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The First Year
Welcome to your first year as a Duke Engineer!
Duke Engineering's signature educational experience prepares you to be an engineer who is inspired & equipped to solve complex societal problems.
We will make you a confident creator ready to reshape the world.
This experience starts during your very first year at Duke.
The Duke Engineering First-Year Experience includes :
- Hands-on design—in EGR 101L Engineering Design & Communications
- Introduction to computing—in EGR 103L Computational Methods or CS 201 Data Structures and Algorithms
- Chemistry
- Mathematics
- Physics
- First-year writing course
- Your first engineering technical course
Course Layout
Assuming no AP or IPC credit See Note 1:
Fall Semester
- Mathematics 111L
- Chemistry 101DL See Note 2
- Engineering 101L See Note 3
- Writing 101 or EGR 103L See Note 4
Spring Semester
- Mathematics 112L
- Physics 151L
- Technical Course See Note 5
- Engineering 103L or Writing 101 See Note 3
Notes
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1. If You Have AP or IPC Credit
Students with credit for:
- AP Math should consult the AP table and Department of Mathematics placement guidelines to determine appropriate math course placement
- AP Computer Science should take CS 201 Data Structures and Algorithms to satisfy the engineering Digital Computation requirement.
Students without AP Computer science credit should take EGR 103L Computational Methods.
Email pratt-advising@duke.edu for assistance interpreting such credit as it pertains to course selection.
2. Chemistry Placement
- Students without AP Chemistry credit should enroll in CHEM 101DL
- Students who plan to major in Civil Engineering (CE), Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Environmental Engineering (EnvE) or Mechanical Engineering (ME) have satisfied the chemistry requirement with a score of 4 or 5 on the AP Chemistry exam
- Students who plan to major in Biomedical Engineering (BME), and received an AP Chemistry exam:
- Score of 5—Should enroll in CHEM 201DL
- Score of 4—Should enroll in CHEM 101DL or CHEM 110DL
See chemistry placement guidelines »
Contact pratt-advising@duke.edu for guidance on appropriate chemistry placement.
3. All students must take EGR 101L and a Digital Computation Course
All engineering students must take:
- EGR 101L Engineering Design and Communication in the fall semester
- A Digital Computation course. See Note 1 for information about which course to select to satisfy this requirement
4. Fall Writing 101
- Students assigned to Fall Writing 101 should enroll in a writing section
- Students not assigned to Fall Writing 101 should enroll in EGR 103L. See Note 3 for more
5. Suggested First-Year Technical Courses
The technical course in your first spring semester should be selected according to your intended major, if known:
- Undecided—Biology 201L or one of the classes listed below
- Biomedical Engineering—Biology 201L
- Civil Engineering—CEE 132L
- Electrical and Computer Engineering—ECE 110L
- Environmental Engineering—CEE 132L
- Mechanical Engineering—EGR 121L