Engineering Placement

Michigan Tech has a common first-year engineering program. Every engineering student at Michigan Tech takes the same foundational courses in this program: math, engineering, chemistry, physics, perspectives, and world cultures. A student’s mathematics placement is determined by the Mathematics Department. Based on math placement, there are two course pathways through first-year engineering, as shown in Figure 1. Students who are calculus-ready (i.e., they are placed into Calc I – MA1160 or MA1161 – or higher) upon enrollment have a two-semester sequence consisting of ENG1101 - Engineering Analysis and Problem Solving and ENG1102 – Engineering Modeling and Design. Students who are pre-calculus-ready (i.e., they are placed into MA1032 – Data, Functions, and Graphs) upon enrollment have a three-semester sequence consisting of ENG1001 – Engineering Problem Solving, ENG1100 – Engineering Analysis, and ENG1102 – Engineering Modeling and Design.

Figure 1: Pathways through First-year Engineering Courses based on Math Readiness

All engineering majors take the Spatial Visualization Test during Orientation. This test measures the ability to visualize a three-dimensional object from different perspectives, and it identifies students who could benefit from additional instruction to improve their spatial visualization skills. Students who do not pass this test will be enrolled in a one-credit course, ENG1002 – Introduction to Spatial Visualization, to help them further develop these skills. For these students, ENG1002 is a required supplemental course that may be taken concurrently with ENG1001 or ENG1101. ENG1002, or a passing grade on the Spatial Visualization Test, is a prerequisite for ENG1102.

Contact Brett Hamlin at 906-487-3057 or at engfun@mtu.edu with questions.