New Student Guidelines

Curriculum Matrix

The curriculum matrix summarizes the requirements of the program, and is prepared by the Dean’s office. You can get a copy on the 2nd floor of Steinman near the elevators, or click here

How to use the matrix: 

• Each row identifies the courses you can take in a single semester. 
• Do not jump around, but instead follow the matrix row by row. 
• Each box tells you the course number (e.g., Math 20100), its name (e.g., Calculus I), its requisites (e.g., Pre: Math 195 (C. min), and the number of credits.
• Pre-requisites must be successfully completed before taking the course.
• Co-requisites may be taken before or in the same semester as the course. 
• Courses that are shaded grey require a minimum grade of “C” to pass. 
• CE courses on the same row of the matrix are never scheduled in conflict.
• Some core CE courses and all of the elective CE courses are only offered once a year. Our planned schedule is at the end of this handout. You can use this to plan your schedule for the entire time you will be here. 

Program Requirements

As shown in the curriculum matrix, all CE students take the following “core” courses. 

General Education 

Liberal arts: 6 courses total, 2 at 200 level or higher, all selected using matrix footnote 4 
English: English 10000 Composition and English 21007 Technical Writing

Mathematics and Basic Sciences 

Math: 201, 212 and 213 Calculus I-III, 391 Differential Equations and 346 Linear Algebra 
Chemistry: 103 and 104 General Chemistry I and II
Physics: 207 and 208 General Physics I and II
Science elective: Earth and Atmospheric Science (EAS) 328 Global Environmental Hazards or Biology 101 Biological Foundations 1

Engineering 

A First Taste:
ENGR 101 Intro to Engineering 

Structural engineering:
CE 209 Structural and Site Plans, CE 231 Statics, CE 332 Mechanics of Deformable Bodies, CE 340 Structural Analysis, CE 441 Reinforced Concrete, CE 435 Dynamics

Transportation engineering:
CE 326 Transportation Planning and CE 327 Transportation Systems Engineering

Environmental:
CE 350 Fluid Mechanics, CE 365 Hydraulic Engineering, CE 372 Environmental Impact Assessment and CE 474 Environmental Engineering

Computational:
CsC 102 Intro to Computing, CE 264 Data Analysis, CE 315 Computational Methods and CE 316 Systems and Decision Analysis

Professionalism:
CE 401 Review of Civil Engineering Fundamentals, CE 405 Civil Engineering Management and CE 509 Senior Design Project

At the junior level, students select their specialization in which they will take four additional courses, two required and two elective. There are four specialization areas in the CE Program: 

• Structural Engineering
• Transportation Engineering
• Environmental Engineering/Water Resources
• Multidisciplinary

Comments about Specific Courses

General education courses:
Make sure you take the general education courses early in your curriculum
Many of the math, physics and chemistry courses are pre-requisites for CE courses
Later on, they may conflict with a CE course and so you will delay your progress through the CE curriculum

Liberal arts:
If you enter the GSOE with a Bachelors or AA/AS (not AAS) degree from the US, the courses you completed for those degrees will count towards these requirements. 
Otherwise, you must select them from the link and following the rules in footnote 4. 

ENGR 10100 Intro to Engineering:
If you transferred into GSOE with Math 202, you are considered too mature for this course. Instead of ENGR 101, you may do a 1credit independent study on any topic provided there is a small design component or you may take our 1credit seminar course called CE 30100 Policy and design.

Science elective:
Biology 101 Fundamentals of Biology is helpful for students interested in wastewater and drinking water treatment. 
EAS 328 Global Environmental Hazards is helpful for all other students.

Engineering science elective:
ENGR 230 Thermodynamics is for students interested in materials.
ENGR 204 Electrical Circuits is for students interested in sensors.

CE 40100 Review of Civil Eng Fundamentals:
This course prepares you for the first (FE) licensing exam.
If you pass the FE exam, we will give you credit for CE 401.

CE 51003 Independent study (3-credit):
This is a 3 credit “research” experience where you are mentored by a faculty in research in your specialization. It counts as a specialization elective.
Pre-requisites are GPA of 3.0 and CE 340 Structural Analysis to make sure you are advanced enough. 
It is not an option for “multidisciplinary” students. 

Specialization courses:
After you complete CE 340 Structural Analysis, you should pick your specialization. 
You will not be allowed to register for specialization courses until you have officially identified your specialization by completing the “i-major” form on the college’s website. 

