ARISE Curriculum

The ARISE Curriculum provides scholars with the foundational skills to become master engineering students. The first-year courses focus on developing and strengthening problem solving, critical thinking, and academic strategies while setting the stage with foundational math and science courses. The second-year focuses on major exploration and development.

Success in the initial Mathematics, Chemistry, and Physics courses is a critical step in pursuing an Engineering degree therefore ARISE works closely with academic support programs across Grainger Engineering. These resources have been an integral part of the success of our ARISE Scholars and the driving force behind the retention numbers of our underrepresented populations. We continue to incorporate these support classes into our curriculum.

Academic Support

University students in matching blue t-shirts sit smiling at the camera on tiered bleachers.

The Morrill Engineering Program (MEP) supports the success of underrepresented student populations through academic and professional development as well as creating relationships among peers, faculty/staff, and alumni.

A peer tutor at the center for academic resources helps two students on their homework.

The Center for Academic Resources in Engineering (CARE) offers academic services through drop-in tutoring, Peer Led Teams, and exam review sessions to create a dynamic learning community to support engineering students.

Sculpture on the Bardeen Quad

The Merit Program: Active participation in Merit sections supplements the learning done in lectures, homework, and discussion sections allowing students to have peer-to-peer interactions to achieve a level of understanding necessary to succeed.

Initial Four Semester Sample Schedule

First: FALL	Second: SPRING	Third: FALL	Fourth: SPRING
ENG 100: Engineering Orientation	ENG 101: Engineering at Illinois	Major Exploration course	Major Technical Core Course
ENG 111: MEP Mentoring	RHET 105: Writing and Research	General Education Course	General Education Course
MATH 220: Calculus I	MATH 231: Calculus II	MATH 241: Calculus III	Math Core: MATH 257 or MATH 285
MATH 199: Calculus Merit	MATH 199: Calculus II Merit	ENG 199: Calculus III PLT	ENG 199: Math Course PLT
CHEM 101: Introductory Chemistry	CHEM 102: General Chemistry I	PHYS 211: Mechanics	PHYS 212: Electricity and Magnetism
CHEM 199: Chemistry Merit	CHEM 103: General Chemistry I Lab	ENG 199: Physics 211 PLT	ENG 199: Physics 212 PLT
PHYS100: Thinking About Physics	CHEM 199: Chemistry Merit

Major exploration courses typically taken:

Mechanics-Based Majors	CS/ECE Majors	Chem-Based Majors
AE 140: Aerospace Computer-Aided Design	CS 101: Intro Computing: Engrg & Sci	CHEM 104/105: General Chemistry II + Lab
ME 170: Computer-Aided Design	CS 124: Introduction to Computer Science I	ABE 141: ABE Principles
SE 101: Engineering Graphics & Design	ECE 110: Introduction to Electronics	MCB 150: Molec & Cellular Basis of Life
PHYS 211: Mechanics	ECE 120: Introduction to Computing	MSE 182: Intro to MatSE