<p>My kid will be attending UM this fall as a freshman in the College of Engineering. He is a pretty bright kid with an excellent HS GPA, SAT scores, and 10 AP courses. Hopefully he can use some of his AP classes (US, World, European history, Micro-/Macro Econ, Psychology, Stat, and English lang) to opt out of some of the "liberal arts" requirements. It is our (kid and I) understanding that freshman engineering students only take an Introductory to Engineering course their first year. What would a typical first semester class schedule look like. I know he will learn this when he meets with his student advisory during his summer orientation but he and I are curious</p>
<ol>
<li>Math (typically Calc 2 or 3) - 4 credits</li>
<li>Science + Lab (Chemistry, Organic Chemistry or Physics) - 5 credits</li>
<li>Intro to Engineering or Programming - 4 credits</li>
<li>Class of your choice (I would recommend an easy humanities or I don’t know, dance , perhaps research credits through UROP something your son is interested in)</li>
</ol>
<p>Yep, and as for 4 i know a lot of people, myself included, that only took the first 3 their first semester. If you’ve come ib with a decent amount of credits it wont make a difference. And it will give you more time to get acclimated to college.</p>
<p>Also, you can look on the umich website to see what scores are needed to get credit on APs. I’ll let you know if they can actually help you or not if you post the scores here</p>
<p>So if someone comes in with a 5 in AP chemistry, he gets 5 credit hrs and only needs to take 2 other courses? Sorry, I am a first generation freshman’s mom and have no idea how these things work.</p>
<p>Following are his scores so far:
US History 4
Chemistry 5
Calculus AB 5
Comp science A 5</p>
<p>He is confident of getting a 4 or 5 in the following this year:
Calculus BC
Biology
Statistics
Micro economics
Macro economics</p>
<p>What would be the appropriate courses for him?</p>
<p>Following are his scores so far:
US History 4
– 4 credits 101X departmental (Social Science)
Chemistry 5
– 3 credits Chem 130
– 2 credits Chem 125/126
Calculus AB 5
– 4 credits Math 120
Comp science A 5
– 2 credits EECS 285 (Probably a General Elective)</p>
<p>He is confident of getting a 4 or 5 in the following this year:
Calculus BC
–(with a 4) no new credits
–(with a 5) 4 credits Math 121
Biology
–(with a 3) 4 credits Bio 100
–(with a 4 or 5) 5 credits Bio 195
Statistics
–4 credits Stats 101X Departmental (General Elective)
Micro economics
–2 credits 101X Departmental (Social Science)
Macro economics
–2 credits 102X Departmental (Social Science)</p>
<p>So I can’t say a lot about Bio because I didn’t take it, but it is not one of the required science courses for the prereqs for engineering.</p>
<p>The AP Chem grade will get him out of Chem 130/126/125 his first semester so he’ll take Physics 140 instead</p>
<p>If he gets a 5 on BC Calc he can start in Calc 3, if not he’ll start in Calc 2.</p>
<p>I am not an EECS major so I am not sure if EECS 285 is an important class or not, but I got credit for AP Comp Sci too and I am just using it as general elective credit</p>
<p>Anything that is departmental means that it is not an actual class in that department, and you probably can’t use it as a prereq for other classes in that department, but you can use it as general credit to your engineering prereqs.</p>
<p>For example, the US History and Econ tests won’t help you at all in those departments (i don’t think) but you can use the total 8 Social Science credits to meet engineerings SS requirement.</p>
<p>And for Stats, that’ll just go to General Elective credit, which as an engineer you’ll need to pick up like 9 credits of.</p>
<p>Engineering Prereqs (you must meet these no matter what type of engineering you go into)</p>
<p>-Chem 130/126/125
-Physics 140/141
-Physics 240/241
-Calc 1 through Calc 4
-Engr 100 (Intro to engineering course, many sections that do different things so you can pick one that sounds interesting)
-Engr 101 (intro to programming)
-16 credits of Humanties and Social Sciences, with at least 6 of the 16 being Humanities and at least one class being 300 level.</p>
<p>Hope that helps</p>
<p>That’s very helpful info. Thanks a lot. It will immensely help S in choosing his course work.</p>
<p>Another question:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I heard during the engineering information session that if one skips Calc 2, it will be extremely difficult to study Calc 3. Meaning HS course work is nowhere in comparison with College course. What are your thought on it?</p>
<p>Thanks again.</p>
<p>Calc 2 in college is very difficult (weed out class at Umich) and I would personally avoid it at all costs.</p>
<p>I took Calc 3 in HS though another college, and Umich didn’t accept it so I had to take it again. I didn’t think it was that much harder.</p>
<p>Calc 3 is an easier class than Calc 2 anyway.</p>
<p>Honestly, in the intro classes I think there really is no reason to take it if you have credit for it. If he takes Calc 2 a year later he’s not going to remember anything more than what he remembers after Calc BC.</p>
<p>“I heard during the engineering information session that if one skips Calc 2, it will be extremely difficult to study Calc 3. Meaning HS course work is nowhere in comparison with College course. What are your thought on it?”</p>
<p>Not really, I studied BC on my own in HS, and did well when I took calc 3 here. Your son should be fine.</p>