Pre-Engineering
Pre-Engineering Courses + Sample Course Plans
Red bolded pre-engineering courses (e.g., mostly math, science, and engineering courses with the exception of a few majors) are required to be reviewed for admission into Viterbi. Each Viterbi major differs in their required in-residency pre-engineering courses for review.
If you have transferred in or waived one of the critical courses, then the next course in the sequence in residency will be required for review. If a certain course is not offered in a given semester, pre-engineering advisors can recommend an alternative course for review purposes.Although some pre-engineering courses might not be necessary to be reviewed, they might still be recommended to stay on track for graduation if admitted to the major.
Please note that it is up to your discretion when being on the pre-engineering or pre-CS track on taking pre-engineering or pre-CS classes versus your current major courses. Taking Viterbi related classes does not guarantee admission, and comes with the possibility of them becoming elective credit if not admitted and the classes are not used towards another major or minor.
Depending on when you join the pre-engineering or pre-CS track, and when admission is granted or not granted, delays in degree completion may occur.
Note that some courses have prerequisites, so you should still plan to take them in order to continue with the sequence. If you have not taken the Math and Chemistry placement exams, then you will need to do so before enrolling in a math and chemistry courses if you have not transferred equivalent course work. You may register for the placement exams following this link: https://dornsife.usc.edu/languages/non-languag-testing/.
- MATH 125 is a prerequisite to MATH 126, PHYS 151, BME 101, CHE 120, and ECON 351.
- CHEM 105 aL is prerequisite to CHEM 105 bL and CHE 120.
To get an overview of the different Viterbi majors and sample 4-year course plans, please take a look at the Viterbi Undergraduate Handbook.