<p>He is ChemE not MechE so it won’t be a disadvantage to him. And he’s a sophomore. I don’t know much about engineering so I don’t know what classes it is needed for for mechanical. It sounds like if your son really wants it and you don’t mind him going a semester or two longer, he should be ok if he can get caught up in math.</p>
<p>For ME, electric circuits / electronics may be needed for upper level electives in robotics and the like later, but is probably not a big issue to delay by a semester otherwise. Check the course catalog.</p>
<p>^ I checked the catalog, and not a problem in terms of pre reqs, just wondered if not knowing MATLAB puts you at a disadvantage. For example, does MATLAB help with CAD?</p>
<p>^^^Yes, and you would really help yourself to understand the relationship if you googled and read the wiki articles - CAD may also be CADCAM.</p>
<p>Thank you; that’s what I was thinking.</p>
<p>I do not think CAD and MATLAB are related other that they are both done on a computer. My younger son took CAD in high school and used if for a project where he took apart an old microscope and made drawings of the individual components and showed how they fit together to make the final device. He received an award for it at the State Fair this past summer.</p>
<p>MATLAB, as far as I can tell, is a computer language that is used for making difficult and tedious numerical complications in Science and Engineering. I had the student edition of it once, found it difficult to use and was never able to do anything with it that I could not do just as easily on a hand held calculator. I never had any training in MATLAB, just the guide book that came with it and like all other instruction manuals for computer software was totally incomprehensible, even though it was supposedly the English language edition.</p>
<p>Oh! Okay, thanks!</p>
<p>To a certain extent I suppose it depends on what you define as “CAD”, or what you want to do and what are the capabilites of your software.Although I’ve used these things, I’m really no expert, but my understanding is that generic term “CAD” and the program MATLAB are two types of software which do different things.</p>
<p>Suppose you have some shape of an engine blade and you want to see how the metal behaves under thermal stress. You would use the “CAD” software to draw out the blade and then use the “MATLAB” to solve the very complex, likely non-linear differential equations to show how the metal heats, expands, etc. In most cases this would involve a numerical method, like something called Runge Kutta, which I’m fairly certain you couldn’t do on your calculator. </p>
<p>I’m certain there are numerous basic “CAD” programs that do only drawing, and other standalone programs or MATLAB add-ons that would allow you to link the results of these CAD programs to MATLAB to do the simulations. THen there are finite element analysis programs, many even open source, that could do the whole thing.</p>
<p>So yes, you can learn basic CAD without being a MATLAB expert. AS a kid I learned autocad and orcad to draw out things before I even heard of MATLAB, possibly before it was even invented :). </p>
<p>At least that’s how I think it works. Of course, I’m sure there are plenty of people who know the answer better than I, and you will probably hear from them.</p>
<p>I see. I was thinking specifically of this class, spring of sophmore year;it does not seem to have any pre-reqs</p>
<p>MECH 211 Computer Aided Design.</p>
<p>MECH 211</p>
<p>Computer Aided Design</p>
<p>3 Semester Hours</p>
<p>Introduction to computer aided design (CAD) techniques and applications to design, analysis, and manufacturing problems. Topics include parametric solid modeling of parts and assemblies, design optimization, two-dimensional drawings, geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, and rapid prototyping of assemblies. Students work in teams for their final project and presentation and use SolidWorks as the primary design and analysis software package.</p>
<p>Lecture/Laboratory, 2 hours.</p>
<p>That sounds like an introductory survey CAD course. I can’t see how you’d need to be a MATLAB expert to do this class. It sounds like it gives you the basics of Solidworks and then has you work as a team to design and model some sort of project. Sounds like it could be fun, and probably more like actual engineering work than a lot of the other classes.</p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>Great…</p>
<p>[Solano</a> Community College cancels its summer session - The Reporter](<a href=“http://www.thereporter.com/news/ci_20094250]Solano”>http://www.thereporter.com/news/ci_20094250)</p>
<p>“Among the consequences, he cited in a press release, are students nearing graduation and in need of a few credits but now will not able to finish in summer; students from other colleges and universities can no longer take summer courses while on break from their school; and high school students in need of make-up credits cannot complete them at SCC this summer. College employees who depend on summer earnings are also affected, as compensation will decrease for some full-time and part-time faculty and staff, Laguerre noted.”</p>
<p>Re-reading this thread for support and encouragement. I might have to skip the discouraging parts for now. Just got a distraught call about a physics test. He would love to see an A on a test, and that just doesn’t seem to be in the works. At this point I just want him to pass…</p>
<p>^I take it someone is spoiling the curve? Cause frequently “no one” gets an actual A, but after the curve is applied there are some nice surprises.</p>
<p>I remember a freshman physics test. The median score was approximately 50 out of 100, with the entire range (0 to 100) represented. At the time (less grade inflation than now), the median was in the C+ range by the usual curves.</p>
<p>My older son, A junior Geophysics major at Sac State is the beneficiary of curves where his Ds in Calculus and Physics get curved to Cs. In contrast, my younger son who is a freshman Physics major at Sac State is the curve spoiler who actually gets As in his Calculus and Physics classes without any curve. I am dreading the inevitable day when both my sons are taking the same Physics class at the same time.</p>
<p>Shrink- Try not to let your son’s panic bother you too much yet. Every time my son had a difficult class, he would call to make sure I was braced for disaster. However, his grades were always fine.</p>
<p>^ Thanks all! Just what I needed.</p>
<p>I am used to panicked calls from my D as well, who will graduate from a college confidential favorite in three weeks. I said to my son, as I’d said to her; “I’m going to check in on you in a few hours. I’m sure you will feel better by then. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 the most hopeless and 10 on top of the world; where are you right now?” </p>
<p>He says 7!. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, I am a 2…</p>
<p>“He would love to see an A on a test” - It doesn’t happen much. Just keep doing what you’re doing…giving support and encouragement. And be glad he calls home ;)</p>
<p>being distraught over not getting an A is much better than worrying about a lesser grade, don’t you think? sounds like he is doing measurably better this semester, which is wonderful!</p>
<p>My S who was put into academic probation after Q1 did much better Q2, after he figured out how to manage his studying and to actually go to office hours!</p>