A One-Credit First-Year Introduction to Engineering Seminar Course at Penn State Fayette Helps Freshman Students in Choosing an Appropriate Engineering Major: a Student's Perspective

The purpose of this paper is to address the problems undergraduate engineering students face in choosing their majors and the ways in which first-year engineering courses can help to inform students and aid them in deciding on their major. Emphasis is placed on Penn State Fayette’s ENGR 100S, which the lead author took in the fall of 2005. ENGR 100S is an introductory engineering seminar, and the paper provides a student’s perspective on the course, based on the experiences of the students in the class. The coauthor of this paper was the instructor of the course, and provides input related to the manner in which the course was taught and information on engineering in general.