The pre-engineering program at ECU is designed for students who want to study engineering but would prefer to start at a smaller, less expensive university perhaps closer to home than the typical large state university.
All engineering students take essentially the same basic preparatory courses during their first two years, after which they are admitted to a college of engineering at a large university. Although ECU does not offer an engineering degree, students can take these courses which will then transfer to the engineering college of their choice. Depending mainly on high school mathematics preparation, completion of the pre-engineering program will normally take two or three years. A two-year course plan is shown below. The plan contains general education courses accepted at OU/OSU.
Students must transfer to an engineering college to complete their engineering degree of choice. However, many students opt to remain at ECU and finish a degree in physics. Then they will be eligible to do many of the jobs engineers do, or they can go to an engineering university and work on a master’s degree in engineering with only 9 hours or so of make-up work required. Since a physics degree is broader than an engineering degree, graduates will have more options for career choices if they graduate in physics.
Since each college of engineering has different degree requirements which can change at any time, we cannot guarantee that every course taken at ECU will transfer for engineering degree credit, but we do our best to help students select courses that will count. Pre-engineering students should decide what kind of engineer they wish to be (mechanical, electrical, etc.) and check out the website of the engineering college they plan to attend to verify that they are taking the correct courses. Pre-engineering advisors in the Physics Department at ECU will assist them. Two popular websites are www.okstate.edu and www.ou.edu. The OK transfer matrix (external link) may be useful to assist you in courses that transfer.
Why Come to ECU First?
There are many advantages in coming to ECU instead of going directly to an engineering college, including:
- Lower cost
- Closer to home
- Smaller classes and more individual personal interaction
- Highly qualified professors with doctorates - not graduate students
- Teaching is priority one
- Financial aid is easier to get and goes farther
We hope you will decide that ECU will be the place to begin your college education! Come by and visit with us in person at the Physics Department.