<p>Lake Jr. will have a scheduling conflict next fall. At present he can't fit in the required 'Chemical Engineering Process Thermodynamics 1" course without dropping another required class because his small engineering university only offers one section of Ch-E Process Thermodynamics 1 in the fall. Conversely, there will be SEVERAL sections of Introduction to Thermodynamics in the Mechanical Engineering Department next fall.</p>
<p>The university catalog says that the main focus of the Ch-E course is the First Law of Thermodynamics, while the other course emphasizes the First and Second Laws. If he can get his adviser to agree to sign off on using the Intro to Thermo course to satisfy his Ch-E major requirement, would it be detrimental to use the ME class to satisfy the Ch-E requirement?</p>
<p>Does the other required course have other sections that do not conflict? Is the other required course necessary as a prerequisite for anything the semester after? Is the other required course available every semester?</p>
<p>I think this is really up to his advisor. His advisor knows what topics are covered in each class. If the the ME class would leave him with gaps specific to Chem E, his advisor will tell him that and not sign off. On the other hand, if the advisor has had other students do the same and come through it successfully, then he will sign off on it. I don’t think anyone here can tell you specifically if he should or shouldn’t, unless they are at Lake Jr.'s school and are familiar with the 2 courses.</p>
<p>Ch-E Thermodynamics is taught only once a year in the fall. One section only. Apparently there are more ME majors than Ch-E majors at the school. Ch-E Thermodynamics 1 is a requirement for Ch-E Thermodynamics 2. I realize that if this hasn’t been done before at the school, Lake Jr.'s adviser likely won’t sign off on it. I just find it baffling that there are 4 sections of ME Thermo and also it is taught during both semesters, while Ch-E Therm is taught only once a year with only one section. And since that is the case, why in tarnation is Ch-E Thermo scheduled at the same day/time as other courses that are critical to the Ch-E major? I know that many engineers will take longer than 4 years to get the degree but why add to their difficulties?</p>
<p>What is the other required course, does it have other non-conflicting sections available, and can it be taken the following semester without delaying graduation?</p>
<p>UCB, I need to double check. If memory serves, it’s a Chemistry class; a different department, which is probably why there is a conflict. Lake Jr. will need to satisfy 6 more semesters of one kind of Chemistry or another for the Ch-E major. Frankly, the root of the problem is that junior didn’t finish his 2-semester General Chemistry requirement when he should have and it has come back to bite him in the caboose, AGAIN. But college is for exploration and we parents should indulge our kids’ intellectual curiosity. Sigh. I warned him that this was one of the drawbacks of attending a small school; course availability and the sequence of required courses. So far the overall university experience has been great, but this is one of the small stones kids will stumble over in college.</p>
<p>Since you did not name the school, it may be difficult for others to help you in terms of how the schedule can be rearranged to avoid the conflict without causing prerequisite sequences to be delayed.</p>
<p>However, it is likely that the chemical engineering process thermodynamics course is more crucial to prerequisite sequencing than most chemistry courses beyond general chemistry. He may want to see if he can reorder the chemistry courses in his semester-by-semester schedule to avoid the conflict (e.g. take a different chemistry course next semester, and then take the conflicting one some other semester).</p>
<p>Remember, the most important courses to schedule are the ones in crucial prerequisite sequences for the major. Courses which can be rearranged in the semester-by-semester schedule because are not prerequisites to other required courses, are of lower priority in scheduling.</p>