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Unread 23-04-2004, 20:42
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Re: Majoring in Mechanical Engineering

Quote:
Originally Posted by hacksaw692
Speaking of units, for ME majors, what's a good number of units to take a term (quarter or semester) so as to not lose your mind? Then, what if you're super involved in stuff?
If by units you mean credits, I would say the average (5yrs ago) was anywhere between 14-17 credits per semester (not sure about quarters). That's including the electives along with engr classes.
I think they pile you up freshman year with all the "freshman engr" courses (calc, chem, comm/english, etc) to be about 18/sem, but I would never ever suggest doing it after freshman year, since most of the classes would be core engr. But some can do it!
Just make sure you talk to an advisor and get the low-down on what courses involve, but also talk to TAs or older students that have already taken them. As an ME, we had a EE lab that was only 1 credit, but it was a 3hr class, twice a week, with a lot of work. You don't necessarily have to take courses in the "suggested order" either, just depends on what the pre-reqs are. You can rearrange them to fit better.
If you're not in any hurry to graduate, you can take 12 credits/sem, I think that's typically the minimum to be full-time student (or is it 9?)

Anyways, you just have to balance knowing what you can handle, knowing what's involved in each class for workload, and how the curriculum is set up. Try to balance it with some fun electives (whatever you're interested in) and don't get in over your head. Better to take fewer courses and pass them all, than to take too many and have to retake them later! Especially if you're super involved outside of classes... And, you should have a period of time that you can drop a class if you're in over your head.

And just some other advice - be sure to develop a good study group of friends, and get to know your TAs and profs EARLY. They're not as unapproachable as they might seem, and will help you more than you can imagine.

Yeah, realizing how many different engr disciplines have evolved over the years, ME may not be the easiest, but definitely the broadest (imo), with many sub-disciplines.
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