do colleges make you choose courses?
quick question: i want to major in engineering in college. i am doing all these extra studies now... wayyy ahead of time... anyway... do they make u choose which courses you need to take... and leave it completely up to you?? or do they just put you in what ever you HAVE to take... i was looking on the cornell website and there were ATON of different courses for MS&E... im trying to figure out what i have to take each semester, what i can take in high school... etc.
Comments
It really depends on the school, so you'll need to look at the requirements and course catalogues of each. Usually there are certain classes that -everyone- in the major must take, and then some which you can choose between to finish out your credits.
Most American universities also have some kind of "General Education" requirement in addition to whatever your major is.. much like in high school, you have to take a broader variety of subjects. So, even as an engineering major, you might need to take some writing classes or a foreign language. This supposedly "rounds out" your education. A lot of people are able to cancel out these Gen-Eds with AP classes, though.
Sleepygene is right--but here's some additional guidelines.
There's all kinds of engineers, and sometime early in your college years it would be good to figure out what specifically you want to be--materials engineer, structural engineer, civil engineer, or even engineering professor. You should begin to know the varieties of the profession and which ones attract you during your early engineering courses, and by consulting your academic advisor; the university will also have a career development office where you can get information about projected demand and salaries.
Once you've chosen a specialization, then you will want to use the electives in your schedule to load up on courses that build competence in that area (and not necessarily just those in engineering--civil engineers ought to consider some intro. to political science courses because they'll be interfacing with politicians).
So when you get to choose courses, don't just do it willy-nilly or based on whether you like the professor or think the course title sounds neat. Do it to build logically toward your preferred future.
There are required courses and elective ones. Generally speaking, you have almost no choice (other than your sport in gym) during your first year or two but can pick and chose after that.
i think there are required courses at most colleges but u get to choose most of ur clsses. then at some schools like brown u get to take only the ones u want
Talk to a councelor (sp) at the college.