<p>The newest version of the ChemEngr curriculum we found is 2008-09. They recommend the following for Freshman year (what do the Th-Pr headings mean?):</p>
<p>Freshman Year - Semester 1
(Th-Pr) Cr<br>
ENGL 104 Comp. & Rhet. (3-0) 3<br>
ENGR 111 Found. in Engr I (1-3) 2<br>
MATH 151 Engr. Math I (3-2) 4<br>
PHYS 218 Mechanics (3-3) 4<br>
University Core Curriculum Elective2 3<br>
KINE 198 Health & Fitness Activity (0-2) 1<br>
Total hours 17 </p>
<p>Freshman Year - Semester 1
(Th-Pr) Cr
CHEM 102/112 Chem. For Engrs1 (3-3) 4
MATH 152 Engr. Math II (3-2) 4
PHYS 208 Elec. and Optics (3-3) 4
University Core Curriculum Elective2 3
KINE 199 Reqd Phys. Act. (0-2) 1
Total hours 18</p>
<p>I think it's crazy to enter engineering taking 17/18 hours. Luckily, my son has some AP credits he can use towards the core curriculum electives. Of course, that would mean that dropping one class would put him under 12 hours. What is the problem with this? I had a couple of people tell me to make sure he takes enough credit hours to drop one and still remain full-time, but I'm not sure WHY.</p>
<p>Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I know the NSC counselors should help him with this, but I've heard that sometimes they just approve anything and don't offer much guidance.</p>
<p>17/18 hours is really not that much considering KINE and ENGL 111 are like blow off classes. I’m sure your son had calculus before so that should make it much easier for
those classes. I didn’t drop any classes at all and stuck with what I had freshman year. 15 hours 1st semester and 18 hours 2nd semester (Biology major). The next semesters I see that a ChemE would take are down to 15/16 hours. And you said your son had credits for core curriculum, so that should help. And the counselors are pretty much useless, yes. I never went to my advisor b/c she/they were so clueless. You kind of need them to register for classes, though.</p>
<p>The only classes I’d probably worry about is physics and english. Omg, English 104 was a PAIN! Physics is pretty hard from what I’ve heard, especially Mechanics & Elec./Optics.</p>
<p>Well English 104 and 203 are like weedout courses at A&M. But hey, if your son can write/analyze text well, he shouldn’t have much of a problem.</p>
<p>I just got done with freshman engineering at A&M, so I’ll give the low-down on some of the classes:</p>
<p>Ranked from hardest to easiest:</p>
<p>1) Phys 208 - HARD HARD HARD!!! TRY NOT TO TAKE ANOTHER HARD CLASS WHEN YOU TAKE THIS ONE! THIS CLASS IS INSANE! I’ve heard many senior undergrad engineers say that this was the hardest course they ever had to take. It’s like the ultimate weed-out class or something…
2) Math 152/Phys 218 - Both of these classes are also very difficult, but nowhere near the difficulty of the above class. Still though, very difficult.
4) Chem 107 - Not too difficult, but the lab is very hard. The class is actually less work than the lab.
5) Math 151/Math 251 - Not that hard. An “A” was relatively easy for me, and a lot of people would probably agree.
