<p>Although I have been interested mostly in physics of fluids, I find quantum mechanics and nuclear physics also absorbing and would be interested in deepening knowledge in them in college. Can I take 3-4 courses in modern physics as an aerospace or mechanical engineering major without paying extraneous money? I am just curious as I will start attending college next fall.</p>
<p>Look at the degree requirements for your program. There should be like 12 or so credit hours labeled “free electives” or something similar. Those are your opportunities to explore.</p>
<p>I heard that free electives should be filled mainly with social sciences and humanities for engineering majors, but if it can be anything then it is great.</p>
<p>There are several types of electives in an engineering degree program:</p>
<p>a. Free electives. You can take any courses you want for the needed credit units.</p>
<p>b. Breadth electives. For engineering majors, this means humanities and social studies courses.</p>
<p>c. Technical electives. This means science or engineering courses of your choosing. There may be subcategories of technical electives (e.g. science elective, engineering elective, etc.) depending on the degree program.</p>
<p>Check the degree program requirements carefully to figure out how many of which kind of electives you have.</p>
<p>AP or college credit that you go in with that gets you out of introductory courses can open up space for additional free electives in your schedule. However, if the courses you are considering skipping are important prerequisites to other courses (e.g. math, physics), review the college’s final exams for those courses to make sure that you know everything that the college expects you to know (if you are only missing small parts of the course, you may need to self-study the missing parts; if you are missing large parts of the course, or find the college’s course to be much more difficult than your AP course, you may want to retake the course).</p>
<p>Thanks for the informative response ucbalumnus.</p>
<p>As an example, the mechanical engineering degree program at the University of Florida has 3 credits of science elective (PHY 3101, intro to modern physics, is an allowed choice) and 9 credits (3 courses) of technical elective (listed in <a href=“http://www.mae.ufl.edu/PDFs/ME-Curriculum.pdf[/url]”>http://www.mae.ufl.edu/PDFs/ME-Curriculum.pdf</a> , but it does not look like the physics courses you are interested in are in the list of allowed technical electives).</p>
<p>However, for some odd reason, it lists 9 semesters, but one of the semesters is listed with only 9 credits instead of the usual 15. A motivated student averaging slightly more credits, and/or fulfilling some introductory courses with AP credit, should be able to graduate in 8 semesters.</p>
<p><a href=“https://catalog.ufl.edu/ugrad/current/engineering/majors/mechanical-engineering.aspx[/url]”>https://catalog.ufl.edu/ugrad/current/engineering/majors/mechanical-engineering.aspx</a></p>
<p>Thanks for links. So would it be possible to take 6 more credits like intro to quantum mechanics and some connected laboratory course or would I have to acquire a minor at physics and pay more money considering I would manage to do this and ME major during standard 8-semester plan?</p>
<p>By the way comparing AeroE with ME at UF it seems like mechanical engineering is not so great for prospective AeroE graduate student as it skips aerodynamics and control of aircraft unless you can choose those two courses as technical electives.</p>
<p>Another interesting option is AeroE and ME dual degree, I think my IB credit and good time management skills would allow me to graduate within 8 semesters if I choose it. Well UF is my 7th choice on the college list, but I will get a look at this prospective double major at other colleges if it is feasible in 8 semesters there too. So once again thanks for the link :)</p>
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<p>If you can overload your schedule (e.g. 18 credits per semester instead of 15 credits per semester), you may be able to fit 6 more credits into it. Or if the IB credit you mention covers some of the introductory courses, you can take them as free electives since you won’t have to take the introductory courses.</p>