Engineering Orientation

Get ready for your first semester

Welcome Rams to a new phase of life as a college student! We want to help our new students with a smooth transition into the college and CSU.

Ram Orientation is one in a series of onboarding activities designed to prepare students for success at CSU. Onboarding will continue at Ram Welcome.

All new students are required to participate in Ram Orientation.

Fall/Spring/Summer Start – First Year Students
New Student Ram Start Dashboard
New Student Checklist
Students look at a project at the Fall 2025 student engagement fair.
Always check your Rams email
Send in your final official transcripts and exam scores
Complete the Math Placement Tool
Create your Engineering Technology Services (ETS) account

Create your Engineering Technology Services (ETS) account at engr.colostate.edu/ets. This will allow you to log in to campus computers and access important software tools.

Review our Principles of Community

As engineers, we only succeed if all people and ideas are valued, particularly given the complexity of the global challenges that we face. The Principles of Community support the Colorado State University mission and vision of a collaborative and vibrant community.

Be ready for calculus

in your first year

All CSU engineering degrees begin with MATH 160 – Calculus 1 – as the first required math class and a vital prerequisite for future courses.

If you want to work with lasers, design skyscrapers, make robots, or use algae to make biofuels, you’ll find out that engineers use a lot of math.

What does "calculus ready" mean? How do you get there?

Incoming students will hear "calculus ready" a lot. It means being comfortable with algebra, trigonometry, and logarithmic and exponential functions from high school or other classes.
Being ready to take calculus in your first semester sets up the rest of your college career. ​

Getting “calculus ready” is the process of using resources to pass the Math Placement Tool, or completing the Precalculus Tutorials fully, to be ready and able to register for calculus in the fall.

Colorado State University uses the Math Placement Tool to determine if first-year students are ready to start with calculus (MATH 160) in engineering. 

We strongly recommend that students enroll in Calculus 1 in their first semester to be able to graduate on time.

You can still graduate on time only starting with precalculus. But it would involve taking summer courses when you could be prioritizing internships or summer jobs.

Note: Completion of the Math Placement Tool is required for all incoming engineering students, regardless of anticipated AP/IB credit for high school exams and courses completed.

The seamless path from incoming Ram to graduating with an engineering degree begins with completing the Math Placement Tool and placing into Calculus.

Step 1: Prepare for the math placement process

Math Placement involves your math plan, concept review, and practice materials.

Step 2: Complete the Math Placement Tool

Once you take the Math Placement Tool, you will be able to find your next steps towards either placing into calculus or other courses.

Questions?

Congratulations on earning college credit! In order to register for classes on time based on your credits, you will need to send a screenshot/unofficial copy of your final scores or college transcripts to engr-orientation@colostate.edu. You will also need to send a copy of your official transcripts and scores to the Office of Admissions. Once official scores and transcripts are received, the Registrar’s Office has up to 30 business days in which to officially evaluate and process them. The AP or IB equivalences page can be found here. To look up the classes you are transferring to CSU, use the Transferology website.

During Ram Orientation, you will only be able to register with the scores you have received, not your anticipated scores. Don’t worry! You can change your schedule after you get your final scores by emailing your academic advisor.

All Engineering students are required to complete the Math Placement Tool to test out of the Precalculus math courses (MATH 117-126), regardless of their AP, IB, or Dual Enrollment status. This allows for the smoothest registration experience for you. If you have any questions regarding this requirement or believe you have earned credit, please send an email to engr-orientation@colostate.edu. For more information regarding transfer credits, please refer to our admissions page, the exam transfer equivalency, transferology.com, or email us.

The Math Placement Tool covers all math courses needed as prerequisites for MATH 160 – Calculus for Physical Scientists I, which include MATH 117, 118, 124, 125, and 126. Your goal is to place into MATH 160 in your first semester to stay on track with your major curriculum and help you avoid needing to take summer math courses in the future. Students in the college have higher success rates when calculus is completed in the fall or spring semester of their first year.    

If you are not able to test out of all five Precalculus math courses using the Math Placement Tool, you have several options.