7) Engr 111/Engr 112 - These classes are super long and a pain in the butt, but pretty much everyone gets an A or B.</p>
<p>It stands for something in the neighborhood of (Theory-Practice), where theory corresponds to the number of hours of lecture, and Practice corresponds to the number of hours of lab per week. So for Math 151 (3-2) for example, its saying that you have 3 hours of lecture and 2 hours of lab per week.</p>
<p>And for the question about how many hours is too much, I’d say that anything above 14 is suicide, especially considering the difficulty of the freshman engineering courses. I took 13 hours in each of my first two semesters and I was dying. As for remaining a full time student, that is especially important if you have SCHOLARSHIPS. If you dip down below 12 hours, many of your scholarships will be rejected.</p>
<p>S just finished freshman year in Chem Eng with similar HS AP credit. His experience with the freshman Chemical Engineering counselor was outstanding. She gave hard, honest answers and backed up her recommendations with departmental experience. I’m not sure what you mean by “NSC counselors”. I think you need the Chem Eng dept. counselor to register. Physics seems to be unnecessarily hard at TAMU. </p>
<p>The first semester is definitely an adjustment - regardless of academic talent. S took 15 credits, but decided to take internship/job for 10 hours a week. It’s all about motivation, maturity and the ability to handle freedom. My advice is to let him assess the situation and offer your moral support. You have to balance productivity with stress.</p>
<p>Scholarships are a huge issue. Many require maintaining a 3.5 GPA in addition to 12 credits.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how it works, but we have heard that during your NSC (New Student Conf) you go see an advisor/counselor who works out a tentative schedule for you. Then the following day you login and attempt to select those classes. Was that your son’s experience? What kind of “hard, honest answers” do you mean? My son really has no questions - he will most likely have AP credit in Calculus, but plans to retake it at A&M anyway - that would be the only semi-controversial issue.</p>
<p>Physics was hard back when I took it (long, long ago), but I’m surprised to hear that the English course is considered a “weedout” course. My son has a good physics background, but he is NOT a great writer.</p>
<p>My additional advice: Take the Math Pre-test on-line and at least do a little preparation. You will thank me for this. During your NSC, you will hear students admit that they didn’t prepare, and did poorly on the test. This may affect the approval to register for the class they want. </p>
<p>The advice from the counselor that I expect you to hear is as follows:
Take the Calculus and second semester Chem at TAMU. Take any credits you can for Physics, English, humanities and first semester chemistry.</p>
<p>Counselor comes across lots of kids with potential AP credit. She has a lot of experience with how those kids performed in classes at TAMU. She is very aware of the grade distribution in the freshmen classes. Many students think they are going to maintain their high school workload, and their adjustments can be harder. </p>
<p>From our own experience, I firmly believe she has only the kids’ best interest at heart. My son listened to her, and everything she said was true.</p>
<p>We reviewed his classes the night before and had everything prepared for the next day. Consequently, it took him about 30 seconds to register, and he wound up helping everyone else navigate the interface. The kids that did not have a sample schedule took hours to register, and it was stressful since the advisor had many kids to help. My advice is to review the Course Catalog, look over the specific classes, and make at least one schedule work. If you don’t, I think everything will turn out OK, but will be painful.</p>
<p>Im a transfer student… still waitin on my letter to arrive but I know im in bcuz they sent me my financial aid award letter and told me what I had already been awarded for the fall.</p>
<p>I need to register for classes, and they most are all full by the looks of MyRecords, but it wont let me add/drop any classes! Someone told me I probably had to wait until I go to new student conference but I mean how am I supposed to get in any of these classes when the classes are already full and the next conference isnt until another month from today. </p>
<p>I’m sure admissions knew that they were going to be bringing in a large amount of transfer students with in the summer, so how are we suppose to get classes?</p>
<p>nbeezy, I can tell you what happens for the freshmen NSC, and perhaps it applies to the transfer NSC as well. They hold a certain number of seats in classes in reserve for each conference. Otherwise, everyone would try and sign-up before their conference even began.</p>
<p>The night before my son was to register for his classes, we took a look to create a plan for his schedule and they all said they were full. When we went to his registration appointment the next day, lo and behold, many of them had new openings.</p>
<p>Granted, you won’t get the “pick of the litter” in times and classes, but there should be openings available when your appointment time comes.</p>
<p>nbeezy - if you are in one of the smaller colleges - the your advisor might actually register you while you are in their office. my daughter is in architecture, at her NSC there were like 8 students in Environmental Design. they just lined up outside the advisor’s door at the given time and the advisor registered them.</p>
<p>You won’t hear that from me. Yes, it is a “weed-out” class and it is difficult, but there’s a reason for that. Your upper level engineering classes will be much more challenging and time consuming, and you won’t get out of “weed-out” classes here at TAMU engineering often times until you are a senior (For example, my junior level Aerospace Dynamics class I took this last spring failed 33% of the class).</p>
<p>Aren’t weed out classes supposed to separate the men from the boys? I don’t see anything wrong with that. Nothing worth achieving is supposed to come easy.</p>