Meet With Your Faculty Advisor

Who is your faculty advisor? Every student in the chemical engineering program (whether officially declared a chemical engineering major or not) is or will be assigned a faculty member as an advisor. To learn who your advisor is, go to the Chemical Engineering Department office in 350 CB and ask one of the secretaries there. You should then make an appointment with that advisor right away (by personal conversation, phone, or email) to meet personally.

Why should you meet with your faculty advisor? Mainly to review the courses you plan to take. But such a meeting also is a valuable opportunity to voice concerns you may have and/or to seek help with challenges you may be facing. Thus, that meeting is most effective if it takes place even before your first semester begins. But, even if the semester has already started, do it right after you read this.

Why review the courses you plan to take? Your choices of courses to take in your first one or two semesters are very important, because unwise choices may not prepare you for subsequent required courses in a timely manner and may delay your graduation time. This is because the chemical engineering program includes numerous chemistry, math, physics, and chemical engineering courses in a complex combination of prerequisites and sequences. Further, many of those courses are not offered every semester, and careful planning is needed to move efficiently toward completion of the program. Printed material from the Department is also available to explain the program requirements and suggest possible course plans. But every student has different circumstances, and that means that you need a course plan that is optimum for you. That’s why we STRONGLY urge you to Meet With Your Faculty Advisor!

What will your advisor do? Your advisor will help to construct a course plan that will help you complete the chemical engineering program efficiently, while allowing for other interests and goals you may also have (e.g. preparation for medical school, completing a minor in another field or completing a second major , participating in performing groups or sports, etc.). He also will

1. Make sure that you are starting into the Chemistry series (Chem 105 or 111) and the Math series (Math 112) as soon as possible, because if you don't start those right away, you will be behind in your chemical engineering program. If, however, you have AP credit for chemistry and/or math courses, you won't need to take them, but your advisor will help you evaluate your AP scores and choose the appropriate follow-on courses. He also will help you use such AP credit wisely to reduce your credit-hour load throughout your program.

2. Make sure that you are enrolled in or are planning to enroll in ChE 291 if required. New freshmen are required to take this course, while transfer students from another engineering program are not. The course is one-half credit and meets Thursdays, 11:00-11:50am, 256 CB. On the first Thursday of the fall and winter semesters, the class will include a free ice-cream social, so you don’t want to miss it!

3. Make sure that you are enrolled in or are planning to enroll in ChE 170. This class is an Introduction to Chemical Engineering and will give you some hands-on experience with a variety of chemical engineering tools woven together into an overview of the field. The goal is to help you decide if chemical engineering is the right major for you, so we recommend that you take it early in your academic career (i.e. your first or second semester at BYU).