<p>Most students aren’t on major scholarships. Maybe a couple thousand but not full tuition, at least not where I go. So yes, better to let them risk it, which really is more of a risk on how much effort they’ll put in than anything else, than to pressure them into taking easier loads. </p>
<p>In this case, if the scholarship is huge, maybe they’re right to suggest that the daughter should take lighter loads. In general, advisers where I go pressure people into thinking they can’t handle normal loads when they can. It seemed from xraymancs post that he/she does the same, something which I dislike.</p>
<p>To clarify, I wouldn’t tell every student to take a full 18 credit load either. I would give objective statistics and let the student decide for themselves rather than try pressure them one way or the other. </p>
<p>But on rereading, I would say I probably didn’t have reason to take objection to xraymancs post. I’m probably projecting my own experience with freshman advising on them.</p>
<p>Remember that at Northeastern, summer school is a bit more difficult. If she is planning on graduating in five years with three co-ops, summer school is an expectation in course planning and she’ll only have 1.5 summers off for additional summer classes/anything else she wants to do. Other summers will automatically be part of her academic schedule. The summers off are usually the summer after the freshman year and half of the summer after the sophomore year. Students often use the freshman year summer for internships to boost their resume for co-ops.</p>
<p>What exactly is she taking? Four classes are standard, the one-credit “Intro to Engineering” class is a nothing class (they called it “Intro to College” when I was a freshman at NU although it was still taken in the major – it included major specific stuff and a stuff like drug awareness education) – is the other credit a lab? I think that’s actually pretty standard. I would try to change the schedule if at all possible so that she has breaks. Although, is the 9-4 with no breaks only on one day because of the one-credit classes?</p>
<p>I actually know two current Engineering students in the honors program with scholarships who have been okay and I knew a few when I was a student – several of which were doing a Division 1 sport as well. I think they were generally okay, scholarship-wise.</p>
<p>But wouldn’t this also apply to the posters (and college advisers) who seem to automatically tell every student to repeat their AP credit or take light course loads, instead of pointing out ways for the student to figure out what path is most appropriate for the student?</p>
<p>My engineering kiddo did not have a “major scholarship” but she knew that if she LOST that award, she would be coming home to go to a far less expensive instate public university. There was a balance between taking too easy of a course load and too difficult a course load. She found it.</p>
<p>Re: calculus at the college level. My daughter never took Calculus in high school so college calculus was her first run at the course. She said, however, that MANY students in her calculus 1 class were those who thought the course would be EASY because they had taken HS calculus. Her classmates found that the college calculus was not as easy as they thought is was going to be even WITH HS calculus.</p>
<p>I would suggest that the OP have the option available, IF NEEDED, to ditch Calc 3 if she finds she needs Calc 1 and or 2 at the college level. She may find this is necessary…then again she might be just fine.</p>
<p>Unless there are extenuating circumstances, a student on a “huge” scholarship is most likely to be a student who can handle a workload on the heavy end of the spectrum.</p>
<p>re: taking the credit for Calculus, there are 2 schools of thought on this: On the one side there are the people who say that the intro calculus classes are huge weeder classes with lots of assigned work, that are best avoided if possible; and on the other hand are those who say that calculus is fundamental to engineers, and you should be sure to re-take to sure up your foundation.</p>
<p>My S didn’t have this option for calculus as a 5 in AB wasn’t worth anything at his school. Most of the first semester was review for him (I think it was equivalent of AB + BC) but it still wasn’t “easy” – in fact it was the class he struggled in the most. But he still decided to take credit for his AP Physics (C Mechanics). That one was an iffy decision because he didn’t feel very strong about his background, and couldn’t have even taken the class he got credit for first semester because he didn’t have the calculus I prerequisite for it. But he spoke to someone in the physics department who said that Physics II (E&M) didn’t build very much on Mechanics, so he should be ok. Physics II has Calc II as a prerequisite, so he hasn’t taken it yet, so we’ll see next semester how that plays out. Because of his major within engineering, he won’t have to take another mechanics-based physics class, so he is pretty sure he’ll be ok taking the credit. </p>
