This article is meant to inform mechanical engineering students at Tufts, particularly freshmen, as to some useful course options available to them. All information is given from the perspective of a Class of 2013 graduate but should still be applicable. (This may change with changes in curriculum.)
First and foremost, if you are a freshman mechanical engineer, then a great way to get ahead is to take ES 7 - Thermodynamics next spring. This is one of those options I wish I were aware of back in 2009. Thermo is not an easy course. It is, however, required for many engineering majors. By taking it now, you jumpstart your mechanical engineering degree, opening the way for Fluids next fall and Heat Transfer the following spring. Your junior year schedule, which is harder than the first two years, is now open for an elective. The material in Thermo will be more difficult than the other second through fourth semester classes, but the normal track has you take these courses simultaneously with more challenging fourth through sixth semester classes. If nothing else in the article appeals to you, seriously consider this option.
All engineers should consider taking COMP 11 - Intro to Computer Science at some point. The chief reason is that you will likely be programming at some point in your career, and this course will give you a basic understanding of the structure and content of programs. Another good reason is that Tufts offers really good courses and facilities, as is evidenced by the explosion in computer science enrollment in recent years. It's not that difficult a class for most. (Grades seem to fall into two categories - mostly As, and a few Cs for those who don't do the work or don't understand the material.) Finally, if you happen to be a freshman, then you might be able to take this in lieu of ES 2, which is a huge plus. C++ is much more applicable than VBA or MathCAD, and you will learn far more about programming in COMP 11.
In terms of fitting this into your degree sheets, COMP 11 qualifies as a foundation elective. Furthermore, if you enjoy the class, you can continue onto COMP 15 - Data Structure, which is equally useful, only slightly more challenging and can be counted as a concentration elective (which is mighty useful for the Class of 2017, with the addition of a concentration elective to the degree sheet in place of a foundation elective).
Take DR 27 - Public Speaking at some point in your Tufts career. Professor Deborah Cooney is one of the best teachers at the university, in my opinion, and this class will rid you of any stage fright you have. Furthermore, it will teach you to be aware as a speaker, and with this awareness will come confidence and ability. You will use this skill in just about any career, and certainly for your senior design projects. In addition to being useful, this is a really fun class! It has a fairly low stress level and great support from both the professor and classmates. The interactive nature of the class makes it a great way to meet other people from varying disciplines at Tufts.
The rest of my advice is math-based (I got a second major in applied math), but I'm aiming this toward all mechanical engineers.
MATH 0087 - Mathematical Modeling is a well-designed, fairly easy and certainly applicable class that one can take any fall semester. This course offers perspective on approaching open-ended problems, and the MATLAB experience you will gain is very valuable for later mechanical engineering courses, such as ME 37 - Dynamics (required) and ME 109 - Acoustics (not required but highly recommended, especially if with Rob White). Mathematical Modeling is generally taught by Scott MacLachlan or MishaKilmer, both of whom are great teachers.
MATH 0151 / ME 0150 - Linear Partial Differential Equations has an awful sounding name and is quite a difficult follow up to ordinary differential equations (ODEs). I took this during my third semester, and it was the first real college course I took, with minimal in-classroom guidance and difficult problem sets. That being said, if you understood ODEs well, then it would not hurt to take this class. The material covered in MATH 151 does come up in higher level ME courses (most notably ES 8 - Fluids and ME 16 - Heat Transfer). What's more, this is definitely a concentration elective. The course switches between math and ME, but my suggestion is you take this through the math department, as more material is covered in greater depth (with far less fiddling around with worked examples).
Finally, if and only if you are considering doing more math-y things at Tufts (like pursuing a major or minor in mathematics), definitely take Abstract Linear Algebra soon. This course forms a great foundation for proofs and supplements differential equations. (It turns out that all the properties of vector solutions from differential equations are universal and can be considered in an abstract sense - suddenly a lot of the material glossed over in differential equations makes sense.) Most of the professors in the math department are great, but I have to give a special shout out to my math advisor, Professor Fulton Gonzalez. If he is teaching this course, you would do well to take it with him.
This can also fit on your degree sheets as a foundation elective, since it's a higher-level math course. Content wise, the course can reasonably be taken in lieu of discrete mathematics, and if you are considering the latter, I highly recommend this course instead. The material is more abstract, but linear algebra is a much more interesting and useful course.
