The class introduces to you the basics of Systems Engineering. It may seem a little boring at the beginning, but at the end of the semester you will actually find the usefulness of all the principles you learn during the semester. I won't say it's a hard class. It's more about understanding the concepts than performing calculation.

I am not even a systems engineer, but this was my favorite course of the semester, thanks to the way that Smith and White presented it. The material may have been dry and abstract (especially for an engineer), but it was made to be very applicable, as our coursework focused on real-world scenarios. I loved that the professors were able to lead this class outside of even a syllabus framework and into the world around us, devoting a chunk of one class to discussing recent NASA launches and the "systems approach" behind them. And just to top this off, Smith and White were truly good guys, and provided support for us students not just as systems professors, but as mentors. All in all, the abstract nature of the material may come as a bit of a surprise (and disappoint a select few), but it has really changed the way I think about engineering and problem-solving in general. Kudos to Smith and White for such a well-developed course, which I highly recommend!

The professor and course was fairly dry. The curriculum was not very directed or interesting. On the plus side, it wasn't particularly hard and wasn't a study-heavy class.