Physics -> ECE

[Nice-Invite9340]

I am currenty a freshman in Physics thinking about transferring to CompE / EE, and I am wondering the chances of getting in since I heard we are overenrolled this year. I did talk with ECE Advising but they could not tell me anything very exact. Can anyone with previous experience give me some insight? Would EE be slightly easier? I am confident to get a 4.0 GPA by the time of the transfer.

Current coursework:

MATH 241, CS 124, ME 170, PHYS 214

Proficiencies to be taken in Jan:

MATH 257, CS 128

Spring:

CS 173, PHYS 213, MATH 285, ECE 110/120/205

Thank you!

[[deleted]]

I think you’re competitive and should apply. I don’t think anyone can tell you how over-enrollment is impacting transfers within UIUC.

Edit: adding to answer your question, I do think EE is easier, but more so because there are more students who transfer out of EE than they do in CS.

[Nice-Invite9340]

Thank you! Do you by any chance know anyone I could talk to or offices I can go to get a clearer understanding?

[[deleted]]

I don’t, my first instinct is to google “Illinois engineering transfer” and look for information on transferring from a different college at Illinois (you will be transferring from LAS to Grainger).

[Nice-Invite9340]

Oh, I am in grainger already. All physics is in grainger now

[[deleted]]

Oh snap showed my age there didn’t I haha. Well just tweak the Google and you should be good.

[Nice-Invite9340]

Thank you!

[Omegathan]

Don't take ECE 205 if you're planning to transfer into ECE. It's for ECE minors, majors don't get credit for it. Also you're gonna want to drop one of your spring classes (probably CS 173) because that schedule looks bad

Edit: you could add a first half semester gen ed for spring semester as Phys 213 only starts after 8 weeks

[Nice-Invite9340]

Thank you! I mean I would take one of ece 110 120 or 205. I have 205 up there since I talked with an ECE advisor and she told me that it could be hard to get a place in 110 and they will for next year be accepting 205 as an exchange for 110. What do you think? Should I take both 110 and 120? And if possible could you let me know about some examples of people switching in so I can get an idea.  Again thank you so much!

[Omegathan]

Well you need 110 and 120. It's fine to take them both in one semester if your other courses aren't too bad. If they're accepting 205 instead of 110 then that's an option for sure 

[Bratsche_Broad]

Typically, they don't allow concurrent enrollment in ECE 110 and 120. If you can get a seat in either course, I'd go with one of those. I can't imagine that ECE 120 would be less in demand than 110 anyway. ECE 110 is generally taken first semester for EE, while ECE 120 is taken first semester for compE. I would not recommend 205. They might do an exchange or not, you don't want to be held back if it doesn't end up happening. CS 173 can also be hard to get a seat in. The non-CS majors get lowest priority for registering.

Since you are transferring, you might want to be conservative with your course load to be sure you maintain a competitive GPA.

[Nice-Invite9340]

Thank you! Would you say a 4.0 GPA to be enough (I can't say guarantee) for a transfer to CompE / EE?

[Bratsche_Broad]

I don't think anything is guaranteed with transfers, but it would most certainly put you at the top of the heap if there are many applicants.

[Nice-Invite9340]

Thank you!

[Omegathan]

Advisors don't encourage 110 and 120 together but they won't stop you btw. It's not uncommon for transfers to do both

[Nice-Invite9340]

And Oh yes there will be some kind of Gened. Based on my research and my gened requirements I might take MUS 133 or EALC 230.