<p>Hello everyone, I'll start with a bit of background of myself. I'm 19 years old and I've been attending a community college around my area, for a year now, where I currently stand as a scholar and an honor student, 3.9 GPA. When I first started here, I was aiming to receive an associates in Nursing to work as an LPN, however, my heart wasn't entirely in it. No doubt, I had great interest in Computer Science since high school and I still do it as a hobby to this day, but I chose Nursing because of financial reasons.
However, I've decided to simply work on something I love. So now, I'm soon to start the fall semester and I'm trying to catch up on prerequisites for the Computer Science department of College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign so that I could transfer next fall 2015. However, I'm certain that my prerequisites will not be completed until summer semester of 2015.
The following link lists the requirements for a competitive application for the department.
<a href="http://www.admissions.illinois.edu/pdf/transfer/handbook/engr.pdf">http://www.admissions.illinois.edu/pdf/transfer/handbook/engr.pdf</a></p>
<p>Long story short:
No doubt, I will not have all the prerequisites completed by the time that I send my application around spring 2015. However, these prerequisites will be completed in the summer of 2015. Is there a chance that the college admission will honor the fact that my prerequisites will be completed before the time I enroll for the Fall next year (if I were to be admitted)? I'm worried that my application will not be competitive enough because I would only have half of the prerequisites done by the time I apply this spring. </p>
<p>Note: All of my classes so far are transferable, with the exception of one, which is a nursing assistant training course.</p>
<p>Well think about it like an if/else statements. If you apply and don’t get in, what else would do? You could just complete more prereqs and apply again next spring or work in the meantime.</p>
<p>The way I see it, you have a chance of getting in as long as you keep your gpa up after taking the intro calc/physics and CS classes in the fall. However, the point of CS and engineering programs are their long sequence chain of prerequisites because the concepts build on one another. If you are serious about pursuing a degree in computer science you will keep chugging away at that sequence regardless of what class room you are physically sitting in.</p>
<p>If I finances are a concern, staying at the cc until you’re finished with the lower division coursework is probably the cheapest option. </p>
<p>How much of the chem, math, physics and cs classes listed on that UIUC document you linked have you finished thus far/will by end of fall 2014? </p>
<p>Thank you da6onet for helping, I appreciate it very much. </p>
<p>So far, I’ve completed:
Chemistry I, Chem Lab, Calculus I, English Composition I. </p>
<p>Currently Registered for the Fall:
Calculus II, Physics Mechanics, Intro to CS, and Discrete Mathematics </p>
<p>Planned for spring:
Calculus III, Physics Elec&Mag, CS Data Structures, and a CS course</p>
<p>No problem, I was in a similar boat where I wanted to get into my state school to start on the unique department required courses (a sequence chain that only starts in the fall) that could only be taken there but wasn’t done with all my lower level courses yet. My backup plan at the time was to finish up all remaining courses in the fall if I didn’t get in and apply again the following spring finding an internship in the interim. I ended up getting in, but I still somewhat followed the same plan, finished up lower level courses that fall (at the 4year) and took an internship part time during the year (full time this summer).</p>
<p>At least in my state system, calc II and physics I are part of the gateway classes for getting/staying in engineering (others being chem and English). I would think cs/engineering schools in general probably use those classes as a good indicator of academic maturity/readiness though. So knock out that fall schedule and I think you’ll be in good shape.</p>