<p>i've noticed how most people posting on this ut subforum are interested in business and liberal arts, in general. i understand that business is the highest-ranked school at ut and liberal arts majors are very popular, but i wanted to know what type of advice engineering majors have to offer first-time freshmen. any advice about engineering societies, classes, professors, research opportunities, certificate programs, etc. would be much appreciated. feel free to post about any engineering discipline :)</p>
<p>personally, i am hoping to major in mechanical engineering. i was looking at the flow chart for the classes ME students should take and i can't decide on all the classes i should have in mind to register for at orientation. for the first semester, rhetoric/writing is suggested which i should be able to gain credit for through my ap english language score and an approved humanities elective is suggested as well. what should i take now that i will have room to take another class because i won't be taking rhetoric/writing. also, is there a good humanities elective that i could take which might be related to science/engineering? the rest of the classes suggested on the flow chart for the first semester look great and i'm really excited about taking them this fall.</p>
<p>I’ve got the same major as you and will be starting in the Fall as well.</p>
<p>It’s pretty easy to get credit for the rhetoric class. Good ACT and SAT scores can get you out of that class besides a 3+ on the AP English Language test.</p>
<p>For my humanities requirement, I’m taking “Introduction to medical and scientific terminology” which should be fairly easy besides a ton of memorization.</p>
<p>If you don’t have a strong background in AP-level high school chemistry or its equivalent like me, it’s recommended that you take a supplementary class to chemistry 301- there’s never any homework and the grade is entirely based on attendance, so it should doubly help in getting a high initial GPA. There’s also a similar supplementary class for calculus.</p>
<p>General engineering classes are definately worth taking. Its basically a guaranteed “A” for attendence. The course prefix is “G E”. For example, M 408C is supplemented with the class “G E 207C”.</p>
<p>thanks for this info. i didn’t know about these classes either until i just read JerAir’s comments. here’s a link to a page i found on the ut site that might be helpful in answering questions related to these classes:</p>
<p>Texan09,
The engineering department has incredible resources. During orientation, you will receive a engineering handbook with everything you ever need to know. There are LOTS of opportunities for student involvement. You can explore their website for info here: [Academics</a> - Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin](<a href=“http://www.engr.utexas.edu/academics/]Academics”>Academics)</p>
<p>intro to medical and scientific terminology sounds kool, but i’m really hesitant to take it considering how much memorization that would entail.</p>
<p>just wanted to bring this thread back up to the front page because i had a question about me205, which i will be taking this fall. i heard from my academic advisor that freshmen are recommended to take it in the spring. this is apparently because it’s self-paced and reguires a lot of self-discipline? i didn’t have a good experience in comp sci at my high school. so i’m thinking that me205 might be difficult because it’s all comp sci and it seems to be centered around C++, not Java (which is what i learned in my ap comp sci class at my high school). is it really difficult? and, becasue it’s self-paced, is it possible to complete all the assignments like really ahead of time and take a couple of days or weeks off from class to focus on other classes?</p>
<p>Absolutely, you can speed up or slow down your pace for me205 as you like. you just have to complete the course by the end of the semester. it is pretty easy especially if you already have some programming background, and there are only two grades : A and F. If you complete it by the end of the semester, you get an A. If you don’t, then an F.
As for self-discipline, I don’t really know about that. But, one thing that kept me going really fast when I took it was my thought “I wanna get this done ASAP.”</p>