College rules that may affect you:

Pre-requisites:
You must comply with pre- and co-requisites. There are 2 reasons for this: 1) We want you to do well in the course and the pre- and co-requisites help prepare you. 2) Our accreditation will be jeopardized if our students do not follow the requisites, and this in turn will affect every student’s ability to get licensed.

Curriculum changes:
Periodically, we make curriculum changes to improve our program. If the changes are to pre-requisites, you must abide by the new pre-requisites. If the changes are to courses, you may elect to follow the new matrix or to follow the matrix that was in effect when you first started taking CE courses.

Your course load:
You may elect to take fewer courses than given in one row of the curriculum matrix. 18-credits is the maximum number of credits the college will allow you to take in one semester without special permission. For many students, this load is unmanageable.

Repeating a course:
The first time you repeat a course, you do not need permission. The second time, you will need the permission of the Dean’s office. You may only repeat a course twice. 

Minors:
If you do not have enough courses to be full time and you require a full load, your only option is to do a minor (e.g., in math, econ, etc). To do a minor, complete the “I-major” form on the college’s website. Most students do minors in math because it only requires 2 additional courses. 

Managing your time and doing well:
Please take the math and science courses seriously. Your engineering courses will build on them and so it is critical that you do well in these courses. Engineering is a very challenging field. You should expect the subjects to be difficult and to require a substantial amount of your time outside of class. Even strong students need to adjust to the rigors of college engineering. Study in groups, ask questions in class, go to tutoring, and go to office hours. It is very important that you graduate with a 3.0 or higher since many employers and graduate programs require a minimum 3.0 GPA for eligibility. And so, it is important that you identify what load is best for you so you do well. 

Advisement:

Who is your advisor: 
If you have less than 45 credits, your advisor is Ms. Shuman, the general CE advisor in the Dean’s office. ( lshuman@ccny.cuny.edu , Steinman 2M-16)

If you have 45 or more credits, your advisor is a faculty member in the CE Department. Advisors are assigned based on the first initial of your last name. If you are unable to reach your CE advisor after 2 email attempts, you may see any other CE professor. CE faculty advisors are identified in the glass case in the CE Department. 

If you are a new transfer student, you should be advised by Ms. Shuman AND by your CE faculty advisor in your first semester and from then on, only by your CE faculty advisor.
 
When to get advised: 
You must be advised during advisement month or risk not being able to enroll in the courses and sections you want. 
Faculty are not available for advisement outside of advisement month. 
You should be advised at least a week before your registration date because it takes time for your hold to be lifted. 
Even if you are on academic probation, you must be advised by your CE faculty advisor during advisement month. 

What to bring to advisement: 
You must bring your unofficial transcript and your curriculum matrix to advisement.
If you do not, you may be asked to come back with it.
If you have a hold and so cannot print your transcript, your faculty advisor will look it up for you.

Registration:
You should be able to self-enroll in all of your courses. 

Holds:
CUNY First will prevent you from registering in any courses if you have a hold on your account. Identify the hold on your CUNY First page, and then resolve it before registration because we cannot save seats. 

Error messages:
If CUNY First reports an error, send a screenshot of the error message to Ms. Shuman and she will help you register. 

Closed CE courses:
If a CE course or section you want is closed, complete the CE online overtally when it opens a couple days after grades are due. The overtally is the way for you to let us know that you are still trying to get into a closed section. 

Overtally:
We use the overtally to determine if we need to open an new section of a course or if we can accommodate all students in an existing section of the course. Details about the process and a link to the online form are on the CE website. Seats are given away on a first come first served basis but graduating seniors have priority. Even if you are on academic probation, overtally ontime. 

Closed other courses:
To waitlist for any non-CE course (e.g., ENGR or Math), contact Dean Beharry.

Random Thoughts

Get involved! CE has several student clubs such as Engineers Without Borders, ASCE, Steel Bridge & Concrete Canoe. Contact info is on the CE website.

Job listings/internships:
We periodically distribute job and internship listings by email and also post these opportunities on the CE-Website. 

Scholarships:
Each semester, we give scholarships to CE students. You must have a certain number of CE credits to be eligible. Very few students apply!

Email:
To find out about academic or registration updates, or to be notified of jobs/internships and scholarships, Check your citymail account periodically!

CE Website:
The Site has a lot of information for undergrads under the “Student Information” tab; just follwo "Student Resources" or informyourself about the CCNY's and the Department's integrity expectations. If you are a student from outside the US, there is also a tab "International Students" that will provide some information on what to do.