<p>Hey I am an EE freshman that is scheduling my classes and I currently have 14 credit hours through engineering orientation, math, physics, and two gen eds. Should I take another gened or is 14 hours enough for my first semester?</p>
<p>I’d say that’s a good load for your first term in college. If it goes well this term, consider adding to your load next term.</p>
<p>What AP credits are you coming in with? Also, why are you not taking either Rhetoric or Introduction to Electrical and Computer Engineer (those must be completed freshman year).</p>
<p>I have credit for ap calc ab, ap Lang, and ap chem. isn’t intro to ece mostly for second semester? Anyways it’s 6 hours so I can’t add it in without taking out a gened</p>
<p>Intro to ECE is 4 hours not 6. Rhetoric is also 4 hours. It is set up so that half the freshmen can take Rhetoric first semester and half the second. Which semester you can take it depends on your last name and you need to check and find out when you can take it. If its first semester you should be taking it rather than one of your 3 hour gen ed courses and then take ECE second semester. If you are designated to take Rhetoric second semester, you should be taking ECE 110 first semester and drop one of the gen ed courses. In other words you should taking 15 hours this semester not 14 by getting rid of one of the Gen ed courses and picking up Rhetoric or Intro to ECE. If you can skip Rhetoric because of a high ACT English score, then you should consider doing ECE 110 this semester rasther one of the Gen Eds or, in that situation, you can just take the two Gen Ed courses and wait for ECE second semester.</p>
<p>Note it sounds like you may not have talked to your counselor or gone for orientation because the counselor would be telling you these things. He should also tell you that you need to pick your Gen Ed courses carefully. You must go through the entire list and determine what you actually need and want and understand one of the great rules: a number of Gen Ed courses count double toward requirements, and some even tripple. For example one three hour course can often be used to fulfill both 3 hours of the social studies requirement and 3 hours of the cultural studies requirement. You only get three hours credit but meet both 3 hours of the social studies requirement and 3 of the cultural studies requirement. The effect is that you can complete your total requirement for Gen Ed by actually taking fewer hours than the total specified for Gen Ed. Thus you should be going through the Gen Ed course list carefully to wisely choose Gen Ed courses.</p>
<p>My counselor didn’t even mention intro to ece and I have credit for rhet. He just suggested two geneds to take. Also both my geneds fulfill two requirements each. I’ll see if I want to add in intro to ece this semester.
Thanks</p>
<p>As long as you are done with rhetoric, you can go with schedule you have or add ECE and drop a gen ed. Taking 14 (or 15) first semester is fine since you will be learning how to learn during that first semester and with some AP credits, you will not be falling behind a four year graduation schedule (or five years if you do coops).</p>
<p>To understand what you have now, you will have a lot of homework (problem sets) in math and physics. Moreover, that 4 hour physics course is really six to seven class hours per week (lecture, quiz group and lab). It will most likely be your most consuming course this semester. Gen Eds generally require less homework time than the math and science courses. You could likely easily add ECE 110, which would also add a lot of homework, this semester while dropping a gen ed because having three science/math/engineering courses in one semester is usually not overwhelming for a typical engineering student at UIUC. However, your current schedule will also work well.</p>
<p>Apart from a high ACT score, what else can give credit for Rhetoric? e.g. what would be an equivalent SAT critical reading/ writing or IB English score?</p>
<p>720 or 730 I think or a 4 in aplang/lit</p>
<p>thanks regalfan11</p>