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Northwest Missouri State University


Pre-Engineering

Northwest Missouri State University has pre-engineering agreements with both Missouri University of Science and Technology and the University of Missouri at Columbia. This means that certain courses offered at Northwest Missouri State University have been approved as the equivalents of certain courses at each of these institutions. Generally a student will go to Northwest Missouri State University for their first two years and then transfer to another university to complete their engineering degree. Listed below are recommended courses for Pre-Engineering students at Northwest.

Freshmen Year
Fall Semester Spring Semester
Math 120 Calculus I - 4 hrs Math 121 Calculus II - 4 hrs
Chem 11/115 General Chemistry I - 4hrs Chem 116/117 General Chemistry II - 4 hrs
Engl 111 Composition I - 3hrs Econ 150 General Economics I -3hrs
Hist 155 American History - 3 hrs Engl 112 Composition II - 3 hrs

Sophomore Year
Fall Semester Spring Semester
Math 361 Differential Equations - 3 hrs Math 321 Multivariate Calculus - 4 hrs
Physics 120/121 Physics I - 5 hrs Physics 230/231 Physics II - 5 hrs
CS 149 Scientific Computing - 3 hrs Physics 322 Statics - 3 hrs

Other courses will be taken besides those listed so that the student takes anywhere from

12 to 18 credit hours per semester. The other courses are generally chosen from the areas of Humanities and Social Sciences. The student should consult the Transfer Course Guides on the web sites of MST and UM-Columbia to determine what other courses they should take for the particular engineering major that they are interested in. For the University of Missouri at Columbia consult the site:

For Missouri University of Science and Technology consult the site:

The courses recommended in the schedule given in this document are, for the most part, required of all engineering majors at all Universities with engineering programs. Exceptions are Composition II and Chemistry II. English Composition II is required of all engineering majors at UM-Columbia and required of most engineering majors at MST. Chemistry II is required of about half of all engineering programs. Since many pre-engineering students do not know which engineering major they want to pursue both Composition II and Chemistry II are recommended so as to keep their options open. Consult the Transfer Course Guide for the institution you are interested in to clarify course requirements.

Those students pursuing engineering programs related to chemistry or biology are usually required to take two semesters of Organic Chemistry during their sophomore year as well.

Most pre-engineering students are not ready to start with Calculus I. These students will usually start with Math 118, College Algebra, or Math 117, Precalculus. The single most important thing for any pre-engineering major to do is to take the appropriate math course every semester. These math courses are pre-requisites to many of the engineering courses the student will take when they transfer to another institution.

For an excellent description of careers in engineering and the sciences as well as an outlook of job prospects in engineering and other science disciplines go to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics website at www.bls.gov

The Occupational Outlook Handbook can be accessed directly at

For further information contact the pre-engineering advisor at Northwest:

John Shaw
Email: jshaw@nwmissouri.edu
Phone: 660-562-1636