<p>One thing I’ll say for a co-op student, is that being “ahead” on some of the classes may make her a more attractive hire, especially for the first co-op term. My S found that because he had credit for a lot of the engineering core science classes, he was able to get ahead and take some upper-level classes in his major. We think that this was helpful in finding the internship he found for this summer (where they said they’d never hired a freshman before).</p>
<p>I think it would be a mistake to not ask the engineering advisor whether or not to use AP credit for calc. They should know how students usually perform in calc 3 at in this department. At least ask.</p>
<p>OP ’ s daughter has not attended any engineering info sessions since she just changed majors. This may have been covered in these sessions. So ask.</p>
<p>I agree strongly with the above, and will repeat what I said in my original post. You really need to seek advise from your school. What classes you should repeat and what you should take credit for varies so widely from school to school it is impossible to state a universal rule on this. Just the difference between my son’s top two choices in schools would have resulted in a completely different approach in what he took AP credit for and what he repeated based on the curriculum, weed-out classes, etc.</p>
<p>Definitely worth asking her advisor about the calculus class, though at some schools she won’t have access to her advisor until school starts. We did hear a lot (on both sides, really) about taking credit for AP classes in the engineering information sessions. But we didn’t hear it from school officials, as I recall – we heard it from students.</p>
<p>It may also make sense to talk to her assigned Calculus 3 professor (or email him/her).</p>
<p>Yes yes YES. Ask the faculty, the advisor, other engineering majors. Both my s’s retook calculus in college as it gives a solid foundation for many of the enginering/math/physics classes despite having taken AP in HS and gotten a % on the exam. Might matter a smidge if it was AB or BC, but if the school advises to retake, they probably have their reasons.</p>
<p>Another thing to consider is what your D wants to do outside of class time. My S didn’t work first semester, but he spent ~10 hours per week on his project team. Second semester he did the project team and ~5 hours per week of work on campus and was in a play with a ~10 hours per week commitment to that. That was a bit much and he had some major stress right before the play when he had a huge project due as well. It all turned out fine in the end, though with more stress than was healthy for him. His GPA remained strong.</p>
<p>Your D has to do community service. 100 hours over the course of a year is what, 3-4 hours per week? That shouldn’t be too bad if they can be done on campus, but if she’d have to also leave campus to do community service, that could get challenging. And again, if there are other things she wants (or needs) to do, it can add up.</p>
<p>They do say that students who work do better than students with the same course load who don’t because they are “forced” to organize their time better.</p>
<p>My son took Calc AB in HS, so I think he only had credit for Calc I. His advisor sent him an email that he was retaking Calc I at his own risk. She warned that just because you had AP Calc in HS did not guarantee you would get a good grade in college Calc I. She cited that many students who had AP Calc credit actually failed the college course, or had to drop it, and I believe lost their AP credit at that point. In son’s case, it was a good thing, as he benefited by retaking the Calc class by having a good teacher that gave him a strong foundation. However, a student that retakes Calc I thinking it will be a blow off course he won’t have to work in, might see his GPA plummet rather than swell, so it’s important that a student go in with the attitude that if this is a repeat course for him, he still will have to attend class and do the work.</p>
<p>As for students on big scholarships being the ones who will excel and not have to worry about working for their grade, far from it. There are a lot of big scholarship kids at my son’s school, as the scholarships are based on good ACT scores and good GPAs. A kid who is a good tester, gets a 32 on his first take of the ACT, and has a B average in HS has a pretty good scholarship. But that kid might not necessarily have the work ethic or the academic background to guarantee success in a tough curriculum like engineering, especially on the college level.</p>
