Freshman Undeclared Engineer Schedule - Please Help!

<p>I was admitted to Cal as an Undeclared Engineering major for the fall. However, I am very confused about what classes to take my first semester as I don't have much of an idea of what I want to go into. I've always thought about MAYBE doing chemical engineering but I realize that I would have to transfer to the College of Chemistry. However, I don't really think I would enjoy ChemE; not certain though. I've also been looking into Engineering Physics as a more theoretical discipline. I have never taken a physics class but I think I might find that interesting.</p>

<p>For math, I will be taking the AP Calculus AB exam in May and am certain that I will pass. Therefore, I think Math 1B will be an appropriate place to begin.</p>

<p>For chemistry, I am clueless. I realize that if I wanted to do chemical engineering, I would have to take Chem 4A instead of 1A but I don't really want to take 4A unless I'm absolutely certain that I want to go into ChemE. I'm taking the AP Chem exam in May and I'm very sure that I will pass. However, I've read that it is strongly recommended to take 1A if you are required to take 1B because of your major's requirements. Should I take 4A and if I don't, should I go ahead and skip 1A or take it?</p>

<p>For English, I'm taking the AP English Literature exam in May and I think I'll get either a 2, 3, or 4.</p>

<p>Here are some other courses that I've thought about taking my first semester:
E 7 (don't think I need CS 61A)
E 92 (pretty sure this might help with my situation)
E 98 (if not in the fall, I definitely want to take this at some point)
E 10 (I really don't want to take it but I'm not sure if it would be wise not to take it)
Physics 7A (I've been told that it would be wise to wait until the spring to begin the physics sequence)</p>

<p>I'm also taking Stat 20 over the summer but that shouldn't really matter in the context of my fall schedule.</p>

<p>Thank you very much!</p>

<p>P.S: I realize that this username posts lots of things like this and other questions. Five of us at my school share it and we're all going to Berkeley so we've been posting questions pretty frequently.</p>

<p>math 1b (or 53), physics 7a, cs 61a, and something easy.</p>

<p>E98 is offered only in the fall. If you don’t take it now, you’ll never take it.</p>

<p>For Chem 4A, if you’re only half-hearted to take it, just don’t take it. You can do what ChemE people study partially under Material Science Engineering or Mechanical Engineering (thermo, heat transfer, micro-scale dynamics, etc.) and I think going through 4 years of College of Chemistry is not worth it unless you have the love and passion for it. </p>

<p>Also, wait for E7 until spring when the Civil Engineering Department teaches it. (E7 is taught by MechE dept. in the fall in Civil dept. in the spring) Prof. Horowitz and Prof. Franklach are not the best duo for this class. Maybe go to the first 2 lectures and perhaps you’ll like their presentation style, but it certainly isn’t for me and many others.</p>

<p>Is E10 even offered now? I don’t see it in the class schedule. I know almost every department except MechE have backed out and no professor wants to do it.</p>

<p>Chemistry is less critical than physics in terms of prerequisite sequences for non-chemical engineering, so if you have the math prerequisites (Math 1A or AP calculus credit), you may want to take Physics 7A (or H7A) and defer the decision of what chemistry course to take (if you need more than your AP credit for your major) until later.</p>

<p>Also, if you are unsure of whether to use your AP credit to skip Chemistry 1A if you need Chemistry 1B for your major, you can check your knowledge against the old final exams: <a href=“https://tbp.berkeley.edu/students/exams/chem/1A/[/url]”>https://tbp.berkeley.edu/students/exams/chem/1A/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Suggested schedule, assuming that you are confident in your Math 1A knowledge (see <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/1305840-freshman-math-faq.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/1305840-freshman-math-faq.html&lt;/a&gt; ):</p>

<ul>
<li>Math 1B (or H1B)</li>
<li>Physics 7A (or H7A)</li>
<li>Engineering 92</li>
</ul>

<p>Fill in the rest of your schedule with courses from the following:</p>

<ul>
<li>the various “what do ____ engineers do?” type of seminars in specific departments (e.g. Civil Engineering 92, Nuclear Engineering 92, depending on which majors you may be interested in)</li>
<li>Engineering 7 or Computer Science 61A</li>
<li>Chemistry 1A or 1B, if your likely majors need 1B; use the old 1A final exams to determine whether you should skip 1A (4A if you really like chemistry and prefer to be in a classroom with chemistry and chemical engineering majors instead of other engineering majors, biology majors, and pre-meds)</li>
<li>Engineering 28, if your likely majors need it</li>
<li>Humanities or social studies courses as listed here: <a href=“http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/current-undergraduates/requirements/hss-humanities-current-list/HSS%20NEW%20REQ.pdf[/url]”>http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/current-undergraduates/requirements/hss-humanities-current-list/HSS%20NEW%20REQ.pdf&lt;/a&gt; ; note that AP English with a score of 4 fulfills the first half of the reading and composition requirement</li>
</ul>

