Second-Year ECE Preregistration Notes June 2011
The Electrical Engineering program and the Computer Engineering program share common core courses in second year, with the exception of one Winter term course (EE students take MATH 228, whereas CE students take ELEC 270). As a result, a student may easily switch between programs, but this must be done no later than the first week of the Winter term. (The next opportunity for a switch would be the first week of the Fall term in third year, but then the missing course from second year would have to be taken as an extra course.)
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has prepared a valuable resource for students, namely a collection of detailed undergraduate course summaries. Students in second year are strongly encouraged to consult the summaries for each of the core courses that they will be taking so as to be well-informed about the contents and objectives of each course, as well as how the second-year courses form the basis for the remainder of the curriculum. The summaries should be consulted throughout each term as well as at the beginning of each term.
It is appropriate to stress the importance of completing all second-year courses successfully so as to avoid future difficulties. The most significant problem would certainly be the future academic challenges that would be faced from not having a solid grasp of fundamental material. The other more practical problems include missing prerequisites for later courses, having to apply for supplemental examinations (with a fee) for second-year courses that have not been completed successfully, or dealing with timetable conflicts between second-year courses that must be repeated and new third-year courses. By attending lectures and by working diligently, students can significantly increase the likelihood that second-year courses are completed successfully in order to form a solid foundation for the future. Please review the list of responsibilities of undergraduate students that has been prepared to ensure, among other things, that students understand their academic obligations with respect to performing well in their courses.
Students in second year must note that the ELEC293/294 Fall/Winter-year laboratory courses require other lecture courses to be taken in parallel with them, and furthermore, that there are dependencies between the Fall and Winter courses. For example, students must pass the circuits course ELEC221 in the Fall term because it is the prerequisite for the electronics course ELEC252 in the Winter term. Without ELEC252 in the Winter term, a student cannot complete ELEC294. Therefore, devoting adequate time and attention to ELEC221 is certainly good advice for this reason as well as the fundamental importance of circuits to the discipline as a whole. Any disruption in the sequence of ELEC221 to ELEC252 will carry over to third year, where the second electronics course ELEC353 has ELEC252 as a prerequisite.
Students should also note several other sequences of courses that extend from second year through third year and into fourth year. For example, MATH235 is also a prerequisite for the signals and systems courses ELEC323/324 in third year, and ELEC323/324 are critical prerequisites for the elective courses in signal processing ELEC421/422. Similarly, ELEC271 is a prerequisite for ELEC274, and both are prerequisites for ELEC371 in third year, ultimately leading to the ELEC470 elective in fourth year. Any disruption to these and other similar sequences of courses will also have undesirable consequences in possibly delaying completion of the program by at least a year. For a complete view of all such dependencies, consult the diagram of prerequisites that is found with the detailed undergraduate course summaries.