hey guys I need some advice. Im going to become an engineer and I heard PHYS 208 and PHYS 218 are very hard. Do you think I should take physics this summer before freshman year, and would it count as credit at A&M? will the cc class grade count towards my GPA at TAMU? thx, pls any advice would be great
Grade will not count towards your TAMU GPA. Any transferable credits will not affect your new GPA, however if you want to transfer into the COE, they will want to see those grades from their courses.
I asked the Aerospace department about this.
So what if I have already been accepted to Dwight Look Engineering as a freshman, will they note my grades? thx for your reply
If you can’t handle a single physics course at A&M, you won’t be able to handle Aerospace Engineering. And no the grade won’t count, only the credit.
so when I announce my engineering major after the first semester, will the specific engineering school consider the grades I got at community college the summer before my freshman year, because technically i won’t be a transfer
No.
I’m going to tell you right now that it’s going to be very difficult for you to get accepted into the Aerospace Engineering program if you take both introductory physics courses at a community college. You’re competing against other people for a spot in the program; people that took physics at A&M and did well. And engineering here is very competitive so how do you think it’ll look to the people reviewing applications if you didn’t take physics at A&M? And like I said above, even if you did get accepted into the program you may not be able to handle it if you can’t handle a few simple physics courses here. Stop trying to take the easy way out, because ALL of your courses become very hard once you reach the upper level.
Thank you for your advice. I will take physics at the university then
Good decision. At least take 218 at A&M. Taking 208 at a community college shouldn’t have too much of an effect, but both of them at a community college definitely will.
My sons advisor recommended that he take the courses at TAMU to better position himself when he applied for his major. Remember, you will be going up against other engineering students and if your major is popular, you may find it difficult to get in. My son took Physics 218, and yes it was very hard, but he used his AP credit for Physics 208. This was only recommended if he pulled out an A in Phys 218, which he did. Just our input.
For perspective, there are about 140 aerospace students freshman year, that number goes down to about 40 the next year. My cousin was an aerospace student.
Aerospace isn’t one of the most popular majors.
@BlakeGrhymes I don’t know where you are getting your information. First, nobody is an aerospace engineering major during freshman year. Everyone is a general engineering major. Second, according to the AE department’s website, there are 599 undergraduate AE majors, with 100 Bachelors’ Degrees awarded in 2014. http://engineering.tamu.edu/aerospace/about/facts I would agree that it is not the most popular engineering major, but it is also not the least popular: I hope students are not picking their majors based on which ones are most popular.
Here’s the latest data (by the latest reporting year):
Mechanical 970
Computer Science & Engr. 913
Electrical and Computer 884
Petroleum 846
Civil 833
Chemical 713
Industrial and Systems Engineering 641
Aerospace 499
Biological and Agriculture 345
Biomedical 267
Nuclear 225
Materials Science and Engineering No Undergrad.
Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution No Data
*Some departments are still reporting 2013 data, which would include freshmen. AE reports 2014 data.
Word of mouth isn’t the most reliable source.
An honest man.
As others suggested take your classes at TAMU. My son was a huge fan of A+ tutoring for physics. He finished 218 feeling confident to move on, and said they did an excellent job simplifying difficult concepts. Other advice from him: do the reading before class; take notes in class; review and rewrite them after class, do the practice problems. Get help if you need it. Get a solid foundation.
To add on to what @spectrum2 said, most professors will post their power points for the lecture online and if they’re really awesome they’ll have them posted before class. Print out the slides and bring them with you and write down important things the professor says. When you have to write down what’s on the power point slide you miss a lot of what the professor is actually saying.
Thank you for all your replies, folks, I really appreciate it.