Trying to avoid physics (weed-out) sequence?

<p>I'm an incoming freshman to UIUC for chemical engineering, and I'm really afraid of the engineering physics sequence (Phys 211-212) First off, I don't even know if it is REQUIRED of me to take physics, because I saw something on the curriculum website that said "and so-and-so hours of technical/ other engineering electives", but physics was in the "suggested four-year plan" for my schedule. I recently went to registration and signed up for classes. Im taking a 16-hour classload, incl. ENG 100 (0 hour course, like an intro to being an engineer at u of i yada yada), Chem 202, Chem 203, MATH 231 (Calc II), PHYS 211, and ECON 102. I live in the western suburbs, about 20 minutes away from COD (college of dupage).</p>

<p>If I MUST take physics (and I would really rather not if it were an option, if I could take other engineering classes to substitute I would take computer science courses or something different) would it be a good idea to take "Engineering physics" at my community college (Which I already checked transfer.com and it looked like they would match those things up) to replace those physics classes? I'm just terrified of the "weed out" aspect of their physics courses, and even though they're not "officially" called "weed out", my uncle (who works on campus) even explained that to me a few months ago when we were talking about school. I'm not really worried about math (which i also heard has weed-out tendencies) but I am worried about physics, because I had an awful AP physics (B... they don't offer C at my HS) teacher this year (I did not take the test because I already had 3 on the list) and I wouldn't say I learned much. </p>

<p>So I guess my questions are:
Do I need to take the physics sequence as a chemical engineering major or is there an alternative sequence that will satisfy the requirement?
If I need to take physics, is it possible to transfer that credit from CC (And I think its rated the best CC in Illinois at least)?</p>

<p>I find it hard to believe that any kind of engineering major would be able to get out of physics. Physics is pretty foundational for everything an engineer would ever do.</p>

<p>You have to take PHYS 211, 212, and 214. It does look like you could transfer credits for 211 and 212, but you should confirm that with the College of Engineering in my opinion.</p>

<p>[Course</a> Information Suite, Course Catalog, Class Schedule, Programs of Study, General Education Requirements, GenEd](<a href=“http://provost.illinois.edu/ProgramsOfStudy/2012/fall/programs/undergrad/las/chem_bio_engin.html]Course”>http://provost.illinois.edu/ProgramsOfStudy/2012/fall/programs/undergrad/las/chem_bio_engin.html)</p>

<p>One thing to consider is replacing 211 with another course (such as CS 101 or another gen ed course) that first semester and taking it second semester. Second semester actually is the recommend semester to begin your physics sequence with 211 and having math 231 completed before you take it can help.</p>

<p>the physics sequence isn’t really a weed out, coming from someone who just finished the entire sequence. i had horrible physics teacher in my junior year of hs and didn’t take the ap course because of it. nevertheless, i still swept the sequence with all A+s. </p>

<p>you WILL have the take the calc-based physics sequence. period. there is no getting out of it since a lot of upper level chemical engineering classes will require a physics background (thermo, p-chem, etc). you can transfer 211 and 212 from community college, but there is no substitute for 214 (quantum).</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I’ve been looking into this issue lately. I’m in a CC right now and I’m planning on transferring to UIUC. The Uni Physics sequence at my CC is only 3 courses, rather than the 4 courses at UIUC. But, 213 and 214 at UIUC are each 2 credit hour courses, where as the third Uni Physics course at my school is a 5 credit course that essentially covers all of the same material. From what I’ve gathered within different articulation guides, the first two courses at my CC will transfer as credit for 211 and 212, and the last course transfers as the equivalent of 213 and 214, but I’ll only actually get like .6 credit hours transferred into UIUC for it. Which struck me as a bit odd. Regardless though, I won’t have to take 213/214 at UIUC, because I will have completed them here.</p>

<p>Lol if you hate physics, why do you wanna do engineering? It’s ok we’ll get though it together</p>

<p>@comfortablycurt</p>

<p>you may be right. i only know that mechanics and e&m as the “big” physics courses. the thermo and quantum stuff can get tricky. i believe in non-calc based physics, all of that stuff is rolled in to phys 101. your school probably does have an equivalent course for 213/214. only exception is if you’re going into chemical engineering. chemE’s don’t take 213, but do take their own separate thermo course.</p>

<p>I’m coming in from an Illinois CC, so that helps. The Illinois Articulation Initiative guarantees transfer of geneds and lower level introductory courses. I imagine that specific courses differ from school to school though. I’m a physics major, so the ChemE requirements won’t be an issue for me. I believe they also have a supplement course for students coming from a school that leaves a few aspects of the UIUC course out of the curriculum, primarily the quantum physics aspects. 213 at my school covers everything from the 213/214 course combo at UIUC though as far as I can tell.</p>