My son was accepted into the Pre-engineering program at CU last fall.
Direct Admit into the College of Engineering is extremely competitive The middle 50% had a GPA of between 3.93-4.00. The college is bursting at the seams, so getting in is pretty tough.
Students that are not direct admits are then evaluated for Pre-eng. Pre-eng gives you a structured path into the engineering program, and allows you to live in the engineering âQuadâ, and have access to other engineering resources and certain classes.
For the students that are part of the Pre-engineering program about 25% successfully transfer to the College of Engineering. However, it is guaranteed entry to the major of your choice if you meet the requirements of the program. My son was able to transfer to Engineering after one semester, due to his academics. You can spend up to four semesters in the program.
Pre-engineering students take mostly the same classes and first year engineering students. You can petition to get into certain engineering classes if there are seats available. There is an engineering projects course that is specifically open to Pre-eng students. Calculus is the same for Pre-eng and Eng students.
Ends up being a risk that you have with engineering. Often you may get into the engineering college as a freshmen but need to apply to your specialty after your freshmen year (and admits are competitive). So even getting into the engineering college doesnât necessarily mean you will get into your specialty/get an degree in it.
I thought the same thing about the program when we first were introduced. Our son had been admitted to engineering programs at other schools, but chose CU, primarily for the fact that it had a specific major he wanted. The one thing we really liked about the pre-eng program is that it is Guaranteed Admission into the major of your choice, as long as you pull the grades and meet the requirements. Most folks that are not successful self determine that the academic rigor is more than they were expecting, and move to a non-engineering degree. I donât have the statistics, but have been told that there is significant attrition from the engineering school (like most schools), because of the academic rigor. Part of the value of the pre-eng program is the ability to truly determine if engineering is for you, and to have dual advising from both Arts&Sciences and Engineering. Honestly, there is very little downside to being place in Pre-eng instead of Engineering. Plus you get the added benefit of lower (A&S) tuition while in the program.
Oregon State places every engineering student into Pre Engineering, and asks to see their GPA after the first year to decide, but also has quotas for majors like mechanical engineering. UW Seattle also has few direct admits into Computer science, one must work oneâs way in there too.
Pre Engineering does give a student a chance to explore and look over other majors. Physics and math are both absolutely top programs at CU Boulder, but more theoretical, and possibly difficult than engineering degrees for some students. Math and physics majors get jobs at all the same companies as big data/data science firms like those majors, and many jobs are in data science today. They will also hire CS, Engineering physics and applied math majors from CU Boulder. Applied math at CU is in engineering, not A&S.
Basically, if you do well enough your first semester, you get to be in your major by the 2nd. Itâs pretty easy to get a 3.3 in first semester of freshman year with intro classes. I was admitted into engineering directly, but if I was pre-engineering, my first semester schedule would be exactly the same. The same math, physics, intro to engineering, and humanities classes. There are a few exceptions where pre-engineering majors wouldnât be able to take (only one I can think of is ASEN 1400), but otherwise there shouldnât be any worries. Overall, if your son is dedicated enough to make it through 4 years of engineering, getting through the pre-engineering process should be easy.
You may think that 25% is not a good number, but when I started at CU in my first EE course, they told us to look to the left and the right because those people will not be there when you graduate. Yep, 33 of the 100 of my classmates that started in EE graduated with me four years later. Admittance is no guarantee of graduation.
If you really apply yourself, Iâm sure you can be admitted into engineering through IUT from what Iâve heard. Nevertheless, CU Boulderâs engineering program, and the university at large, is becoming way more competitive for admission. Engineering at CU Boulder may one day rival Stanford and MIT. The word is out about CU Boulder. I am glad I was admitted and have decided to go
Wanted to add my comments even though @brooklynlydia 's child already decided to decline CU.
My son was admitted early action to pre-engineering (applied as ME). I have my concerns about the program as well, but after visiting the campus last month and meeting with the Pre-engineering advisor, I am a little less worried. The advisor said that given the low conversion rate from previous years, they decided to decrease the number of pre-engineers admitted for Fall 2018 to those who were more likely to advance. She did assure me that it was an automatic admission if the minimum GPA was met, and not meant to be a 5-year program.
Thanks to @CUBuffDad and @Owlert for your comments. The campus is gorgeous and the vibe in the engineering quad and students was so positive, collaborative and âboldâ! We happened to visit during engineering week, which was amazing! CU Boulder is one of my sonâs top 2 choices at this point, the other being UIUC where he is directly admitted into the COE. What are your thoughts about housing as a pre-engeineer?
It could be a huge blessing. High school students going into CU Engineering are dropped into the deep end (on day zero) of a very deep pool. There is no ramp up, no expectation setting, no getting to know the environment. No meet and greet. Nothing.
