Exploring the Engineering and Applied Sciences Major
Investigate Your Options
Start by investigating existing majors and gathering information from other students and faculty. Each BS IDE curriculum should be designed in consultation with at least one Hajim School faculty advisor and academic advisor. Serious applicants should schedule an appointment with associate dean Paul Funkenbush to solicit feedback.
Select Your Courses
Draw up a list of tentative courses with the help of your advisors. BS IDE programs must meet minimum requirements:
- Three mathematics courses (including differential equations)
- Four physics or chemistry courses, with at least one in each
- One to three natural science courses
- One four-credit, single-department computational analysis course related to the student’s field of interest
- Eight Hajim School courses from at least two or more departments
- Three sequences of technical or scientific courses, including the Hajim School courses if desired.
- At least one course that is intended as a “capstone/senior project or thesis” course
- Two upper level writing courses
- Two clusters, one in the humanities and the other in the social sciences
Solidify Your Educational Objectives
Your proposal needs to include a carefully crafted essay that describes your engineering and applied sciences major, and characterizes your motivation for pursuing it. To justify it intellectually, you must discuss your ultimate educational and career goals and then describe how your engineering and applied sciences major relates to them by showing how the courses comprising its curriculum make sense. You should also explain why this plan of study cannot be pursued with an existing Hajim School major. A short, descriptive title for your IDE major should be selected as it will be printed on your transcript.
Pull it all Together
Students considering the BS engineering and applied sciences major should be thinking of a topic for their capstone thesis or design project from the moment they begin to explore the program. This is particularly important for those doing design projects, since their completion may depend on factors outside of one’s control.
The thesis and capstone project serve the same purpose of showcasing a student’s knowledge on a particular topic and demonstrating what a student has learned though his or her coursework. The written thesis is completed as part of an independent study or research project that is overseen by a faculty member. The capstone project is usually an open-ended, hands-on design project that is overseen by a faculty member and sometimes completed as part of a senior design team.
Secure a Faculty Advisor
A letter of support from the student’s primary faculty advisor appraising the academic value and viability of the proposed engineering and applied sciences major, as well as the student’s ability to successfully complete it must be secured.