[BC] Engineering school

[PeterH5322@aol.com]

>Dunno about that...don't recall that the bottom 50% got weeded out the 1st 
>semester, but I'd say that roughly half the class did not return for the 
>2nd year of classes.  I thought I came away with a pretty good education.

At the institution I attended and was graduated from, the basic sciences 
were used as the weed-out courses.

The nominal four undergraduate years were front-end loaded with basic 
science courses, and were back-end loaded with engineering courses.

The first five semesters consisted of:

Year 1, Semester 1:

Mathematics 1 (calculus: differential equations) 5 units
Chemistry 1 (inorganic chemistry, included a mandatory lab) 4 units + 1 
unit lab

Year 1, Semester 2:

Mathematics 2 (calculus: integral equations) 5 units
Chemistry 2 (inorganic chemistry, included a mandatory lab) 4 units + 1 
unit lab
Physics 1 (included a mandatory lab) 4 units + 1 unit lab

Year 2, Semester 1:

Mathematics 3 (calculus: basic applications) 3 units
Chemistry 3 (organic chemistry, included a mandatory lab; optional) 4 
units + 1 unit lab
Physics 2 (included a mandatory lab) 4 units + 1 unit lab

Year 2, Semester 2:

Mathematics 4 (calculus: intermediate applications) 3 units
Chemistry 4 (organic chemistry, included a mandatory lab; optional) 4 
units + 1 unit lab
Physics 3 (included a mandatory lab) 4 units + 1 unit lab
Engineering 1 (numerical methods in engineering, included a mandatory 
computer lab) 3 units + 1 unit lab

Year 3, Semester 1:

Mathematics 5 (calculus: advanced applications; optional) 3 units
Economics 1 (basic economics) 3 units

If you could survive the above, you probably could get through mechanics: 
statics, mechanics: dynamics, strength of materials, strength of 
materials lab, fluids, fluids lab and engineering economics.

And, if you could survive the above, and you elected the electrical 
engineering option, you probably could get through basic electrical, 
basic electrical lab, basic electronics, basic electronics lab, basic 
control systems, basic control systems lab, advanced control systems, 
advanced control systems lab, and fields and waves.

All engineering students were required to take a liberal arts course load 
which included, at least, anthropology, art history, English, music 
history, speech and U.S. history.


Out of an entering class of about 100, only one student was able to 
complete the required 132 semester units in four years, and he 
accomplished this by attending every summer school session.

The one female student who entered this graduating class transferred to 
the business school after her first semester ... as did about half of the 
male students.

Since the engineering curriculum was back-end loaded, those who lost 
interest in engineering, but survived the first two years of the 
curriculum, were well prepared for the available pre-medicine or 
pre-dentistry curriculum.

Most students took 4.5 or 5 years but a few took 5.5 years to graduate 
with a BSE.

My institution did not confer separate degrees in the engineering 
specialties; all graduating students received a bachelor of science in 
engineering degree, and competency in all aspects of engineering was 
expected and required.

As the advanced undergraduate division engineering courses at my 
institution, a California State University, were in most respects 
equivalent to the graduate division engineering courses at the University 
of California, many graduates did not continue on to graduate school, 
either at the University of California or elsewhere, although a few did, 
mainly those who opted for an MBA at the UCLA (now, Anderson) or Berkeley 
(now, Haas) graduate schools of business.

A significant number of students took the Engineer-in-Training exam in 
their final semester, and most of those went on to become PEs.