Just saw on Reddit that they are telling incoming Freshman to take CHEM 107 their 1st semester instead of PHYS 218? Anyone at the first NSC this past week confirm this?
Usually that depends on what the MPE score was and the recommended schedule. It varies by person. At least it did last year. On the Howdy portal, in the lower left corner, it said “engineering”. If you click on that, it will show the recommended schedule. Somewhere on another thread, I posted the numbers from last years NSC of what the Advisors recommend you take, based on the MPE score. Schedule A was 151 and 218 first semester, Schedule B was 151 and Chem first semester and Schedule C was 150 and Chem I believe.
Take that with a grain of salt of the individual though. My son took the MPE cold on the last day to take it. If memory serves, he scored a 25 or 26 and it it was recommended to take Chem first if you scored 25-27 (something like that). So, son took Chem 107/117 first semester. 218 second.
Also, at NSC, in our group advising session, they were told they could retake the MPE up to a certain date. For son, this gave him 1-2 more times. He decided to just go with Schedule B and take Chem first semester. He would have been fine in 218 first semester, as he did fine in it.
We did look at the recommended schedule (Schedule A) right after he did his MPE (He scored a 29). It said CHEM107 or PHYS218. Just looked at it yesterday (Schedule A) and it has since changed to just CHEM107. I think the COE is now strongly suggesting that new freshman take a semester of college CALC before jumping into PHYS. Planning on making a schedule with CHEM107 and one with PHYS218 just in case. He just took CalculusBC and PhysicsC in HS so maybe they will let him go ahead and take it.
@TxSker, I read that on Reddit as well. Engineering Academics & Student Affairs (EASA), 979.845.7200, would be able to confirm if this is indeed the case.
i will try to contact them tomorrow and see if i can get a solid word on it.
Even my daughter’s changed from Cal 2/ phy or chem last week to Cal 1 and Chem this week
Just got back from my son’s NSC for engineering and the change is strongly recommended but not required. My son still signed up for PHYS 218. The MPE chart has changed as well with any score over 22 being recommended to take the first year schedule with chemistry.
@pbleigh Good information to know! Thanks! So they will let you sign up for PHYS218 if you want to. I guess my son has to make a decision now.
Yes they will, my son did it and did not take credit for his AP courses as of yet. They strongly discourage it though as they say they are trying to increase retention by making sure kids have appropriate math skills prior to taking physics. They do not even show a potential schedule with PHYS 218 in it anymore. They added a lot of last minute seats to the chemistry classes as most kids were trying to get into chemistry with few spots remaining.
I honestly wish most students just accepted their AP math and science credits. Seeing so many individuals struggle with retaking classes because they get stuck with bad professors or with times they can’t manage. Not only will students get ahead, but they won’t have to deal with the freshmen courses that are intentionally more difficult than they need to be. While GPA boosters are good, I believe getting further ahead to graduate earlier is more beneficial. Most students get accepted into their choice of major anyways.
General Engineering advisers are supposed to tell you to retake classes, regardless if you come in with really high scores. After speaking with the department advisers of my preferred department, they have told me that they don’t really care about the freshmen classes once you take them, but instead whether or not you do well in the major specific classes. They even recommended to take math at community colleges or accept AP credit, as they aren’t obligated to tell students to retake courses.
I’ve heard very different things from different people about taking AP credit. Bottom line is every student is different and some may do well taking the credit while others would struggle. People just need to do what is best for THEM. Listen to the advice of others but ultimately make the decision that is best for you.
@TamuEngineer That is what my son ultimately wants to do. He has to wait for BC Calc, Physics C, Chemistry and English Lit AP grades in July but then wants to change his schedule to drop calc 1 for calc 3 and take credit for all his sciences to get a waiver for the science commitment for ETAM. His advisor at NSC didn’t recommend he retake them when he said it was what he wanted to do; just said that it was a recommendation not a requirement and that he will have to wait until his grades come in to register for the classes he wants. Hopefully there will be a good Calc 3 teacher left when he has to change his schedule in July. Thanks for your post.
Both my boys decided to sign up for Chem 107/117 as well as Math 151. I know that will mean summer school, but they need a 3.5 to keep scholarships. The only problem we ran into is they did not have open seats for Chem 107 with a listed professor, so they had to take a later class that is TBA. Hopefully they will post professors soon.