<p>Looks like the links to the actual final exams in the Tau Beta Pi web site are all broken.</p>

<p>You can find Chemistry 1A final exams from the search function on [University</a> of California, Berkeley](<a href=“http://www.berkeley.edu%5DUniversity”>http://www.berkeley.edu) :</p>

<p>[UC</a> Berkeley Search](<a href=“You searched for index.shtml - University of California, Berkeley”>You searched for index.shtml - University of California, Berkeley)</p>

<p>Ok that makes sense now. How does this sound…</p>

<p>Fall:
Math 1B
English R1A
Physics 7A
E 7
E 92</p>

<p>Spring:
Math 53
Chem 1B
Physics 7B
English R1B
E 98</p>

<p>Sound like a good idea? Doable?</p>

<p>The schedules look normal in terms of workload for engineering majors, but they must be considered in context with the majors you are considering. Which majors are you considering, and which do you think are most likely?</p>

<p>Remember that different 98 and 198 sections can have different topics, which will not necessarily be the same in different semesters.</p>

<p>What is going on here.</p>

<p>E98 is taught by 3 upperclassmen in different majors. Of course the freshman has no idea what each section is going to cover since the instructors themselves don’t know who are they teaming up with until the semester starts. </p>

<p>But more importantly, E98 is taught only in the fall so you’ll be taking both E92 and E98 at the same time if that’s what you are intending to.</p>

<p>Also, as for “in context with the majors you are considering”, the only course that is possibly not relevant for some engineering majors is Chem 1B. Otherwise, all of the courses listed above are necessary for any engineering majors.</p>

<p>From the [College</a> of Engineering Announcement — UC Berkeley College of Engineering](<a href=“http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/college-of-engineering-announcement]College”>Undergraduate Guide - Berkeley Engineering) , major-specific courses (other than math, physics, H/SS, Chemistry 1A or 4A) that are likely to be taken in freshman year for each major:</p>

<p>Bio: Chemistry 3A or Chemistry 112A, BioE 10 or E 10, E 7 or CS 61A
Civil: E 7, E 10
EECS: CS 61A, CS 61B (science elective listed for freshman year, but AP chemistry covers it)
Eng Math/Stat: E 7 or CS 61A, technical elective
Eng Physics: E 7 or CS 61A, Chemistry 1B (technical electives listed for sophomore year)
Env Eng Science: E 7, technical elective
IEOR: E 7, E 10
MSE: E 7, E 10 (Chemistry 1B listed for sophomore year)
ME: E 7, E 10 (E 28 listed for sophomore year)
NE: E 7, E 10</p>

<p>Ok I’ve revised it a little and came up with this…</p>

<p>Fall:
Math 1B (4)
English R1A (4)
E 7 (4)
E 92 (1)
E 98 (1)
=14 units</p>

<p>Spring:
Math 53 (4)
Chem 1B (4)
Physics 7A (4)
English R1B(4)
=16 units</p>

<p>How is that?</p>

<p>E10 is now back in fall schedule. It seems like there’s only one module (the MechE one) for now. You could take it this fall or wait until spring when other departments join in too.</p>

<p>I think I said earlier that E7 this fall with Franklach and Horowitz is really not recommended… E7 midterms in the fall are handwriting the codes while in spring it’s all multiple choice. Either semester comes with monster problem sets, so at least pick one which kind of test is more comfortable for you.</p>

<p>In short, include E10 somewhere in your schedule and perhaps move some classes around if you choose to.</p>

<p>Hey just a quick question,
So you are going to take math 1B this fall semester as a freshman, are you super sure that you can do that? Because I am doing IB HL math, and could be exempt from Math 1A, however people are saying in this forum and cal’s websites that in the first semester we can’t take courses which had prereqs that IB/AP credits could fulfill or something… Can someone help?</p>

<p>The College of Engineering lets you use IB HL math with a score of 5 or better to fulfill Math 1A and 1B:</p>

<p><a href=“http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/current-undergraduates/advising/advising%20handbbk%2011-12.pdf[/url]”>http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/current-undergraduates/advising/advising%20handbbk%2011-12.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/1305840-freshman-math-faq.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/1305840-freshman-math-faq.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Don’t worry about TeleBears enforcing prerequisites.</p>