Pre-Engineering

The College of St. Catherine offers students a choice of pre-engineering programs including aerospace, chemical, civil, electrical, mechanical and biomedical engineering, as well as computer and systems science. Some other programs may be possible to arrange depending on a student’s preparation and qualifications.

There are several advantages for you if you begin preparation for an engineering career at the College of St. Catherine. You are introduced to a broadly-based educational experience from the perspective of the liberal arts. The size of classes and the atmosphere at the College of St. Catherine contribute to the development of career and educational objectives beneficial to each student. You are able to fulfill your engineering prerequisites while exploring other areas of interest in the event that you decide to pursue a non-engineering career. You plan your program in conjunction with a pre-engineering advisor. After three years at the College of St. Catherine, you may transfer to an institution with a program in engineering to complete requirements for this career choice or enter a dual degree program. The traditional dual degree program allows you to transfer engineering courses from the engineering college to the College of St. Catherine to complete a special major.

Dual degree programs exist between the College of St. Catherine and Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. and the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. In these cooperative programs, students typically spend three years at the College of St. Catherine and then transfer to the engineering school for their last two years. Upon satisfying the graduation requirements of both schools, students receive two degrees: a bachelor of arts or bachelor of science from the College of St. Catherine and the engineering degree from Washington University or the University of Minnesota. In summary, the dual degree plan is designed to educate engineers who are more broadly prepared to meet the increasing concern and involvement of engineering with the social, economic and environmental problems of today’s world.

In addition to the traditional dual degree program leading to the bachelor degree in engineering, it may be possible to enter directly into a master degree program after completing the pre-engineering preparation. Requirements vary and the masters degree is not necessarily the one that leads to professional licensure. Details should be discussed with the engineering advisor.

Students in a pre-engineering program typically take the following courses at the College of St. Catherine:

CHEM 1110, 1120 General Chemistry I & II (chemical engineers may also require CHEM 2010, 2020 and 4200)
ENGL 2000 Writing
CSCI 1110 Algorithms and Computer Programming I (or approved substitute)
MATH 1130 Calculus I, 1140 Calculus II, 2050 Linear Algebra, 2060 Calculus III, 2600 Differential Equations
PHYS 1110, 1120 Introductory Physics I & II
Humanities and social science courses (see individual program requirements)

Science and liberal arts requirements vary at different engineering schools and should be closely monitored by the your advisor.
Specific requirements for engineering programs vary considerably with the dual degree in mind and the engineering college. Since this is an intensive program and the sequencing of courses is critical, it is advisable that you become engaged in it as early as possible.

For further information, contact Dr. Terrence Flower of the Physics Department or Yvonne Ng of the Mathematical Sciences Department.

URL: http://minerva.stkate.edu/academiccatalog0709.nsf/pages/engineering
This page was created on 06/03/2005 and last updated on 05/03/2007.
Comments, questions and feedback about this site may be addressed to registrar@stkate.edu.