Hi. I’m Professor Lou Sassoubre, Chair of the Engineering Department at the University of San Francisco. We are so happy to welcome you into the Engineering community! We really look forward to meeting you - first in our special summer program, called Summer Zero, and then for Orientation in August. Someone else will be presenting the rest of the details and advising information to you.


Hi, and welcome to USF.


Your Engineering journey begins with our special summer program for Engineering majors, which we call Summer Zero. You will be receiving more information by email as soon as the plans are set, but there will be online activities such as learning to program an Arduino and make functional circuits, along with lessons in math and writing. There will also be workshops to assist you in the transition to college, and of course, informal time to get to know each other. This will take place over six weeks, from early-July through mid-August, just before your first fall semester begins. The first five weeks of the program take place remotely until you move onto campus in mid-August, and then we will have Engineering-specific activities spread throughout your orientation where you will get to know the campus, the city of San Francisco and of course, each other. 


For Summer Zero, you will need to sign up for three 1-unit courses. All of the Engineering courses start with the code ENGR and will be appearing on the summer class schedule soon. The summer courses are: 
        ENGR 001: Summer Zero Programming Project
              ENGR 002: Summer Zero Math
        ENGR 003: Summer Zero Writing
That will be a total of 3 units for the summer, which will count as electives in the major.


Starting with the fall semester, students typically register for 16-18 units per semester.  
If you are wishing to transfer into Engineering, an advisor will need to assess your background on a case-by-case basis in order to approve your request. Please contact engineering@usfca.edu.


The Engineering curriculum is very tightly constructed, so it’s very important that you take the appropriate courses at the right time, or risk falling behind in your graduation plan. Most of our courses are only offered in either the fall or the spring semesters.


In the very first fall semester, you should take the following courses:
        ENGR 021: Prototyping Fundamentals (1 unit)
ENGR 101: Entering Engineering (1 unit)
        ENGR 110: Project & Design I (4 unit)
CHEM 150: General Chemistry I for Engineers and Environmental Scientists                 (includes a lab) (4 units)
              THRS 246: Engineering Ethics (4 units) or Rhetoric & Composition or core course (4 units)
        a Math course that you place into (4 units)
That is a full load with 18 units. 


For placement into math: please take the Math Diagnostic Test. This test provides the Math department with the information they need to place you in the correct level math class. Everyone should take this test whether or not you have taken AP math classes. 


If your score on the Math Diagnostic Test is 76 or higher, please register for MATH 109: Calculus I. If your score is between 68-75 and you want to take MATH 109, you will be allowed one retake of the exam after spending time practicing through ALEKS. If your score is below 76 on the retake or you get below 68 on the initial try, then you will sign up for MATH 108: Precalculus. 


If you are uncertain how to interpret any of your placement test results, or have AP or other credits, please mention these to your engineering major advisor when you communicate with them over the summer.


Spend some time navigating the Schedule of Classes to get familiar with the layout of the website, and what various filters do. Look for courses that you want to register for, including specific sections. You should also keep a back-up list in case some sections are full or closed. 
If you have any questions, please contact us: engineering@usfca.edu


We look forward to communicating with you over this coming summer, and then during the Summer Zero program and the regular orientation in the fall. During the fall orientation you will have the opportunity to meet the rest of the faculty and staff.  


Welcome to USF!