<p>My daughter is also starting Northeastern in the fall. Her schedule (she is undeclared not engineering) adds up to 19 credits due to a required undecided freshman class for one credit, a required introductory honors class for one credit, and her choice to join the chorus (another 1 credit class). You need to have 16 credits to be considered full-time at Northeastern. Most of the freshman will be over by taking 4 - 4 credit classes and these required one credit things. The science kids with lab sections will also have extra credits. I think this is normal for that school.</p>
<p>OP, my son is a computer science/game design dual major at Northeastern who also has the 100 hour community service requirement. He took 20 credits his first semester (4 regular classes, 2 labs, 2 one-hour) and did just fine (3.8 gpa). Because every regular class at NEU has 4 credits, 18 credits is really not a lot. As eiranne said, the one-hour classes do not require a lot of work. Has your D been to orientation yet? She will speak with an advisor then and go over her schedule. The community service works out to about 4 hours a week, but travel time is not included. Luckily my son had a very short T ride to his. Also, volunteering done while at home during breaks counts as well.</p>
<p>The problem is…the student MUST take courses in a sequence…and the first term is offered typically in the fall with subsequent terms in subsequent semesters/quarters that year</p>
<p>As the mother of an engineering student and someone who has many engineers (including my H) and eng’g students in the family, I’m well aware of the need to follow a sequence. However, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fall frosh schedule that had 18 credits all required to stay in sequence. Usually, there is at least one class in there that has nothing to do with the sequence…maybe a frosh comp class or some other class. And, again, if you have Cal I credits, that lightens the load right there.</p>
<p>I am nearly certain no engineers in my family ever took 18 credits for fall frosh semester.</p>
<p>Unless there are extenuating circumstances, a student on a “huge” scholarship is most likely to be a student who can handle a workload on the heavy end of the spectrum.</p>
<p>Not necessarily. Some schools’ huge scholarships require a 3.5 GPA to keep them, so it’s not hard for even tippy top students to drop below that in eng’g.</p>
<p>Texasmom,
My son was a freshman engineering major last year. He took 17 credits, also took Calc 3, Eng. Design, Chemistry and an elective. It was totally manageable, and he also worked 8-10 hours a week and played club baseball. He did have to work hard in Calc 3 since he had calc I and II in hs that were college classes, but he definitely did not have a strong background. That said, he still did well. </p>
<p>As far as her 2 required 1 credit class, I only know of Intro to Engineering. What is the other one? Also, they usually have off during lunch. No classes are scheduled from 11-12.</p>
<p>My S will be starting in engineering in the fall at TAMU. The reccommended schedule calls for 17 credit hours. Three credits were for a freshman English requirement that he got credit for in HS. He received a 5 on the BC AP calc test. All told he is taking 14 credits. Every kid is different he thought by not taking the AP math credit he would either be better prepared to move on or would have an easy A. One interesting thing that was mentioned at his new students conference was that the way engineering students performed in their first math class, whatever that class was was an indicator of their success in the engineering program. They stressed that this was true even for kids who did not meet the requirement for Calc 1 and needed to start with precal. They also mapped out a schedule where even going that route the student graduated on time. So even if courses are given in sequence there are ways to manipulate the schedule at have it work out. While my S could have lightened his future load by taking an additional 3 credit course it seems that for his particular needs keeping the schedule lighter in the beginning is the way to go to facilitate his future success. We hope this is right.</p>
<p>She has been to orientation and an advisor helped & signed off on her schedule. She won’t have her official advisor until class starts. She has requested to have her elective changed so that she can eat lunch. We also figured she could drop this elective if schedule couldn’t be changed or handled.</p>
<p>Her classes are Chemistry, Eng Design, Cal 3 (all honor sections). One elective and 2 “seminars” Intro to Eng and Enhancing Honors. </p>
<p>She’s very aware that private education is out if she doesn’t keep the NMF full tuition scholarship. She did complete 12 AP classes in HS, lots of theatre rehearsals and top 3% of class so she has a strong work ethic and is mature. </p>
<p>I appreciate the advice and feel comfortable with dropping the elective if she feels that she needs to.</p>