<p>Hi guys! I was accepted to CIT. I am already 19 years old, so I would like to know is it possible to graduate in three years or at least in three and half years in Chemical Engineering or Electrical Engineering? How good is Carnegie Mellon's Chemical Engineering Major? How taking minor would affect the graduation date?
Thank you</p>
<p>It is possible if you take a summer semester or two
If you do the math, you need at least 379 units to graduate for ECE and 386 for ChemE. I believe 51+ units a semester is considered overloading, which can only be done if you have a 3.0 or greater and it cannot be done in your first semester of college. So that leaves you with 5 semesters to get ~330 units done. Keep in mind that a minor can add another 30+ units.
Summer semesters are not cheap ($300/unit) plus you have to pay for summer living, and not all courses are offered in the summer.
Also, so you get the picture, a unit is equivalent to 1 hr a week for that class. So if your schedule is 52 units, you will spend 52 hrs/week just on your classes, more if your hw takes you longer. If you’re planning to graduate in 3 years, all of your semesters should be 60-65 units. So that’s 60+ hrs a week just on work.
Thus, I don’t suggest you do it for the sake of graduating in 3 years, and just enjoy college while you still can. (College should be more than learning academically, explore other options) Instead, take a normal load of classes and do extremely well in them. That will be more impressive than seeing you take 7 courses and get Cs</p>
<p>EDIT: though if you’re used to rigor and success under lots of work and stress (CMU has plenty of such people), you can always go for graduating in 3 years. (hopefully you had APs and other classes that can fill some required units)</p>
<p>It’s certainly possible, though having a lot of AP credit or transfer credit will help a lot. I came in with a bunch of AP credit and was able to graduate in three and a half years along with a physics minor and a BS in Materials Science. No summer classes needed, and I don’t even remember going much over 50 units ever. My final semester I had to take three classes “for fun” so I’d stay a full time student.</p>
<p>Getting a minor or not is up to you. I had the choice between BS/MS in four years, minor in 3.5, or double major in 4. I knew I was going to grad school, so the BS/MS was a bit of a waste, and there were a bunch of physics classes I wasn’t interested in taking, so I didn’t want a double major. That’s why I went with just a minor and finishing early.</p>