<p>I am a high school senior who will likely be attending Miami U in the fall and majoring in Engineering Physics, Math, or MechE. Although I have always been a successful student and I am very excited about all of my prospective majors, I am very nervous about the difficulty of these majors and about college life in general. Does anyone have any advice on how to be a successful and involved student and keep a high GPA?</p>
<p>I am very afraid that my high school has failed to prepare me for the rigor I will be facing in college, and I commonly hear horror stories about perfectly intelligent grads from my school who go on to fail miserably in engineering. I believe I have the intelligence and have taken courses to prepare me for S&E (Physics, Adv Chem, Calculus) but I am worried that I have bad study and homework habits that I developed from easily getting straight A's in high school.</p>
<p>If anyone has any ideas, advice, stories, links, or books or anything I should read before embarking on my college journey, it would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Also I am considering involving myself in club athletics or possibly ROTC, any advice on balancing these time consuming activities with school? Or should I forgo such extracurriculars altogether until I get the hang of college? Thanks again!</p>
<p>All I really can say is focus on passing your classes first and worry about the GPA only after you’re assured of passing your classes.</p>
<p>Cs get degrees!</p>
<p>Activities are important and a big part of college. You’ll have time for some of them. But I wouldn’t worry about that until you finish your first semester.</p>
<p>Lastly, you’ll have to be willing to study a lot harder than many of your fellow college students. Other majors are easier and not all of your engineering classmates will graduate. Those who are willing to put tons of effort into classes freshman year are those most likely to graduate.</p>
<p>Not necessarily, but you may have to work harder (e.g. spend more time studying, study in different ways than you currently do) in order to get As.</p>
<p>Sometimes you can’t get As at all. That’s ok, becuase generally people don’t care what your college GPA was. As or Bs, with a couple Cs mixed it will do you fine.</p>
<p>I am on the same boat as Jake. I want to go to top gradschools after college. I took a quick look at the avg GPA of admission and they are around 3.5 - 3.7. That believe that translate into A- for all classes. Which left me wonder will I reach a point where my best is just not good enough.</p>
<p>Time management is absolutely key. You have to learn how to manage your time so as to juggle all or your interests and school and still stay on top of the work and sane. That is the hardest part for most people. It certainly was for me. I still struggle with it and I am in grad school.</p>
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<p>You and 90% of the rest of engineering students in America are in this same boat. The fact is, almost no one is every 100% prepared for college. There is always going to be a curve thrown your way somewhere. It is different. You don’t have parents there to fall back on. Most or all of your friends aren’t there for you to fall back on. The fact of the matter is, at least as much as it is an educational experience, college is a growing and maturing experience. Things aren’t always going to go your way. Taking life’s punches and continuing to move forward is a sign that you are maturing. You aren’t going to have your mom to make you study. You aren’t going to have your high school teacher holding your hand through the material because his/her job partially depends on how you do. You are going to be responsible for your own work habits. You probably won’t be any less prepared than your average classmate, so it will really come down to how well you transition into this role of managing all of your own time and decisions.</p>
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<p>Definitely get involved! Engineers have to unwind too! Find something you like and do it. Most people I know who did nothing but school work were very unhappy people. Get yourself involved with a club or organization or something that interests you and it will help you keep your peace of mind when you need a break from working.</p>
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<p>Grad school, in a sense, has become what college used to be. Some people just aren’t cut out for grad school. That said, the great thing about a 3.6 or so being average for graduate school matriculants is that roughly half of them are below that. Don’t freak out yet. I got into grad school with a 3.3 just fine. Just do your best, and after a couple years, if grad school is still something you are interested in, then get yourself some work in one of the research labs at your school in an area as closely related to what you want to do grad school in and start schmoozing with your professors. Good research experience and professor recommendation can do a lot to help overcome an otherwise “unstellar” GPA.</p>
<p>Still, if you aren’t even in college yet, worrying about grad school now is somewhat laughable. Make sure engineering is what you think it is before you commit your mind to getting a higher degree. It is a noble goal, but it just isn’t for everyone. It is almost laughable when people plan on grad school before they even start their first semester of undergrad because so much changes over time, and in many ways that you won’t expect until they happen. You just have to play it by ear. Like I said, if by the end of your sophomore year, you still have an interest in grad school, that is about the earliest you should start seriously considering it.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry too much about your school setting you up for failure; it’s mostly likely those good students that came before you weren’t willing to put in the work required of an engineering degree. I know plenty of really smart people that coasted in high school, but then when they actually had to buckle down and study they weren’t able to do it.</p>
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<p>I think a better way to look at it is you’re getting slightly more As than Bs.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the excellent advice. I will definatly have to focus on time management skills, since many sources have told me that is one of the keys to college.</p>
<p>Like exe, I too have my eye on grad school, which is why I am worried about GPA and college success. Although I know nothing is set in stone and interests and plans certainly change, I hope that I do well enough in college to get accepted to grad school, and do not eventually come to a point where my best isn’t good enough!</p>
<p>I had a hard time adjusting, after having a 98.9 (unweighted) average in high school. I found that I needed to get a tutor in several classes. I also went in to talk to professors FREQUENTLY. Even at a big school such as Texas, most of them were willing to help (although my first semester physics prof was a total jerk). It was hard for me to admit I needed help, but I’m glad I did. Good luck! If you’re willing to work HARD, you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>And don’t concern youself with grad school now. A BS in engineering is more than sufficient to do most engineering jobs, and getting the BS degree is the most important step.</p>
<p>I agree, worry about the BS first. I’m a second year engineering student and have no idea whether I want to go to grad school. I just want to get my bs first.</p>
<p>Study. HS was probably easy for you, so you didn’t develop good study habits. This may be what breaks a lot of potential engineers and hard scientists. Actually read your textbooks and do as many practice problems as you can. Cover what you’re going to cover in class before you get to that class. Get the textbook early and act like you’re taking a course at home. Read it, do the problems (that have answers in the back of the book), stay at least a chapter ahead of all your classes. It’s easy to get complacent about a class and get buried quickly, which affects your performance in other classes because you steal away study time from them to make up for the first one.</p>
<p>The first two years are supposed to be the tough stuff, the boot camp, as it were, where you take the usual calc and diffy q’s and linear algebra and calc-based physics and chemistry and whatever and introductory engineering classes. Be prepared for this, don’t expect that you can just attend class, do the assignments, take the tests, do the labs, and you’re fine. You have to be willing to set aside lots of time to study. I recommend CLEP-ing out of as many general studies classes as you can. In fact, I’m not even taking any general studies classes and don’t plan to until much later and only as needed (you can CLEP out of tons, and give yourself more time for your real classes).</p>