  1. You can complete the tool one additional time in a proctored format.
  2. You could also use the Precalculus Tutorial to work through the Precalculus course content after you’ve utilized the Math Placement Tool at least one time. The Precalculus Tutorial takes more time to complete, but it does allow you to review content that you may be less familiar with to help strengthen your overall math skills.
  3. Take part in our ENcourage Engineering Math Program! ENcourage is a summer program intended to help incoming engineering students who did not place “calculus ready” through the math placement tool to improve pre-calculus math skills. Students will take the math placement tool after the program, with the possibility of placing out of one or more of the pre-calculus modules, and the possibility of placing into calculus (MATH 157 or MATH 160)
  4. After completing the Math Placement Tool once is to utilize the Math Challenge Exams. This may be a good idea for you is to take the Math Challenge Exam for one individual precalculus course: MATH 117, 118, 124, 125, or 126. This might be a good idea for you if you are confident in the subject and do not feel as though you need a refresher like the Precalculus Tutorial provides.   

More information on challenging Precalculus courses for credit can be found here. We strongly recommend that you take the Math Placement Tool seriously to avoid needing follow-up! For more information, please visit the Math Placement Overview page, or email our Engineering Ram Orientation staff at engr-orientation@colostate.edu

Most laptops will work for engineering coursework, because there are plentiful computing resources provided by Engineering Technology Services (ETS). Students have 24/7 access to multiple engineering computer labs, and can even log into the engineering “virtual classroom” on their personal computers, where they can then access all the same software they can in the labs. ETS is available to help students configure this virtual classroom access. Remote access works from Windows PCs and Macs, but not Chromebooks.

If you are looking to purchase a new computer for college, RamTech (located in the Lory Student Center) also has lots of options and can give advice to students trying to decide between computer models. Additionally, Academic Networking and Computing Services (ACNS) has compiled a list of guidelines to assist students when choosing a computer.

If you haven’t received any information about Ram Orientation yet, be sure to check your CSU Office365 Outlook account. All student email is sent to this account, so it is important to check it regularly. If you don’t plan on checking this account regularly, you can also set up email forwarding to your personal account. If you are unsure how to access your Rams email account, ACNS has compiled a website for Office 365 help.

At this point in the Ram Orientation process, please direct all questions to engr-orientation@colostate.edu. We will answer your questions from that address. When you attend Ram Orientation, engineering advisors and staff will be on hand to assist you and information will be provided on your assigned academic advisor at that time.

Before your registration date, there are a few things that are important to complete. First, you must create an eID; this will be the account you use to log into all CSU-related services. Following that, it is important you complete the Math Placement Tool and Chem Prep before your Ram Orientation date. These tools will ensure that you are able to register for the classes required for your major during your first semester. For more information on the Math Placement Tool and Chem Prep, please refer to FAQ #2 and #4 above. 

Additionally, make sure you have completed “Registration Ready” in RAMweb before registration. You will see the Registration Ready section in the center panel of RAMweb when you log in. All of the actions in this panel need to be completed BEFORE your scheduled Ram Orientation session date.  The one exception to this is your advising code, which you will receive from your advisor on your registration day. Incomplete tasks will have a red “X” next to them, and completed tasks will have green checks.

For a full list of all pre-orientation checklist items that need to be completed before your scheduled Ram Orientation session, please go to https://www.engr.colostate.edu/orientation/.

You cannot get credit for foreign language classes from high school unless you completed a language AP or IB exam or have dual enrollment credit from another college/institution. Additionally, if you are looking to take a foreign language at CSU, you must take the Language Placement Exam to determine your level of proficiency.

The ERLC is a housing community of first-year engineering students. Our community is designed to help students succeed with all aspects of student life. We provide academic advising and tutoring, help with technology and room requests, and we’re ready to help answer whatever questions you have. More information can be found on the ERLC webpage.

Students interested in applying for the ERLC must first complete a general University Housing application and then complete the ERLC supplemental application to be considered for admission to the ERLC.

If accepted into the ERLC, University Housing will assign you to AV-Engineering.  There is no guarantee that completing the supplemental application will lead to admission to the ERLC or to being placed in AV-Engineering. For more information, please email engr-orientation@colostate.edu.

Other questions?

If you have specific questions or topic areas you would like us to address, please don't hesitate to contact us. E-mail us at engr-orientation@colostate.edu.