Pre-Engineering

Information from 2017-2018 Course Catalog

With a long-standing tradition of strength in science and pre-engineering, Denison offers two plans to prepare for an engineering career.

1. Denison + Master’s — In the first, students receive a bachelor's degree after four years at Denison with a major in natural sciences or mathematical sciences, followed by two years of graduate work at another institution leading to a master's degree in engineering.

   Denison students who pursue the four-year undergraduate science or math degree route to engineering school have enjoyed exceptional success in gaining admission to a wide array of excellent graduate engineering programs. The most common majors pursued by Denison students interested in entering engineering graduate programs are physics, chemistry, math, biochemistry, and computer science.

2. Combined 3+2 / 4+2 Plan — The second plan is a “3+2” (or “4+2”) program in which students study three or four years at Denison and two at an affiliated engineering school and receive two bachelor's degrees. Denison is affiliated in such dual-degree programs with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Washington University (St. Louis), and Columbia University.

   In this combined plan program, you earn two bachelor’s degrees, one from Denison in your chosen major and a second bachelor’s degree from one of our partner engineering schools. You first will spend either three or four years at Denison, where you will complete both (i) your degree requirements for Denison and (ii) the pre-engineering courses for your chosen program. Students majoring in Physics at Denison can typically complete all of the combined plan requirements in three years, while other majors may need three or four years at Denison.

   Our partner schools expect 3+2 (4+2) engineering students to maintain at least a 3.0 average both in science and liberal arts courses while at Denison. After Denison, you will spend two years at one of our partner schools to complete your chosen program.

   Most of the programs at our partner schools require the same set of pre-engineering courses to be completed while you are at Denison:

   • Four courses in Physics: Quarks to Cosmos, Principles of Physics I and II, and Modern Physics [PHYS 125, 126, 127, 200]
   • Four courses in Mathematics: Calculus I, Calculus II, Linear Algebra & Differential Equations, and Vector Calculus & Fourier Analysis [MATH 123, 124, 231, 357]
   • Two courses in Chemistry: General Chemistry I and II [CHEM 131, 132] (plus a year-long course in Organic Chemistry for Chemical Engineering students)
   • One course in Computer Science: Foundations of Computing [CS 110 or 111]
   • One semester Introduction to Economics for students planning to attend Columbia

Sampling of Graduate Programs

The following is a sampling of engineering graduate schools Denison students have attended in the past, including both 3+2 and post-graduation programs.

Requirements for specific programs may differ slightly from the above, so interested students should plan their specific program in consultation with the pre-engineering advisor, Steven Doty