<p>
</p>
<p>As many have said, freshman year engineers have a basic schedule that they all take together. The general classes are:</p>
<p>Fall Semester: Calc 1, Physics 1, Chem 1, Engineering 1 (programming), Big Seminar, Little Seminar, Elective
Spring Semester: Calc 2, Physics 2, Chem 2 (With lab), Engineering 2 (programming), Big Seminar, Little Seminar, Elective</p>
<p>If you come in with AP credits that might change slightly. For instance you might start the fall with Calc 2 or 3 depending on your scores. You may get out of Chem depending on your scores (Physics as well). The UHC version of Engineering 1/2 is different than the non-UHC (same is said for Calc, Physics, and Chem). The Classes all hover around 80-120 students, with recitations or labs being smaller (15-20) students. The big seminar is for the entire Freshman class (about 350-450 students). In the fall they cover what each of the different departments and programs are like. In the spring they talk about opportunities within departments or companies, diversity, and also give tours of the departments you are interested in joining (the specific majors within Engineering). Around March you will declare which department you would like to join. There is no cap per department.</p>
<p>Freshman year you are randomly assigned an advisor who helps ensure you complete the curriculum. Starting sophomore year your advisor will be a professor within a department so that they are familiar with the courses, fellow professors, opportunities, and requirements for graduation.</p>
<p>MEMS (the Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Department) is a little different in that during sophomore year, the two majors (MechE and Mat Sci) are still combined. This leads to slightly larger class sizes still (about 60-80). Starting junior year, the two majors split so that the MechE classes are purely for those students and the MSE classes are purely for those students. By this point, because of Co-Op/etc the class size drops down closer to the 60 person range (labs can be smaller). </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Most students coming into Engineering don’t anticipate the courseload required of them. Stacking up your schedule with 4 engineering/science classes is no joke. You will have hours of homework per week. However, being diligent with work, attending class, and talking to professors/TAs when you need help will all help you from feeling too overwhelmed. Your classmates are all in the same boat with you. Talk to them. Make friends. Make study groups. Get to know each other. I will say my classmates from freshman year (and then the ones in my major that I took every class with) became my closest friends because we spent so much time together in school and out of it.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The biggest thing Pitt emphasizes is outside of the classroom activity. I have never seen this level of involvement in the students life at another engineering school. Starting freshman year students are told about the importance of maintaining a resume, making good connections, attending job networking/career fairs, and getting summer work in a lab or at a company. Starting sophomore year the school really helps you to make those connections- they host co-op and internship fairs JUST FOR the engineering students so that you can meet companies and get hired for either a 3-rotation co-op or a summer internship. Professors are more than eager to take undergraduate researchers on hire in the summer or the school year to help with research (generally you can get class credit or payment for this as well as some great lab experience and sometimes a publication- great for students interested in graduate school). Through this method of involvement and emphasis on the importance of your networking and workout <em>outside</em> of class, I think Pitt has an amazing placement program for its graduates either in a working field or at a graduate school. My parents were amazed at my graduation when almost every student (I’d say >95%) already had a job offer or a graduate school offer by the time they walked across the stage- in April. You don’t see that kind of commitment to the students future from other universities. </p>