<p>How hard is the workload at Northeastern. How many hours of studying do the engineering students do. Do they have a socail life. Is the curriculum challanging.</p>
<p>I would also like to know this. Ideally it would be rigorous so that it prepares you well, but not unreasonably so with tons of busywork, and still allow one to have a social life.</p>
<p>yes, if anyone has any information on this please reply, currently im enrolled into the school of engineering so i would like to know too, however i may look to change major into pharmacy or health sciences</p>
<p>Here we go. Class by class. Bare with me.</p>
<p>I took AB calc, ap bio, chem, and spanish in high school. I only used my credit for calc though because I am a chemical engineer. Regardless of what type of engineer you are, all freshman engineers take pretty much the same classes first semester (assuming you don't use any AP credit). The work load for chemistry is not that bad. Homework is only due once a week in recitation (review class). I found that homework for chem took about an hour and I did it on Sunday because my recitation was on monday. We had three fairly easy tests (A, A, A) and a final exam. There was also a lab that went with it (A) that was pretty easy.</p>
<p>I took calc II instead of calc I because I used my AB calc credit. Homework was assigned each time we had class and was due for the next class. There was one midterm (A) and a final exam. Homework for this class took anywhere from 1/2 hr to 1.5 hrs depending on the subject. There were weekly quizzes and we usually got to leave right after taking the quiz. The final exam was also pretty easy and I must say that this was my favorite class so far.</p>
<p>Engineering Design is pretty easy, but a lot of work. There are weekly AutoCAD labs where you go to a computer lab and work on AutoCAD drawings. Homework for this can take anywhere from 10 mins to 2 hours/assignment. Sometimes multiple drawings are assigned. I have spent up to 5 hours straight in the engineering center working on AutoCAD. There is a minor project where you need to engineer a device (86), a major project where you need to design a system to improve a current product/method. THe midterm was easy (103), but I also studied for about 4 hours over two days for it. The final was also easy (94). There were some reading/small projects due for each class, but these were straightforward. The end of the semester is where this class picks up because of the major project.</p>
<p>Finally, my elective was comparative cultures. This was a lecture style class that had 4 papers assigned and 3 tests. I got an A in this class, but only after doing a couple of extra credit essays that boosted me from a B+ to an A. There was a decent amount of reading, but as long as you took good notes and found a nice study group, it was fairly easy. (We studied 2 hours, 6 hours, and 3 hours for the three tests and about 6 hours for the final).</p>
<p>Second semester, I am taking engineering computations, calc III, physics I, and college writing. </p>
<p>Engineering computations is programming in Matlab and C++. This class is pretty easy and easy to get an A. We have 10 labs and I have close to a 100 average on these. The quizzes are pretty easy and there are no tests/finals.</p>
<p>Calc III is very time consuming and is a ton of work. Homework can take up to 3 hours and it is assigned each class. There are also labs that go along with it and an optional recitation. The quizzes and tests are fair and the scaling works well. I have a 98 test average and over a 100 quiz average. If you do all of the tedious work, As are very possible.</p>
<p>Physics is very boring and time consuming. Homework is due twice/week and is submitted online. There is one midterm, one final, and weekly quizzes. The midterm average was a 71, but I got a 93. I didn't find it that hard, but a lot of kids struggled. Some got in the low 50s and 40s, but other kids got 100s. Weekly quizzes are not too bad and recitation definitely helps prepare for these.</p>
<p>College writing is not too bad, depending on who you get as a professor. We have assignments due almost for every class and you write 4 papers that each count as 25% of the grade. It is a decent amount of work, but it is not too hard. We watch movies which is fun and then write papers on them. </p>
<p>While it may seem like a ton of work, it is actually not too bad depending on your schedule. My busiest days are Monday and Wednesday, but i have the weekend to prepare for monday and only one class every other week on tuesdays. I have 2 classes on thursday and one class on friday so it never really feels like I am doing work unless I have a couple quizzes/tests on one day. </p>
<p>I was initially against going to Northeastern, but the honors program, west village F, and the relative ease make it a good fit. I think it is better to do really well at Northeastern than to be an average student at a better name school.</p>
<p>I definitely have a social life even with all of this work. My roommate and a few kids who live in WVF have 4.0s and still go out. If you go here, you will be challenged, especially with higher level classes (from what I have heard).</p>
<p>redsox2007 thanks for that, it answered a lot of questions, hopefully ill be in the same classes next year</p>
<p>Do the classes teach you AutoCAD and C++, or do you have to have some knowledge of them before starting?</p>
<p>Nope, I knew nothing about either of them and they taught me enough to do well.</p>
<p>Hey</p>
<p>I'm basically an engineering freshman too in the honors program and I concur with what Red Sox said.. That was my experience too.. I'd say that the amoutn of work you have is very dependent on the teacher.. In the fall, I had a teacher who gave us a lot more homework than the rest so I spent 2-3 hours atleast every week to get done with my Autocad stuff while my friends spent 1-2 hours max on them.. Plus, our quizzes were harder since the teacher gve us more complex things to draw.. So it depends.. I honestly think the first year courses here in engineering suck but I've had a sophomore ( on this forum ) tell me that it gets much harder/more challenging starting sophomore year.</p>
<p>I too am a freshman engineering major in the honors program. I pretty much agree with everything already said. I don't believe that anyone could blame the workload for their lack of social life- you do have to sit down and get your work done but usually, like RedSox2007 said there is one lab/homework assignment a week depending on the class. It couldn't possibly take that long- you either know how to do it or you don't.</p>
<p>This does bring me to one last point, however-
As a computer engineering major, I really struggled with honors chemistry. My high school didn't even have the option of taking AP Chem, so the only chemistry I took was in 10th grade, and it was nowhere near on the level that chemistry for engineering was. My friends who had already taken AP chem were fine, but if I could go back, I definitely would have taken regular chem and not honors so that instead of being lost half the time, I could have actually learned something. I did get a B but I had to work for it. So if you know that you're not that competent in chem and you only have to take the one chemistry class, think about whether you really need to take honors- and don't feel pressured by what the honors advisers tell you because to be honest they don't always know what they're talking about. You will be expected to have a strong background in chem in the honors class.</p>
<p>This is definitely not true for Engineering design, however, so don't worry about that. The first assignments are basically just drawing lines so that you get used to the program.</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, my current senior year of highschool schedule includes AP BC Calculus. AP Physics C(has both mechanics and E & M), AP Chemistry, and AP Comp Sci AB. If I get all 4s and 5s, which courses do you think I should I use the credit to pass out of if I attend NEU for ece next year?</p>
<p>Definitely opt out of Calc 1, Physics 1, and chemistry, I don't believe comp sci transfers. If you really know E&M you can opt out, but it is very important to the major so you need to know it. Calc 2 is your choice, depending on how well you did. If you get a 5, I'd opt out.</p>
<p>Also do you know anything about grad school placement for northeastern ece undergrad students?</p>