Registration Day!
With registration ongoing for the Fall 2024 semester, many of you (especially first and second years) may be wondering how to plan out your schedules for next semester, and up until graduation. Instead of trying to maneuver through the many websites that give you this information, here’s a general breakdown of everything you need to know about your tech major:
College of Engineering Majors:
The College of Engineering requires a set list of classes to be taken by all majors. Here’s the mandatory list:
Engineering 100 (4 credits)
Many different sections are available for this course. Check the LSA course guide or Atlas to see which sections are being offered this semester
Engineering 101 (4 credits)
This can be replaced by Engineering 151, EECS 183, or a score of 5 on the AP Computer Science A exam
Physics 140 (4 credits)
Physics 141 (1 credits)
Physics 140/141 can be fulfilled by a score of 5 on the AP Physics C: Mechanics exam or by transfer credit from another institution
Both physics requirements can be taken over the summer or during the semester at Washtenaw Community College, Iowa Western Community College, etc. and transferred for credit. Check the transfer credit equivalency database linked in the resources section for the college you are transferring from
Physics 240 (4 credits)
Physics 241 (1 credit)
Physics 240/241 can be fulfilled by a score of 5 on the AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism exam or by transfer credit from another institution
Chemistry 130 (5 credits)
A score of 4 or 5 on the AP Chemistry exam can fulfill this requirement
Math 115 (4 credits)
A score of 5 of the AP Calculus A exam or a score of 4 on the AP Calculus B exam can fulfill this requirement
You can use transfer credit from another institution to fulfill this requirement
Math 116 (4 credits)
A score of 5 of the AP Calculus B exam can fulfill this requirement
You can use transfer credit from another institution to fulfill this requirement
Math 215 (4 credits)
You can use transfer credit from another institution to fulfill this requirement. Washtenaw Community College offers this course over the summer and is a popular transfer option
Computer Science majors can opt to take either Math 215 (Multivariable and Vector Calculus) or Math 216 (Intro to Differential Equations). If you complete both courses one of them will count towards this requirement and the other will count towards the flexible technical elective requirement
Math 216 (4 credits)
If you are a Computer Science major, you need Math 214 (4 credits) instead. Math 214 (Applied Linear Algebra) can be replaced with Math 217 (Linear Algebra)
You can use transfer credit from another institution to fulfill this requirement
Intellectual Breadth (16 credits)
This consists of 4-6 courses that are listed as Liberal Arts Courses in the LSA course guide.
At least 3 of these credits must be from a 300 level course or higher and at least 3 of these credits must be from a course listed as Humanities (HU). Some courses are listed as both Humanities and 300 level and can fulfill these requirements simultaneously.
These requirements take a total of 55 credits. In order to fulfill any one major in the College of Engineering, you need a minimum of 128 credits taken or transferred to the University of Michigan.
College of Literature, Science, and the Arts Majors:
The College of Literature, Science, and the Arts has a more vast and flexible set of requirements to meet. On the LSA course guide, you can search all available courses that fulfill each of these requirements. Here’s a list of what they are:
First-Year Writing Requirement - FYWR (4 credits)
Upper-Level Writing Requirement - ULWR (3-4 credits)
This is typically fulfilled by one of your major courses that counts as ULWR credit
Quantitative Reasoning - QR (3-4 credits)
This is fulfilled by Stats 250 which is required for both Data Science and Computer Science majors
Race and Ethnicity - RE (3-4 credits)
Must be taken from the University of Michigan
Natural Science - NS (7 credits)
Social Science - SS (7 credits)
Humanities - HU (7 credits)
NS or SS or HU or Mathematical and Symbolic Analysis - MSA or Creative Expression - CE (3 credits)
NS or SS or HU or MSA or CE (3 credits)
NS or SS or HU or MSA or CE (3 credits)
For the 3 points above, you must take at least 3 credits in 3 of the 5 listed categories for a total of 9 credits. If you decide to use NS, SS, and HU as your categories, then you will have to take 10 credits each in those 3 categories.