Why will taking those classes require summer school? I thought that was the recommended path.
the Corps and band require additional courses and they aren’t carrying more than 15 hours this semester.
You are required to take PHYS 218 to take PHYS 208. So, ideally you would take Phys 218 in fall so you can take PHYS 208 in Spring. But If you take Chem 107 instead of PHYS 218 in fall, you will push back all of your science classes by one semester unless you take PHYS 208 in summer school.
@lessonwitch2 They are very, very, very strongly suggesting that people wait to take PHYS 218 until after the have taken MATH 151. It isn’t a pre-requisite yet but it is going to be I think beginning the fall of 2018. Just got back from my son’s NSC and most people followed their advice.
@pbleigh I think that is great that your son would like to do that! And as someone that took Calculus 3, it is definitely easier than calculus 2, and most students I have asked have said the same.
@TxSker You’re right, students should do what is in their best interest, and especially if scholarships require a 3.5, then by all means take the GPA boosters. Just from personal experience, and the advisers I have spoken with, the more credit you take, the more you will be allowed to take upper level courses, which are a lot smaller, and the professors usually don’t have the mentality to make the course more difficult than it needs to be. As I came into A&M with calc 1-3 and started off at Linear Algebra, it was such a relief when the class was incredibly small (around 30 students), and the professors (I actually talked with 3 that taught that class) were very willing to help students succeed.
Another bit of information from personal experience, and hopefully it may help some students that fall in this situation. Since I came in with a lot of math credit (Calc 1-3 and Diff Eq), they waived my math requirement for ETAM, and since I came in core complete (all my POLS, HIST, ICD’s, etc) and the advisers let me take major specific courses since their were no other courses for me to take. As a general engineer, most students are told they can NOT take major specific courses until they are in their major, but what is nice, is that the more credits you have, the higher chance of them letting you take major specific courses since they won’t make you wait if you’re ahead.
I was able to take 4 major specific classes for the department I had a preference with my freshmen year. And after speaking with the department advisers, they basically told me that if they see that I can pass their courses with at least B’s, then I am pretty much going to be accepted into the department, since it also shows an individual who is passionate about their department. So this is another method of increasing your chances to get into your preferred major even if your GPA isn’t quite there.
If students aren’t going to be doing anything THIS summer, sign up for summer II courses at a community college before they get to A&M, so they can stay ahead of the game. This isn’t to try and show off who comes in with a lot of credits, this is to help those that want to save money and time, and possible graduate early and show other ways to go about taking classes. As my mom makes very little, she can’t afford to help with my education. So for those students that are passionate about graduating earlier, and making sure you get into the classes YOU want not the advisers, then I encourage y’all to keep doing your best.
Sorry for the long post!
@TxSker
I can’t wait to see what they do next year. Because for a lot of sophomore classes, either PHYS 218 or PHYS 208 is a prerequisite and it isn’t likely they will write summer school into their jam packed degree plan.
@TamuEngineer
I loved your post! Since I’m an incoming freshman aiming for Mechanical Engineering, I want to take MEEN 222. That is a class even none engineering majors can take (for the Mat Sci Minor) if they have Chem 112 / Chem 107 and PHYS 218. Since I need a 3.0 GPA to keep scholarships, I’ve been heavily discouraged.
Should I just take Chem and Phys in the fall so I can take MEEN in the spring? ( I already planned on taking PHYS 208 at a CC) .
@lessonwitch2 I am glad you liked the post! Anything to help out other students, since this is all information I had to either go back and forth emailing different advisers, department heads, and deans. Also through experience.
As far as taking MEEN 222, depending on the schedule you have, then definitely try! Physics is going to take a lot of your time as far as studying for the tests and occasionally homework. Chemistry is going to have LONG lab reports that can take hours on end to finish. Just make sure you know you can handle the course load. Material science is not a very hard class, and for most classes, you will get a cheat sheet for each test. Definitely a lot easier than Statics!
So as long as you’re good with those classes, I say go for it man! Trust me when you’re in the higher level classes, you’re going to want to keep doing the same thing and staying ahead so you can take the classes you want earlier!
Good luck!