NW: "Whole Brain Eng'g". Mich: "No more English!"

<p>I go to Michigan, and while you don’t have to take an “English” class, you do have to take “Technical Communications” classes and depending on the major there is often writing in the actual engineering classes. The amount of writing varies heavily by major. In IOE almost every class requires some sort of paper or project accompanied with a report, in EECS there’s very little writing outside of the required TechComm classes. I hear ChemE also has a lot of writing but I don’t really know. I wouldn’t base anything off of what the school’s “policy” is though. The difference between them is who they’re trying to attract. Both schools are going to be ABET accredited for whatever major. </p>

<p>In addition to that, there is 16 credits of HU/SS requirements (which is any HU/SS class of your choice - except apparently 400-level Econ) and some number of free electives that he can use for anything. If he wants more writing, he can take more writing.</p>

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<p>Not the OP, yes a humanities major, yes had to take math and science courses.</p>

<p>That student may have also taken an AP course and have fulfilled his English requirements. As one poster already stated- students are not prohibited from taking nonengineering courses. Your son can take his pure electives in whatever field he chooses. You as the parent have to remember he is choosing engineering because that is his first interest even if you would choose differently. I majored in Chemistry, not Chemical Engineering, eons ago for good reasons. Similar but not the same. Be sure you primarily look at the engineering curriculum and don’t worry about him not getting as many humanities et al as you would want. Many different kinds of people in the world and one size shouldn’t fit all- personally I think social science/humanities majors should be required to take more science than usually required.</p>

<p>Late to this discussion but feel like I need to provide feedback. DS graduated in June (in 4 yrs) from NU with a BS AND MS in ChemE. He used all of his AP non-math and non- science credits to satisfy the ‘humanities’ component that NU requires. He easily (with no summer classes) graduated with both degrees in 4 years (12 quarters). It takes paying attention as early as second semester sophomore year, but it’s entirely do-able and a great $ saver to get both degrees in 4 years. If your kid has English, Euro-History, Amer-History and Physics C AP’s, and scores 4 or 5 on those, he should be good. DS’s making very nice salary at a Fortune 30 company that interviews every year on campus. Being a Michigan grad myself, I know that a big, public U sometimes means you don’t get the classes you need when you want them, so there you go: more for you to think about ;)</p>

<p>STEM schools do have differing philosophies with respect to the hum/soc sci. Harvey Mudd’s mission statement: “Harvey Mudd College seeks to educate engineers, scientists, and mathematicians well versed in all of these areas and in the humanities and the social sciences so that they may assume leadership in their fields with a clear understanding of the impact of their work on society.”
So Mudd looks for STEM students who still want to pursue some manner of h/ss. And the students go to Mudd, in part, because they can have access to the other liberal arts colleges at the Claremonts.</p>

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I had to take three hours of math, which I satisfied with the lowest-level course possible. I had to take 12 hours of science, which I satisfied with Biology I and II and Intro. to Geology. S1, also a journalism major, got his 3 hours of math out of the way as a first-semester freshman. He started with 4 hours of science credit through AP and took Biology and Integrated Science. He swore after his HS chemistry experience he was never going near it again.</p>

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<p>I’m surprised you had so much science. In Engineering at Michigan (for most engineering majors - ChemE and BME are higher) we only have 15 hours of Science. Just any Chemistry and two Calc based Physics classes. I’ve taken roughly the same amount of Humanities (I have 12 credits of Philosophy) as I have Science as an Engineering major. It seems a bit silly to me to require 12 credits of science and only 3 credits of math. Were you actually required to take that much science or did you just choose to do so?</p>

<p>No, the science was required. As far as the math goes, we used to say if we could do math we wouldn’t be majoring in journalism.</p>

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<p>It would be nice if most students knew how to write and speak correctly at graduation. Even better if they had been taught to think critically. Heck, it would be nice if our education majors could write and speak correctly when they graduate.</p>

<p>A pipedream at its best!</p>

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Management major here. As part of the core curriculum I have 30 hours of engineering and hard science, and an additional 9-12 hours of advanced math through Dif Eqs (can’t remember the exact number now).</p>

<p>My D is a recent NU Eng grad, and has been well-served by the Anthropology courses she took at NU. She is currently well paid and working in her field, but surrounded by a completely different culture, mind-set and language. Her NU courses have helped her adjust to the different life-style and mores she is exposed to on a daily basis while she works in Texas. :)</p>

<p>And BTW - The DTC Freshman course - EXCELLENT! My wife and I were extremely impressed by the ingenuity on display. And it should also be mentioned, that the real-life “Customer - End Users” of the projects are either handicapped in some way, or companies that extensively hire the handicapped.</p>

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<p>If either has provided any practical use, which provided more? The one math course, or all of the science combined?</p>

<p>One would hope that a journalism major would take enough courses in various other subjects to be able to understand the types of things that s/he will be reporting on and writing about.</p>

<p>OP here–I know I had to take at least 4 science/math courses. I can’t remember past that!</p>

<p>I’m relieved that it seems the opportunity is there for engineers at most schools to explore other interests–which my son does have. It’s not me pushing, I promise! :slight_smile: And I have no problem with kids who DON’T want to do anything besides science, or anything besides English. People have different personalities.</p>

<p>But you do have agree that many of the tours are scripted by the universities–deliberate choices. Both the info session presenter and the tour guide at Michigan bragged about the “no English” thing (yes, you can take Tech Writing instead). The info session guy commented on our group’s lack of enthusiasm at his pronouncement.</p>

<p>Michigan is a fantastic school and I’m sure my son would have many opportunities if he were accepted–I am not knocking it. I was impressed that the tour guide said that the Dean wanted every Eng’g student to study abroad. By contrast, our state U engineering department is resistant to their kids going abroad. It messes up the order of requirements, etc etc.</p>

<p>I do agree that the design classes for intro Engineering students are a fantastic idea. To me, that larger framework is what I want son to experience.</p>

<p>At NU you can study abroad in the summer, so that wouldn’t mess up course sequencing. My D is looking into studying Spanish in Seville this summer, and for now she still plans to co-op following the typical schedule (right now she’s just trying to survive first quarter, freshmen year midterms- yikes).</p>

<p>Make sure to compare the size of the engineering schools your son is considering. When you put it down on paper, the difference can be quite eye-opening.</p>

<p>We found that study abroad opportunities and emphasis was one thing that varied a lot between engineering schools. That’s one thing my son really likes about WPI :)</p>