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Getting Started with Your Classes

Your faculty advisor until August 22 is Mr. David McClellan, Associate Professor in the School of Engineering. He will be able to respond to any questions that you have concerning your schedule of courses for the fall semester, including questions concerning transfer of college, AP and IB credits that you may have earned.  He can be reached at 478-301-2700, ext 2153  or mcclellan_dm@mercer.edu. Don't hesitate to ask questions.  Mr. McClellan will be delighted to respond!

Yes. Absolutely! Contact Mr. McClellan as described in the answer to Question 2. 

Mr. McClellan will receive your profile.  He will use your responses as well as your Math Index Score to prepare the slate of courses in which you will be enrolled for the fall semester.  You will meet with a member of the faculty of the School of Engineering during one of the Summer Orientation and Advising days to review this schedule. If you have any questions concerning your schedule while you are not on the campus, you should contact Mr. McClellan as noted in the response to Question 2, regardless of who the faculty member was with whom you met during the orientation and advising session.

Your schedule will be available on-line after you complete this profile and after the middle of May.  You will review your schedule and will be given a copy of it when you meet with a School of Engineering faculty member during your visit to campus for one of the Summer Orientation and Advising days.  If your circumstances absolutely prohibit you from attending one of these four days, it is important that you contact Mr. McClellan at an early date and tell him of this.

You may ask that changes be made to your schedule when you meet with a member of the School of Engineering faculty during your visit for one of the Summer Orientation and Advising days and then again when Fall Orientation begins and you meet with your faculty advisor.  Schedule changes will only be made in exceptional instances. You may also do so at any time by contacting Mr. McClellan.

The School of Engineering offers a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) degree that includes study in Biomedical (traditional and pre-medical), Computer, Electrical, Environmental, Industrial and Mechanical Engineering.  It also offers a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Management and Technical Communication.  When you execute your on-line profile, you will have the option of entering the specialty of your choice.  This selection will be your specialty until you subsequently elect to change it; it may be easily changed up to the time you register for your second year of study.

That's not a problem during the first year since all freshmen entering the Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree program take essentially the same courses in the first year of study.  A change of specialty during this first year can easily be done.  If you elect to enter the Bachelor of Science degree program in Industrial Management or Technical Communication, you may face a more difficult path in changing to a specialty in the Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree program due to the fundamental differences in courses the two programs entail.

That's not a problem either.  In the on-line profile you are about to execute there will be the option of designating "Undeclared," or "UND," as your specialty.  This is a fine specialty all the way into the spring semester of your freshman year and it will have little or no effect on your course selection.  When you register for courses for the fall semester of your sophomore year, you will want to have a specialty selected since some specialties begin courses peculiar to each of them in that semester.

Mr. McClellan will enroll you in your fall semester courses.  He will ensure that you are enrolled in courses that are required by the curriculum of the School of Engineering that count toward credits needed for graduation.  He will consider credits earned in college dual enrollment programs as well as AP and IB courses.

No!  There is no Chemistry Placement Exam.  If you qualify for Calculus, you will be enrolled into a chemistry section. 

Only if you are instructed to do so by the School of Engineering. Mr. McClellan will send you a letter telling you that you need to do so if your Math Index Score indicates that you have not qualified for Calculus. Once you receive this letter you should go on-line and take the placement exam. Please do so not later than ten days prior to the day that you expect to attend one of the Summer Orientation and Advising Days

If you are qualified for calculus, in the absence of a letter, and you wish to take the placement exam for the experience it offers, please feel free to do so.  You will not jeopardize your placement in Calculus.

Success in mathematics depends on your understanding of skills and information that were taught in previous mathematics courses.  In order to insure this success, we calculate your Math Index Score (100*High School Academic GPA + SAT Math Score) and use it to place you in math as follows:

 

Math Index < 850: Take MAT 095, Intermediate Algebra.
Math Index of 850 to 940:  Take MAT 133, Pre-Calculus.
Math Index > 940: Take MAT 191, Calculus I.

 

Exceptions:  Those with High School Academic GPA of 3.900 or higher are eligible to take MAT 191, Calculus I.

 

If you are not eligible for Calculus I, the School of Engineering will ask you to take the Math Placement Exam.  The scores will be used as follows:

 

Score <11:  Enroll in MAT 095, Intermediate Algebra.
Score >10 and <15:  Enroll in MAT 133, Pre-Calculus.
Score 15 or higher:  Enroll in MAT 191.

 

Note that the Mathematics Placement Exam score will not be used to lower your existing math placement.

 

You may decline to take this exam and remain in the math course indicated by your Math Index Score.  If you take the exam, it is essential that you complete it not later than ten days before you are scheduled to be on campus for a Summer Orientation and Advising Day.  This will allow your result to be received and changes to your schedule made before you visit campus, if the exam score indicates that a change is needed.

In the School of Engineering, the Bachelor of Science in Engineering program starts in math at Calculus I, MAT 191 and then requires Calculus II, MAT 192 and Ordinary Differential Equations, MAT 330.  Students in the Bio-Medical (traditional), Electrical and Mechanical specialties will also take Multivariable Calculus, MAT 293 while students enrolled in Computer Engineering will take MAT 225, Topics in Discrete Mathematics.

Students enrolled in the Industrial Management specialty will take Pre-Calculus, MAT 133, Calculus I, MAT 191 and MAT 226, Elementary Statistical Methods.

Those enrolled in Technical Communication will take Pre-Calculus, MAT 133, Calculus for the Social Sciences, MAT 141 and Elementary Statistical Methods, MAT 226.

Language courses can be taken to satisfy the need of the General Education Requirements of the School of Engineering.  If you wish to take language courses you will need to take the Foreign Language Placement Exam in the language of your interest, provided that you have taken two or more years of that language while in high school and the language is French, German or Spanish.  You do not have to take the exam if you have had less than two years of study or wish to begin study of a new language.  The Foreign Language Placement Exam will be administered on Summer Orientation and Advising Days and just before classes start in August.

15.  What is meant by the General Education Requirements?

Students enrolled in the School of Engineering must take 15 credits, nominally five courses, in subjects that are neither math, science nor engineering courses.  The first of these courses will be taken in the first semester and subsequent information that you provide will be enable Mr. McClellan to properly enroll you in this course.  Also critical will be your providing to Mercer all credits earned by college enrollment, typically dual enrollment courses that also count for graduation from high school, as well as AP and IB courses.  The actual number of courses in this category will depend on what General Education option you elect to pursue.  For example, if you select a Minor in Accounting, you will take five accounting courses plus a religion course for a total of 18 credits.  If you select a Minor in French and must start study in French 111 you will take seven French courses and a religion course for a total of 26 credits, well above the 15 required!

If you are qualified for Calculus I, then one course. Otherwise, two courses.

There will be a space provided for questions when you execute your on-line profile.  And, you may always ask questions of Mr. McClellan directly!

 

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