Language Requirement - LR (12-16 credits)
You must take or test out of a fourth-term language (4 semesters of the same language). AP credit can apply here as well as test-out exams.
For LSA, you need at least 120 credits completed to graduate. You can only count at most 60 credits from your major classes towards your graduation goal. The LSA requirements can fulfill the other 60 credit hours. If you test out of a language or complete the requirements with less than 60 credit hours, consider adding a minor or extra classes outside your major to your schedule.
School of Information Majors:
The Bachelor of Science in Information is an upper-level undergraduate degree; you will complete it in your junior and senior years at U-M. This interdisciplinary program is not just about tech and coding or just about people and how they tick. BSI graduates leave the program understanding both how to create data and technology and how to make them work for real people, skills hotly in demand in today’s job market. The School of Information must be applied into by sophomore standing undergraduate students which they will then transfer into as juniors.
Applicants must have at least Sophomore standing (25-54 credits) to apply and must reach Junior standing (55+ credits) to be eligible to start the program.
Prerequisite Courses: these required course must be completed with a grade of C- or better to be eligible for full admission and enrollment in the BSI program
SI 110: Introduction to Information Studies - SS
SI 106: Programs, Information, and People - MSA
EECS 183 and ENGR 101 are also accepted, but SI 106 is strongly preferred
STATS 250: Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis
STATS 206, STATS 280, STATS 412, DATASCI 101, ECON 451, IOE 265 and TO 301 are also accepted
ENGLISH 124 or 125
Or equivalent first year writing course
Degree Requirements:
Core:
SI 206: Data-Oriented Programming (4 credits) (counts for upper-level, SI credit) or EECS 280: Programming and Intro Data Structures
SI 300: Career and Internship Studio: Design your Success (1 credit)
SI 302: Ethics and Information Technology (3 credits)
User Experience Design Track:
SI 307: Introduction to User Experience Design (3 credits)
SI 364: Building Data-Driven Applications (4 credits)
SI 388: Putting the H in HCI (4 credits)
SI 422: Needs Assessment and Usability Evaluation (3 credits)
SI 482: Interaction Design Studio (4 credits)
SI 407: UX Capstone I (2 credits)
SI 487: UX Capstone II (4 credits)
For SI, you will need to complete 120 overall U-M credits minimum (includes all credits completed at the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, as well as credits transferred to the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor from other institutions). These 120 credits will also include 45 SI credits minimum (all completed SI courses except SI 110, SI 106, and SI 260) and 60 upper-level U-M credits minimum (includes 45 SI credits and all other 300+ level courses).
Additional Resources:
Click here for for sample schedules and requirements for your school and major!
To search up any course offered by the University or to search all courses that fulfill requirements by their categories
Must be logged into your UM account
To search courses by their name, build a schedule for your semester with timings and availability of each of your courses that you can export directing to Backpack, and check the average workload and grade of each course
Must be logged into your UM account
Use to search up classes from another university that can be transferred to a course offered at the University of Michigan
You can check what courses you may already have completed with AP credit
This is a great resource to use for information about all engineering majors
CSE clubs to consider for new and returning students
EECS organizations on campus
SI organizations on campus
All information about the core degree requirements can be found on these websites:
For School of Information or Ross minors, refer to these links:
The School of Information offers minors in social media design/analysis and UX/UI design. If you are interested in these fields of work consider applying for one of these minors
If you are interested in the business and tech crossover, consider applying for the Ross minor
For information about all minors offered
Next Steps
This post contains general information about your requirements and majors so you can plan out your graduation schedule. However, for double-majors and those considering minors, there is a lot of information to know about double-counting courses (applying the same course credit to two different degrees). Please reach out to your course advisor once you have compiled your schedule so they can assist or validate your course plan.
Good luck and happy schedule planning!