit of HY 203 and HY204, (HI designation), what is left to take of this section? An SB credit?</p>
<p>I am not sure how to read this. And since she already has AP Macro (EC111 and SB desination), does that mean she is done with this part of the core?*</p>
<p>Looks like your D will have 6 credits from APUSH that also takes care of the "sequence requirement. Since your D also has 3 credits from AP Micro SB designation, then she has a total of 9 credits and that section is done. :)</p>
<p>*So far I have come up with credit for AP Lang, AP Lit, AP USH, Macro, and Calc AB. This year she is taking Calc BC, Micro and AP Stat. Potentially 29 credits. </p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Note that your D can get credit for one of the AP English classes…not both. If she got at least a 4 on one of those exams, then she’ll have 6 credits…and both frosh comp classes will be fulfilled.</p>
<p>Also, for both AP Cal classes…The most she can get is 8 credits total…credit for Cal I and credit for Cal II</p>
<p>AP Stats is a great one to have…it fulfills a C designation.</p>
<p>Cuttlefish: some time this summer UA will load your D’s AP credit into DegreeWorks which is a program that shows exactly what requirements you need to graduate. When you have fulfilled something, either with AP/CLEP/transfer credits or UA credits you get a happy green check. It says how far along you are in progress towards your degree. </p>
<p>It’s not perfect but it’s a nice tool to have. Much different from back in my day!</p>
<p>M2CK, Thank you for your help. "Looks like your D will have 6 credits from APUSH that also takes care of the "sequence requirement. Since your D also has 3 credits from AP Micro SB designation, then she has a total of 9 credits and that section is done. " Yeah!!</p>
<p>She received 5’s on Lit and Lang so that takes care of the 6 hours written composition. Yeah again!!</p>
<p>Then there is the debate of whether to take the credit for Calculus. I have asked this before and received many answers toward taking the credit. Would looking at the calculus book in the bookstore be helpful? She made a 5 on AB so far.</p>
<p>RobD: thank you for the info on the DegreeWorks program. It sounds like a helpful program. Definitely different from my day as well. Will her credits be ready for the June 1 and 2 Bama Bound? I guess my D will register as if she didn’t get credit for her senior AP’s. Then she will change her schedule later.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Collegeboard sends the credits to the colleges around July 1st, so then the colleges upload the electronic files into their systems.</p>
<p>Bama Bound allows you to “assume” that you’ve gotten the credit and sign up for the next level courses. If you end up not getting the credit, then you fix your schedule later.</p>
<p>Then there is the debate of whether to take the credit for Calculus. I have asked this before and received many answers toward taking the credit. Would looking at the calculus book in the bookstore be helpful? She made a 5 on AB so far.</p>
<p>Your D won’t be going to med school right? And, she’s an engineering major, right? If she feels that she has gotten a firm Cal foundation, she should feel free to “move on” to the next classes. My kids’ high school didn’t offer AP Cal BC, so my kids could only test out of Cal I with AP Cal AB. So they moved onto Cal II. BTW…Cal II is very different from Cal I…and doesn’t really “build on” Cal I.</p>
<p>When creating your student’s 4 year plans, you may find that they need to take courses over the summer that are not offered by your local college(s). I’ve also ran into problems when the CC and the local university’s summer schools end after fall classes at UA have already started, as is often the case with schools on the quarter system. In my situation, I’ve found that the cheapest and most viable solution is to attend summer school in a 3rd state. Many schools (none in Alabama) offer in-state tuition to every student during the summer and depending on your home state university’s tuition rates, this could be a lot less money in the long run.</p>
<p>So it sounds like minoring would be much easier to do than doubling up. I’ll ask when I’m down there this weekend for CBH.</p>
<p>Minors are almost always easier because you have more flexibility with choices of classes. Majors have many req’d courses, while minors often just have a vague 18-21 credit req’t (with a 6-9 credit upper division req’t) and the student can often choose which classes to take. </p>
<p>Also…for students who are pre-med, double-majoring can often backfire. GPA is so important during the med school application process. You can jeopardize your GPA by double majoring, because you can be required take unnecessary and hard classes for that second major that end up hurting your GPA.</p>
<p>my d ( freshman in status, sophomore in units) is double majoring in international relations and history WITH a minor in spanish). Oh and MomRead, she will be going on the costa rica trip with your son this May.</p>
<p>sophomore in units</p>
<p>a little California-speak for those of us who are home-sick. :)</p>
<p>???. . .do only Californians say “sophomores in units”? What does everyone else say?</p>
<p>I’m not positive, but most of the rest of the country says: in credits, in hours, or in credit hours. “Units” is a Calif thing pretty much…may also be in some other states, but so far, I’ve only known Calif to use “units.”</p>
<p>I grew up saying “units”. :)</p>
<p>BTW…good for your D with Spanish minor…that minor is brutal…so many credits req’d!!! But, the profs are really good.</p>