And a lot of these freshman wonât get through that first year. They drop like flies. Just too much, too fast. Expectations are through the roof. Pre- may offer a more gentle ramp up before the soul crushing starts. I bet those who get through pre-engineering have a good shot at graduating as an engineer.
Yes it is like being dropped in the deep end, my oldest D graduated a couple of years ago in ChemE, and the professor for her materials and energy balances in her sophomore year failed a third of the class (gave them a C- or worse when you need a C for the class to count). Needless to say that took out quite a few more students who changed majors) as failing that one class adds another year.
These students that failed/changed majors are all very qualified to be in ChemE, but it can be shocking at the amount of work that they have to do compared to high school which they might have breezed through without working that hard.
@BayAreaMom15 My son lives in the Engineering Quad in Crosman. The Quad dorms are older, but you canât get any closer to the Engineering Center. Crosman has private baths, which he really likes, and he has two roommates instead of one. All the others are central baths. Kittridge is newer and still close. The Quad is all engineering where Kittridge is more âblendedâ, so it really depends on what environment you are after. Since the freshman curriculum is pretty standard, most the kids are all studying for the same midterms at the same time, so it is quiet when it needs to be and there is always someone to bounce questions off of or to study with. Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
I think with a strong AP or IB curriculum, including calculus and physics, as well as chemistry a student can get As at CU Engineering. If the background is not strong in physics, thats a problem, but I believe if a student starts from the very beginning, its still possible to pass. The key is the students should not accept AP credits in math or physics if
the student feels he was not mastering the subject. He/she can start at the very beginning in math and physics. One can and should hire a tutor for math and physics and students can prepare in advance, the summer before by reviewing both physics and calculus with on line classes, see Coursera, MIT Open Course, and Khan Academy. Review Calculus 1. Most students have not learned calculus very well, because high schools are not teaching it very well. So your student can succeed at CU Engineering, if they study the summer before, any subject they are weak in, and also get extra help once they are floundering. its not easy to pass Calculus 1, 2 and 3. Its not easy to pass physics 1 and 2. I am a little surprised to hear about the chemical engineering weed out class, but I believe it. Yes there is a weed out process at ANY good engineering school.
This is how CU Engineering is ranked well. Its really not that different than any well ranked engineering college, like Purdue U in Indiana, for instance ,AND more importantly, thats what employers require,
if a student is to design a pharmaceutical plant to create cancer drugs for instance. Do you really want someone who cannot understand mathematics and chemistry to be responsible to manufacture your cancer drugs?
Engineering careers come with great responsibility. For instance, a metallurgist I know, young woman, graduate of Colorado School of Mines, has a good job with a metal smelter. If she makes mistakes in her chemistry or calculations, its millions of dollars lost for her mining company. Likewise, if electrical engineers or chemical engineers work in the semiconductor industry, one mistake in the cleanroom can scrap hundreds of thousands of dollars of integrated circuit products.
Yes, its hard to be an engineer. Sorry to sound a little sarcastic, but thats my experiences. Its not for someone who cannot buckle down and get extra help at CU Engineering and pass with a grade of C.
If a student attends an âeasierâ engineering college than CU Boulder Engineering , they are likely to go into sales, and not actually become an engineer. Thats fine, one must land where one does.
The weed out processes in industry are brutal, much much more brutal than anything happening at CU Engineering, for freshman. Be glad if your student is weeded out, he/she may not have had the will or the math skills to complete it.
The weed out is very very gentle at CU. The weed out at AMD, Intel, HP, or a pharmaceutical company will make you glad that we have standards.
I repeat, do you really want a person without strong math skills mixing your cancer drugs?
I realize this thread has wandered off topic from what the OP intended, but her son is going elsewhere. My son is direct admit to engineering at Boulder and considering other schools he has been admitted to. Iâm actually glad to hear engineering is so rigorous at Boulder, or else the degree wonât mean much if my son were to graduate from the program. My son was admitted to a couple other programs, including a small school where he would get more attention. All these comments are helpful to me because we are weighing the small versus large environment, and where he would be successful.
You asked about the profile. My son was admitted into pre-engineering with a 3.92 unweighted GPA, 31 ACT (with 35 math and 33 science), 770 Math 2 SAT subject test, and 750 physics SAT subject test. I was surprised when he did not get into college of engineering; however, after looking at pre-engineering, I think the extra advisory piece at the beginning will be good, and I expect he may enter the engineering program after one semester. It seems like he will get extra support in pre-engineering from the beginning which will be helpful. He will do the Arts & Sciences honors program which allows him to take courses with 17 students.
