I am a MEEN, class of '05. I have a brother in law that will be a freshman this upcoming fall and he has his new student conference coming up.

It looks like the course catalog is still the same as it was for me back in 2001: ENGR 111, MATH 151, PHYS 218, ENGL 104 and an elective for 16 hours. The smartest thing I did back in 2001 was take 14 hours: the above courses, except I traded the 3 hour ENGL for a 1 hour PE.

Is this still allowed, or are they more strict with freshman following the catalog? Obviously most students don't finish in 4 years without summer school, and I wouldn't recommend starting with too heavy of a load when establishing a GPA.

Have him take the English at a CC this summer which would put him at 13 hours for the first semester.

Meeting with his academic adviser at his New Student Conference will be very helpful as they will discuss his particular degree plan. In the meantime, he could call an admissions counselor at 979-458-0950.

Take as many of the non-engineering courses at CC.

I took both poli scis through CC and history. Wish Id taken engl 104 as well. One per summer.

That will cut through the inflated hours early on. I finshed in 4.5 without having any 16+ hour semesters.

yeah that recommend course load is pretty much why I dropped mechanical eng and got an Ag Econ degree. While im sure there are plenty of dedicated individuals who can handle that much course work and survive; I and several other kids that were in the top 5% of our high school class could not and wound up transferring out of engineering. I'd look at taking one of the harder classes ( math 151, physics 218, eng 111, etc) during the summer or something to cut down on total hours for the semester.

most kids I know have taken the dual credit or AP for the ENGL104, that might save him from taking that.

Careful with English, A&M changed how they transfer. ENGL 104 is now 1302, you must take 1301 before 1302 at CCs.

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