Is this a bad idea?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

Hello folks,

I’m currently a student enrolled at a Texas community college who wants to transfer to a top state university for engineering or any other STEM related field. I currently don’t have a specific career plan I want to follow, however, I want to try and get into electrical or computer engineering with a hardware emphasis, or mechanical engineering.

Right now I’m planning on taking Calculus I online for the very first time paired with General Chemistry I in the same semester. In addition, I’m also going to take General Psychology, History II, and Government I. This is all for Spring 2017.

If all goes well next semester, I plan to take Calculus II and Engineering Physics I (Mechanics) over an 11-week Summer 2017 session; the prerequisite being Calculus I for those two courses.

If next summer goes well, I will take Calculus III, Engineering Physics II (Electricity and Optics), along with General Chemistry II, Government I, and an appropriate filler core curriculum course for Fall 2017.

All three of these semesters will satisfy the general admission requirements for most engineering programs, specifically UT-Austin and TAMU.

I know this may sound like a very strenuous and difficult task, but I really want to transfer and not have to take off any semesters from school. I currently do not have a part time job and I do not have an active social life; I go to class every single meeting and study a little bit every single day. The reason why I’m starting the calculus sequence online is due to my prerequisites; I’m currently enrolled in a trigonometry course at my community college and the requirement for Calculus I at my community college is pre-calculus, not trigonometry. However, I did my research and found out that another college I could enroll in online and pay for credit accepted either a trigonometry or pre-calculus course. Therefore, I went through the admission steps to enroll myself into that course.

Regarding my math background, the last math course in high school I took was pre-AP pre-calculus, which is essentially a more rigorous version of the regular pre-calculus course at my high school in preparation for AP calculus, which I was unable to take. I managed to pull out a B+ with little studying mainly due to leisure time and it being my senior year of high school. Heading into college, I took the COMPASS placement exam hoping to place into calculus I. However, I placed into trigonometry, which I’m currently taking right now. The course is going alright; I have an 88 and next week’s final exam will determine whether I finish the course with a B+ or A-. Most of what I learned this past semester in that course was the same trigonometry material from my high school + a little bit of vector trigonometry I have never seen before. I found it silly to step into another semester of college credit precalculus, therefore I wanted to start calculus as soon as possible. I have also kept my notes from my high school precalculus course for reference. So, I’ve had precalculus, but I don’t know if it’s sufficient enough for calculus.

In my opinion, the science courses are probably going to be the most difficult. I haven’t taken a chemistry course since my sophomore year of high school, and my physics background isn’t very great either. I know and have heard mechanics and electricity & optics are calculus based physics, therefore it will take more applications to learn and understand the material.

What I want is feedback from you guys. Does this sound like a very crazy, ambitious task, or is it very doable? Should I take less courses next semester to focus on calculus and chemistry, or is a normal schedule appropriate? Should I just finish calculus online next semester and take a break for the summer, or follow through with my plan? Is it a bad idea to take a semester break in the general chemistry sequence?

Any insight, suggestions, comments, honesty, etc. is greatly appreciated. I know there’s probably similar threads online, however I don’t really want to sift through CC to find them. Thank you for reading!

2

The best way to handle this is talk to your advisor and some of your professors and you have to analyze yourself if your GPA (as indicator of your qualification) will be strong enough to study at a top state university for engineering or any other STEM related field. Every year or even semester, the courses in engineering are becoming more difficult and interesting. You have to know the concepts and its logic and not using the memorization. But not to worry those concepts and logic can be learned since there is tons of information out there you can get from library. internet, etc.

Regarding you are ambitious or not, it is not easy to quantify. But, I believe that ambitious is good as a driving force for success and nothing is wrong with that. Mentally strong (ambitious) and focus will result in your success. Nothing is impossible.

3

I really don’t see the point in talking to an advisor at this moment; I’m only a community college student and I haven’t even started the basic engineering courses. Also, I will only have 18 hours of transferable credit after the Fall 2016 semester. I’m really concerned with my current GPA from those 18 hours (6 courses) though…two of those courses are from a full year of high school dual credit, which I got an ‘A’ and a ‘C’ respectively. The three of the four other courses don’t even fulfill the degree requirements for the majors I want to transfer into at my prospective transfer universities, and I’m worried about finishing with an ‘A’ or a ‘B’ in them. If I finish with 3 A’s and a B this semester, I will have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 from those 18 hours, and if I finish with 2 B’s and 2 A’s, I will have a 3.33 cumulative GPA. As you can see, that ‘C’ in English is bringing me down, and I haven’t even started the harder courses yet. For UT-Austin and Texas A&M, most engineering majors are competitive with a 3.7-4.0 in transfer credit from the courses I plan to take from my original post. I’m just worried about getting anything less than an ‘A’ at this point, as it will automatically destroy my chances at admission.

Although I will definitely look into talking to one possible sometime during or after the Spring 2017 semester; thanks for that.

I feel ambitious, but I’m questioning on whether I can handle the academic rigor. I really don’t want to be a liberal arts major as I’m not a fan of memorization or applications of terminology; I like the logical emphasize that engineers and scientists practice in their fields.

4

If you don’t think your current advisor will know enough about engineering courses, seek out an engineering advisor or prof. You need a sounding board who understands the classes at your school.

5

So, you have only 18 credits? and wanting to transfer to a top state university for engineering or any other STEM related field from community college?

What is your current cumulative GPA? and have you checked that top state u requirements for transfer?

You play also the If questions like this: I’m worried about finishing with an ‘A’ or a ‘B’ in them. If I finish with 3 A’s and a B this semester, I will have a cumulative GPA of 3.5

The IF questions are scary and I don’t know what to do since I am not the expert in school transfers etc. Therefore, if you don’t believe your current advisor will guide you then just like Colorado_mom said: seek out an engineering professor in your school. Make an appointment.

Anyhow, there is a forum called What are my chances, they should be able to give in-depth analysis regarding your situation. And I am sorry that my answers are not to your satisfaction.

6

It’s fine; I just wanted some insight. There’s no “satisfaction” to anything I’m asking.

I have checked requirements for transfer at schools. I’m just a new college student who’s suffering from dread and I’m not even at university yet.

I’ll try to find an engineering professor, or at least a math or science one. I’m just trying to research as much information as I can.

I’m sorry if I crammed too much information at once in my posts.

7

That’s also why I’m posting my plans for the next few semesters; I’m planning to through those before I transfer.