Undecided Engineering majors typically take the following courses in the fall semester of their first year:
First-Year Experience Learning Community Courses
We will register you in these courses.
- Philosophy (PHIL 201)
- English Composition (ENG 101) OR Theology (TRS 201)
Why am I taking these classes? Honors students take equivalent honors courses.
Major Courses
You will need to choose and register for these courses.
- Math 121 or other calculus-sequence course, depending on calculus placement (see below)
- Computer Aided Engineering Tools (ENGR 106)
- Introduction to Engineering Design and Professionalism (ENGR 102)
Math Placement Exam
Your major requires you to take the math placement exam to determine what math course is the right level for you. For more information on math placement, please review the Mathematics Department’s placement exam instructions.
About Your First Semester Courses
Eventually, you will choose an engineering discipline focused on biomedical, civil, electrical, environmental, or mechanical engineering, or computer science. Until then, the general engineering track will allow you to explore your interests and begin developing your technical and problem-solving skills.
At Catholic University, engineers also take courses in the liberal arts. Studying theology, philosophy, and the humanities will help you develop problem solving skills in new domains and become a more flexible thinker. And they will help you appreciate the ethical and spiritual dimensions of the problems human beings face and the goods we seek by solving them. Along with your Learning Community classes, the following courses will help you sharpen and broaden your thinking while giving you some of the technical tools you will need to attack more sophisticated problems.
Register for Introduction to Engineering Design (ENGR 102), a general introduction to the design process for all the engineering disciplines.
Take the calculus placement exam and register for the course into which you place. To help you place as high as possible, before taking the exam you should review:
- algebra: expanding and collecting terms; simplifying expressions; solving for a variable; solving simultaneous linear equations
- functions and graphs of functions
- elementary plane geometry
- analytic geometry including equational descriptions of lines, conic sections, circles, and spheres
- trigonometric functions (defined as circular functions in terms of radians; also as they relate to right triangles); exponential and logarithmic functions
- recognizing algebraic relationships expressed in ordinary prose and translating those relationships into their symbolic equivalents
Placement can also be determined by an AP or IB exam; consult with your advisor if this applies to you.
Finally, you will register for Computer Aided Engineering Tools (ENGR 106), which will hone your computer skills.
To learn more about the engineering majors available to you, consult the School of Engineering’s website.
Know which courses you want? Get registered.