Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Advising

Category: Academic Advising

I’m starting out in precalculus (MA 1032 or MA 1120). Can I still graduate in four years?

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If you are willing to take summer classes, then yes. You’ll need to take classes after your first year and maybe after your second year too. You can take summer classes at Michigan Tech or at a community college and then transfer in the classes.

If summer classes are not feasible or you can only take a limited number then you can instead adjust your classes so that you can co-op during the five years. Having engineering work experience through a co-op prior to graduation will help you with landing summer internships and your first full-time job because most employers look for this type of experience when hiring.

If you’d like help getting your options sorted out then set up a meeting with your academic advisor.

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What do you think of double majoring?

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There was an opinion piece in the New York Times in October 2018 that expresses one view of double majoring.

Opinion Today

David Leonhardt
Op-Ed Columnist for the New York Times

24 October 2018

(an excerpt)

When I visit a college campus and ask the students what they’re studying, the response often starts with: “I’m double-majoring in … ” And then my heart sinks just a little bit.

I understand why many students are temped to double-major. They have more than one academic interest. When I was in college, I briefly thought about double-majoring in my two favorite subjects, math and history. (Instead, I spent much of my time at the college newspaper and barely completed one major — applied math.)

But the reality is that many students who double-major aren’t doing it out of intellectual curiosity. The number of double majors has soared in recent years mostly because students see it as a way to add one more credential to their résumé. What’s even better than one major? Two majors!

Except that it’s not. Most students would learn more by creatively mastering a single major — and leaving themselves time to take classes in multiple other fields. “Double majoring,” as Jacqueline Sanchez, a Wellesley College student, wrote in a recent op-ed for her campus paper, “ultimately prevents students from exploring many different disciplines.”

Unfortunately, double majoring is just one part of a credentials arms race among teenagers and college students. This arms race exacerbates inequality, because it can make upper-middle-class students seem more accomplished than working-class and poor students. And the arms race is also unpleasant and counterproductive for many of the well-off students. They’re loading up on extracurricular activities, Advanced Placement courses and college majors, rather than exploring, going deep into one or two areas and learning what they really enjoy.  (see link for more)

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How can I give the University feedback or register a complaint?

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Michigan Tech has a web form for giving feedback or registering a complaint.  From the website:

The Dean of Students Office at Michigan Tech is committed to fostering a supportive environment where students are listened to, understood, and appreciated. When students have a complaint or concern about their campus experience, whether it is in or out of the classroom, the Dean of Students Office provides help and guidance in resolving the issue.

For more information, go to the Student Concerns and Complaints website.  Working together, we can continuously improve Michigan Tech and the Michigan Tech experience.

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What are recruiters looking for in 2018?

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For the answer to this question, let’s ask NACE, the National Association of Colleges and Employers.  Their article highlights these topics:

  • Trend : Recruiters are moving toward informal means of recruiting
  • Trend: Breaking down silos
  • Focus is on industry, not major
  • It’s not all about the technical skills
  • There’s improved communication across campus
  • Note an increased focus on diversity and inclusion
  • Predictions for STEM Recruiting in 2018

Which University does NACE use as their example in their introduction?  Well, Michigan Technological University, of course!  Go to the link to read NACE’s analysis of the 2018 recruiting season.

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How can I get a job, internship, or co-op? What’s the method these days?

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Career Services at Michigan Tech is designed and operated to help you get a job, internship, or co-op.  As soon as you arrive on campus as a first-year student, transfer student, or graduate student, you should visit Career Services and check out their programs and sign up for the ones you need.

Their main events are the fall and spring Career Fairs.  You should go to these every year you are at Tech.  Even if you’re not looking for a job, you should go and see how it is done, get your materials into the system, and learn from watching and participating in Career Fair.  Our Career Fair is one of the best in the nation.

Currently Career Services uses Handshake as the portal for connecting students with recruiters.  Every Michigan Tech student has a Handshake account.  Go to the Handshake login site, log in, and take a look at what there is on offer.

In 2018 I went to an interesting session put on by Career Services.  They said that these days more than 70% of folks (up to 85% by some estimates) get their jobs from personal contacts.  They say the right way to approach Career Fair is to go to the events that precede Career Fair.  These events are less crowded, you don’t have to dress up, and you can give out your resume and talk to the person receiving it. These events are happening the week before Career Fair and throughout the year (info sessions, company presentations, Industry Days, and things like that).  Second, when you go to Career Fair, don’t spend your time in long lines. Go to the smaller companies where you can actually talk to someone and show them who you are. Always bring an up-to-date copy of your resume.  Career Services can help you to improve your resume.

I also learned that the job-search success rates for folks with GPA between 2.5 and 3.0 IS THE SAME as the success rate of folks with GPA between 3.0 and 3.5.  So you can get that job.  You just need to follow this advice and put in the leg work to meet people who may want to give you a job.  Good luck!

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May I take both CM 3410 and HU 3120?

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No, that is not permitted.  CM 3410 is required for graduation with a degree in chemical engineering from Michigan Tech.  You may take HU 3120 as a substitute course for CM 3410.  Because HU 3120 functions as an equivalent course to CM 3410, you may not take them both.

