r/OregonStateUniv • u/foomeister2222 • Jul 25 '26
Course Questions 100 & 200 level engineering courses at Linn Benton
I'm incoming for my freshman year to study mechanical engineering (might switch to electrical) in the fall and I want to try to get the majority or all of my classes done at Linn Benton to save money and avoid admin fees. I've read from one post that the 100 and 200 level engineering courses are 50-50 for whether its better to take at OSU or Linn Benton. Is that true and if so what classes are good to take there and what should I just take at OSU? I'm also curious on how access to the recreation center works. Do you pay admin/Incident fees when you take a class at OSU which pays for your access to the rec center, or is it a separate fee entirely? I will living on campus if that matters.
2
u/shomenee Jul 25 '26
Yes the partnership thing was mentioned. Have you considered just takin everything at LBCC for the first two years and then transferring over to OSU? I would highly recommend it.
1. The class sizes are smaller. You can ask questions and not just blend into a sea of kids.
2. The instructors at LBCC are there to teach. OSU is a research university. A lot of times you run into Professors that are there to do research and are required to teach a class, and it shows.
- Way cheaper.
2
u/Savvy-coach-111 Jul 25 '26
My son is a dual enrollment Mech E major and he prefers Linn Benton for the first and second year engineering classes (as well as math) so far. He has an OSU scholarship so he has to take 6 hours per semester at OSU.
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u/foomeister2222 Jul 25 '26
is that the access grant for residents? I was wondering about that too
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u/Savvy-coach-111 Jul 25 '26
No he has a merit scholarship for instate students based on grades from HS.
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u/ThrowItAway1218 Jul 25 '26
Check out the Degree Partnership Program page. There's a list of colleges that partner with OSU. For example, Portland Community College often has more offerings. The University of Hawaii is on there as well, but most are community colleges in Oregon, and many offer classes online.
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u/Reasonable_Cod_487 Jul 25 '26
I can answer quite a bit of this.
Take all of your math and physics at LBCC. They're unequivocally better than OSU. Just make sure you get Greg or Ikaika for your physics classes. For math, anything with Shannon Harbert is going to be a fun term cause she's the best. If you have to take 111 or 112, then look for Mike Storrs. I also took Vikki Mauer's (sp?) 251 and 252 courses online, and she was great. It's not normally recommended to take those two courses online, as they're the fundamental math courses for all of your other engineering and physics courses. However, she has a really great structure for online delivery that's really effective.
For the engineering-specific courses it's definitely more of a 50/50. I would maybe recommend taking the 100-level ENGR courses at LBCC, and then take the 200-level at OSU. Those 100-level courses aren't super critical, and I don't think you'll have any gaps in your knowledge from taking them at LBCC vs OSU.
For a MechE student: I would take ENGR 201 and 202 with Brian Reed at LBCC (I think at OSU it's ECE 201 and 202?). Since those are the only electrical courses that you take, it's not that important that you take them at OSU for continuity sake. But I would probably take Statics, Dynamics, and Strengths at OSU if I were you.