Pre-Engineering
Engineering is the process of solving real-world problems in all realms of life. The tools of the engineer are science and mathematics, but engineering also involves creativity and art, making models, and using approximations.
Engineers may be involved in designing land, water, or space vehicles that operate more efficiently, or that utilize different energy sources. They are involved in designing systems that increase food production and systems that reduce or clean up pollution. They are involved in the construction and design of faster and “smarter” computer systems, of large electrical power systems, of roads and bridges, and so much more.
EIU’s Pre-Engineering program allows you to pursue:
- Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering
- Agricultural Engineering
- Bioengineering
- Chemical Engineering
- Civil Engineering
- Computer Engineering
- Electrical Engineering
- Engineering Physics
- Environmental Engineering
- General Engineering
- Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
- Materials Science and Engineering
- Nuclear Engineering
- Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.
Pre-Engineering Options
- Pre-Engineering
- Pre-Engineering is a program designed to provide students with the first two years of a four-year engineering degree. Since the first two years of most programs require the same set of courses, students can transfer to an engineering school in any field of engineering with minimal difficulty.
- B.S. in Engineering
- Eastern also offers part of a five-year engineering degree in conjunction with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) or Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC) – which requires students to take a third year of liberal arts enrichment at Eastern before transferring to UIUC or SIUC. At the end of this program, students graduate with a double bachelor’s degree – one from Eastern and one from UIUC or SIUC.
- B.S. in Physics, option in Engineering Physics
- This cooperative degree program requires about three years of work at EIU followed by two years of work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). This program is designed to combine studies in Physics and Engineering, producing workers with greater versatility and broader skills making them more attractive to employers of scientists and engineers. Upon completion of the program, the student receives a Bachelor of Science in Physics, Option in Engineering Physics, from EIU; as well as an engineering degree from UIUC.
Why Eastern?
- Exposure
- Pre-Engineering students at Eastern are exposed to a wide variety of field options – enabling them to explore and obtain a broad base of experience before a final decision has to be made.
- Qualified faculty
- Eastern has an outstanding, caring, and accessible faculty composed of PhDs – with classes and labs taught by faculty rather than by graduate students.
- Small classes
- Introductory engineering physics classes, for example, average fewer than 25 students.
- Flexibility of transfer
- Students may transfer to an engineering school of their choice, including the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Southern Illinois University, and the University of Missouri at Rolla, to name a few.
- Close ties to UIUC
- EIU has a close tie to one of the premier engineering colleges in the nation – the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which is typically ranked in the top two or three engineering schools in the nation. To aid in transfer decisions, EIU offers a course called Engineering Orientation which gives students an opportunity to listen to about seven UIUC engineering professors per year.