 

CM 3410 – Technical Communication for Chemical Engineering
Study of the purposes, genres, and applications of technical communication in chemical engineering professions, including written, oral, visual, and graphic communication. Assignments may include memos, progress reports, procedures, memo and formal reports, research citations, and job-seeking requirements. Emphasizes organization, support, coherence, usefulness, ethics, and professionalism.
Credits: 3.0
Lec-Rec-Lab: (3-0-0)
Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman, Sophomore, Senior
Pre-Requisite(s): UN 1015

 

HU 3120 – Technical and Professional Communication
A study of written and oral communication in technical and scientific environments; emphasizes audience, writing processes, genres of scientific and technical discourse, visual communication, collaboration, professional responsibility, clear and correct expression. Students write and revise several documents and give oral report(s). Computer Intensive.
Credits: 3.0
Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-0)
Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman, Sophomore
Pre-Requisite(s): UN 1015 and (UN 1025 or Modern Language – 3000 level or higher)

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How do I plan out my chemical engineering degree at Michigan Tech?

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The CM degree at Michigan Tech requires 131 credits plus 3 credits of co-curricular classes (physical education).  What classes are required for you depends on when you started at Michigan Tech, known as your catalog year.  The requirements are all posted on our advising webpages, and we made a video walking you through the process for planning out your degree.

Here’s the basic process.

  1. Go to our advising webpage and select Undergraduate — Advising — Plan Your Schedule
  2. Print out the course requirements (4 year plan or 5 year plan), the General Education Requirements, the co-curricular requirements, and the Technical Elective requirements that go with your catalog year.
  3. On your 4 (0r 5) year plan, cross off any courses for which you already have credit.
  4. Print out a blank Academic Plan worksheet.
  5. Fill in the Academic Plan worksheet with all the remaining courses.

There is a great deal that goes into that step “5” up there, and we’ve made some videos to help you find your way through the process.  Once you have a good rough plan, you may wish to make an appointment with a CM advisor to make sure that you’ve got all the details right.

That’s it!  Welcome to Michigan Tech Chemical Engineering–We’re glad you’re here.

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Do you have any videos for ChemE Advising?

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Yes!  We are working on making videos to make it convenient for you to obtain the advice you need to plan your degree.  Here’s what we have so far:

If you have any suggestions for more videos, email your ideas to cmadvise@mtu.edu.

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How can I prepare for registration?

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Registration is always right around the corner, and before it arrives, it’s best to get prepared. Those of you who have tried to make an appointment with Katie near registration time know that her schedule fills up. She has “walk-in” office hours weeks 9-11, so you will not need an appointment, but you may face some lines. With this post I reach out to you with some advice to ensure that you have a good registration season.

Katie’s walk-in office hours schedule is posted here: blogs.mtu.edu/chem-eng-undergrad/

If you are uncertain what classes you need to take, please take a look at our video on Planning your Schedule.

Planning your schedule begins with the planning handout at this link (http://www.chem.mtu.edu/~fmorriso/advising/2015MoreAdvisingInfoHandout4SemPlanFAM.pdf), which shows a 4-year plan of how the Chemical Engineering curriculum maps out. I have indicated the classes that cause a bottleneck–these are the classes that are only offered one time per year. Up until the spring of junior year you have flexibility in when you can take classes. The three spring junior classes, however, (transport 2, kinetics, controls) are only offered in the spring. The senior chemical engineering classes (unit and plant operations, plant design, safety and the environment) are only offered once per year as well. This means that you need to be ready for those spring junior classes during the spring that you plan to take them.

The pre-requisites for our classes are summarized on this handout:  www.mtu.edu/chemical/undergraduate/advising/pdfs/prerequisite-map.pdf

To plan out your schedule you should map out which semester you intend to take the fixed classes (spring junior classes, senior classes) and then back-calculate when you will take the pre-requisites for those courses.

On the planning handout I have also indicated when classes are offered on-line, and I’ve highlighted some General Education (GenEd) rules that you should be mindful of as you plan out your GenEd choices.

Finally, once things get close to graduation, every requirement must be met and this can get confusing sometimes. For checking or auditing your compliance with your degree requirements Michigan Tech uses DARS: Degree Audit Reporting System. Go to your Banweb account, log in, and look for Degree audit. You can run your own degree audit. It takes a minute or two for the computer to slot all your courses into the various bins or “buckets” where they satisfy requirements. When it’s finished, you can take a look. Green is good; red is bad. You will see all kinds of lists and requirements that are checked. It is a computer program and online, so hopefully you can poke around a bit and figure out how it’s working. If you are a transfer student or if you transferred in courses, it is very helpful for sorting out what credits count for what.

Please take a look at your DARS and see how your credits earned are stacking up towards getting your CM degree. If you look over the attached sheet, consult the pre-req map, look at your degree audit, and make use of the handouts for minors and technical electives that are on the Advising web page, you will see that registration is a snap.

Thanks for your patience during registration season. We will endeavor to answer all your questions and hopefully we can find a solution that will lead to a smooth path towards your BS in chemical engineering.

More helpful links:

best wishes,

Dr. Morrison

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