<p>I’m thinking of a Mechanical Engineering major. Also interested in Management Science & Engineering. 5 in AP Calc BC. 7 in IB Math HL. Would like to be challenged but not overwhelmed. Not much programming experience.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>It’s my understanding that the CME series is generally recommended for engineers due to the use of Matlab and applied focus. If you look at the 4-year plans for mechanical engineering on the Stanford website, 5 out of 6 choose the CME series instead of the Math 50 series. However, if you favor theoretical math and/or dislike using Matlab, then the 50 series may be a better choice. This is a better question for your academic adviser than for random people on CC. You don’t need to rush and choose courses now before meeting with your AA, so you can register early. Classes almost never run out of space.</p>
<p>I’m an ME grad student but I did my undergrad elsewhere so I don’t really know the math classes. I double majored in Math so I’d say there’s definitely value in going the theoretical route if you want to but the value of Matlab really can’t be understated. Matlab really will be one of your most useful tools and the opportunity to gain mastery early in your career sounds like a good one.</p>
<p>51/52/53 is the lowest track to qualify for math major and a lot of math major students do take them. I guess that your question is if those courses are too difficult or not. It depends on how quickly you can get yourself familiar with multivariate calculus and linear algebra. You can certainly try at the beginning to see if you can handle them or not.</p>
<p>Quote: “51/52/53 is the lowest track to quality for math major”</p>
<p>This is wrong. The Math major is extremely flexible. You can practically take any selection of Math courses as long as you satisfy the WIM and unit requirements. Check this out:</p>
<p><a href=“http://math.stanford.edu/undergrad/MathChecklist.pdf[/url]”>http://math.stanford.edu/undergrad/MathChecklist.pdf</a></p>
<p>^. I don’t think that I was wrong. You will be unable or very difficult to take any of the required math courses if you don’t take 51/52/53 or 51H/52H/53H. </p>
<p>Though Stanford does not say it explicitly, unlike some other peer schools, you would be recommended to follow the 51/52/53 track if you want to major math. In Princeton, MATH201/202 is like Stanford’s CME series, and MATH 203/204 is like 51/52/53. Princeton indicates that you need to take MATH203/204 to major math.</p>