I am about to register for spring 2017 classes next week and I have a general idea of what I want to do but I wasn’t sure if I was overdoing it in terms of STEM/technical classes:
PH 106 - General Physics with Calculus II
AEM 201 - Statics
ME 215 - Thermodynamics 1
MTE 271 - Engineering Materials : Structure and Properties
ME 349 - Engineering Analysis
Total credit hours: 16
A little more background info: I am in my first semester at UA and have already covered a lot of my pre-requisites for classes. I am interested with graduating early with this game plan but I am still determining if I should study some other courses and stay the full 4 years. I want to retain a good life balance though.
Before graduating early and losing those 2 semesters of scholarship, at least consider using one of the semesters for a study abroad during the SUMMER. You’re OOS, right? If so, then Bama will give you about $13k to use for that summer. That will more than cover classes, travel and housing at most Summer Abroad programs.
That’s an insane load imo, but a lot depends on how well you did this semester (and the courses you are taking now). I’m a parent, not a student, but it looks very top heavy to me, not balanced at all. You should also not overlook being involved in some things other than school work, to make your resume look balanced. Join some engineering groups and definitely join one of ua engineering design teams. If you do that, I doubt few would be able to handle the load you propose.
I am doing very well my first semester at UA and I got excited with the idea of graduating early since I wanted to save my parents money. They floated the idea of using scholarship money as study abroad funds but I never really gave it serious thought. I never been really out of country before but the idea now has me curious. I have joined an engineering design team and I am involved with multiple honor societies and professional engineering organizations. I guess I got confident in my ability that I wanted to go really fast through the ME curriculum without realizing how hard it’s about to be…
If I had to drop and replace one of those courses above for balance with something else, what do you recommend?
Look ahead to see if you have met all your humanities courses and other things like public speaking that may be required in your degree plan. You can sprinkle these in so your schedule is not so ‘heavy’ brain drain in tech. Look at the sequencing of courses and what courses are offered spring only or fall only (if there are any) or a later sequenced class. Have you thought about Co-op or internship? Those opportunities and as post #1 says about using study abroad opportunity. Do not miss ‘enjoying the process’ with a goal of finishing early when you have your whole career ahead and the 8 semesters of tuition. By doing any of these 3 things could help you w/o spending your parents’ money - and the co-op or internship can earn you more significant $$ plus the work experience - very valuable.
Advisers have limited time with each student, so essentially they will try to facilitate with what the student is expressing as their goal w/o the depth of really looking at all options.
Talk to other students, esp those that may be a bit further along than you in the process. You don’t want to plow ahead and later say “I wish I had …”
DD, in civil eng, pushed up the public speaking course in her degree plan to fill her schedule with more ‘balance’. We didn’t realize she had two humanity requirements to fill, so she took the last one this term junior year.
My son had a 4.0 going into his 5th semester for a different engineering discipline. This semester 4 of his 5 classes are in his major and are very math/physic intensive and he is working very hard now trying to get good grades. A successful first semester doesn’t mean an easy time as you get into your heavy major classes. My oldest graduated with his ME from another university and Thermal dynamics kicked his butt… one of the only times he was ever happy getting a C in a class. I think your schedule is crazy.
Not a good idea. Space out some of those classes and throw in electives. Depending on your skills they may not all be hard for you, but they all will be time consuming/labor intensive.
I was busy the last few days with break and travels so pardon the period of silence.
I have decided to drop MTE 271 in exchange for MUS 121-intro to music listening. I wanted something to balance the hard classes I will be taking with a fun and easy course.
I will be going to look into study abroad more with some research. Thanks everyone for the help!
MUS can be a bit time consuming, I believe. Attending concerts is a mandatory part of it + writing reports. I hope it is enjoyable to you and you find it ‘easy’.
@aeromom I still have till Nov 3 when I sign up for classes. I am open to suggestions on other classes that are good alternatives to engineering that are not too stressful.
I no longer have access to a specific course list on UA, but in the past, there has been a great Fine Arts class specifically for engineers, or check out some of the Honors seminars (if you are in the HC). If you are not in the HC, apply!
DS is a junior this year (5th semester). He took PH 126 (honors), AEM 201 & MTE 271 together his 3rd semester, along with Thermo II and German II. It was one of his harder semesters, mostly due to Thermo II.
He is taking ME 349 this semester (5th semester). ME 349 was harder for him in the beginning because it is not your typical engineering class - it is more of a finance class determining the present value of money and depreciation on equipment.
I would definitely recommend swapping one or two of the upper level classes for one of your Humanities or History/Social&Behavioral. DS is taking Intro to Listening and Criminal Justice this semester.
What did you end up taking. I advised my DD to take Statics, Thermo I, Chem 101 along with SP 202 (going for Spanish Minor) and Soc 101.
Hard to make a suggestion on what you should not take because I do not know what you have credit for and what you are taking this semester.
I have advised DD that for a Coop the best thing to do is have the following completed before Coop: Engr 161 (Solidworks), Statics, Mechanics of Materials (AEM 250/251 - lab). MTE 271 would be nice to have.