My son will be taking Honors Calc 3 in the fall as a freshman. I was under the impression that he did not need to take Eng 103, if he took calc 1 and 2. Since it was showing as a requirement in Degree Works, after the AP scores came in for his Calc ab and bc, we thought it would have been checked off in the degree requirements for ChemE. It wasn’t checked and it was showing as “still needed”. My son contacted his Eng advisor (Peter A. Pierre) and was told he would need to take this class. Is this correct? If not, who should my son talk to to have this rectified?
My son is in the same situation. He has not spoken with his advisor about it, yet. I do know that the ChemE flowchart for students starting at Calc3 or higher does not include ENGR103. I will have my son call the Head of the ChemE department to get confirmation.
Glad to hear that we are not the only one in this situation! I did find out that they can take this next semester, all classes seem to be filled up at this point. I hope someone chimes in with an advisor name or experience with this situation.
Short answer: Yes, your kid will need to take ENGR 103 regardless of how far ahead he or she is in math.
Long answer: The pre-requisites for ENGR 103 (found at http://courseleaf.ua.edu/engineering/#courseinventory) state that you must have finished MATH 115 (Precalculus with Trig), and either have finished or be concurrently taking MATH 125/145 (Calc I) or MATH 126/146 (Calc II) before taking ENGR 103. It states nowhere that you can exempt this course by having credit for MATH 125 and MATH 126. My guess is that you saw the concurrency prerequisite and thought it meant you did not need to take ENGR if you finished the concurrency prerequisites.
In regards to the ChemE flowchart, you need to understand that EVERYTHING on the flowchart must be completed to get a degree. The “flowchart” aspect is there to help you understand prerequisites and suggested times to take classes. Despite the fact that your student is at Calc III, they still need to get credit for everything else that depends on Calc I and Calc II, as well as anything before Calc III that is not completed.
Besides, ENGR 103 is fairly important to Engineering. Excerpted from UA’s course information, it states that the course is an “Introductory course for students in all engineering disciplines that provides the basic skills required for engineering with an emphasis on problem solving, sketching, teaming, oral and written technical communication, and the design process.” I can understand skipping math due to having the credits for it, but I’m not entirely sure that Calc I and Calc II teaches the same skills taught in ENGR 103.
If given the option between the honors and non-honors version of the course, take the honors option. Same content, but in a smaller class setting.
In prior years, there was a process for exempting this course. I recently read on the parents Facebook page that the requirements have changed for this years incoming class and now it is required for all students. I do not know if that is accurate or not and it should be confirmed with the department.
Even if able to exempt the course, I would recommend that civil, mechanical, and aero students take it anyway. However the topics in the class may not be as relevant for majors such as chem-e and I can understand not taking it if that is an option.
The intro engineering courses have been changed significantly in the last few years. ENGR 103 was not even a course offering for those entering in 2012. It may be that the content of the course is still being modified and they are trying to make it more relevant to all engineering branches.