<p>Firstly, I apologize for posting the same kind of chance threads over and over again. But I've been getting pretty paranoid/obsessed lately w/ my admission to Columbia SEAS :(. Anyway, could someone please evaluate if my courseload's acceptable for SEAS?</p>
<p>1st semester
calc I
honors bio I
general chem I
writing seminar I</p>
<p>2nd semester
calc II
honors bio II
general chem II
writing seminar II
REU</p>
<p>summer
calc III
eng. phys I</p>
<p>3rd semester
diff. equn
phys chem I
mass & energy bal (cheme major course)
REU</p>
<p>winter
intro econ</p>
<p>Overall GPA sofar: 3.7ish</p>
<p>*All labs (for science courses) are included in the lec course, so they're not listed separately. </p>
<p>Although my courseload for this semester is A LOT heavier but I guess they're not taken into account for the admission. What I'm worrying about is my last semester's courseload, which looks considerably lighter compare to those in the 1st yr, though phys chem was actually an insanely difficult class. Because somebody in the past mentioned ppl who have successfully obtained admission usually take 18~19 credits per semester, my schedule obviously does not look too promising.
Do u guys think the lacking of a more rigorous courseload would seriously hurt my chances to SEAS? Highly appreciate your opinions, thanks.</p>
<p>tensplyr, the one course you're referring to was taken during the winter break right before the spring semester begin. The total # of courses I took last semester was 4 (see courses under semester 3), but still not very rigorous I guess...</p>
<p>Do you go to a school which counts each course as a "unit"? Or are there credit hours associated with each of your terms? Guesstimating your credit hours (compared to what they might typically be for Engineering majors), I get:
1st semester -15
2nd semester - 15 (plus REU (I don't know what that is))
summer - 8
3rd semester - 11 (" " " ")
winter - 3</p>
<p>I counted most of your lab sciences as 4 credits. If they were only 3 credits, then your credit hours might be a little light. Are you going for ChemE or BiomedE? And are you currently a soph trying for junior transfer?</p>
<p>My impression is that what matters more than your number of units is that you have the base courses out of the way for the major. </p>
<p>The best way to figure out if your courseload is "light" is to compare exactly what you have taken with what a typical freshman/soph in your planned major has taken at your target school. Engineering depts. usually have that pretty well outlined on their websites.</p>
<p>Key point: what you are taking this term (your heavy load term) DOES matter. The grades won't count, obviously, in the admissions decision; but the units you have taken and the course requirements you have fulfilled, WILL matter.</p>
<p>So, why don't you post your credits earned in total each term? And what you're taking this term? And your planned major?</p>
<p>FWIW, my S applied for sophomore transfer to about 10 schools for EE. He was accepted to all but one (including highly selective). He had:
1st semester - 16 credits (plus 3 AP)=19
2nd semester -15 credits
summer - 8 credits</p>
<p>Now that he has transferred and is a sophomore ("top" school), he has:
3rd semester - 17.5 credits
4th semester - 17.5 credits</p>
<p>Since he was EE and you look more like ChemE, I can't tell for sure if you have most of the key courses out of the way. Kind of looks like you do. So you may be fine. Good luck.</p>
<p>Hi, jmmom. First of all, thanks so much for your help. I'm transferring as a 3rd standing. So here's a list of credits that I've taken for every semester sofar:
AP - 10 credits
1st semester-17 credits (includes 1 PE course and 1 lec suppl. course)
2nd semetser-19 credits (includes 1 PE and 1 suppl)
summer-8 credits
3rd semester-13 credits ***this is what I'm worrying about!
winter-3 credits
*also, REU is undergrad. research, which is counted as a course here at Cornell. And because all the labs are included in the lec courses, they're not counted separately as how the curriculum is set up in my target school.</p>
<p>For ChemE, I think my target school (Columbia SEAS) only requires general chem, math sequence, phys, writing, and 1 major course which I already took last semester.
And my schedule for this semester looks like:
CS - 4 credits
phys chem II - 4 credits
fluid mech - 3 credits
hist - 4 credits
phys chem lab - 2 credits
REU - 3 credits</p>
<p>My planned major is, obviously, chemE, which seems like a rather unpopular/weak eng. field in SEAS. Don't know if that would help my chances.</p>
<p>I am no expert ;). Just been through it with a kid who had to transfer (Tulane eliminated his major), so applied to a lot of schools; gives us a bit of an overview. </p>
<p>I think your preparation looks on target and you come from a school known to be demanding. 13 credits is "normal" for many majors; maybe not so much for Engineering. Did you feel it was low at the time you applied? Did you comment on it in your application? Did you originally start out with more credits that term and then drop?</p>
<p>At any rate, it's late to do anything about it now, right? Try not to worry. You have an excellent GPA.</p>
<p>You're right on the target; I actually did start out with something like 16 or 17credits at the beginning of semester 3, but because of a bad grade on the 1st exam in that additional course, I'd rather drop the course and take it over sometime later than having a B-/C+ on my transcript. Plus struggling thru phys chem w/ Mathematica prog. was extremely stressful for me at the time. The one course I took over the winter "supposedly" accounts for the deficiency of credits in semester 3.
During the time I was completing my appls., I was way more worried about my GPA than my courseload since the admission rep. specifically emphasized only appls. w/ 3.7~3.8 would normally be admitted. So hopefully, my courseload would be overshadowed by my GPA. But thanks for the great help again, jmmom!</p>