<p>Keep in mind that eng’g grades are often HIGHLY curved!</p>
<p>However, A’s can be limited which iis why engineers’ GPAs are typically lower than students in other majors. </p>
<p>Fluid, thermal and heat transfer (as well as some other) classes annually give eng’g students headaches all over the country.</p>
<p>I can remember my sister’s H (one of the smartest engineers I know, Cornell grad) complaining this his only C’s were in those classes. So, when his Vandy eng’g son was having trouble, he told him not to stress out over a lower grade in those classes.</p>
<p>I think the dept heads and profs should encourage study groups and review sessions.</p>
<p>After Googling “touch engineering courses,” I just came across this article…</p>
<p>Here’s a sneak peak…</p>
<p>*Consider one former engineering student profiled in a recent Wall Street Journal article. She switched her major to psychology and policy management from electrical and computer engineering after a particularly tough assignment that “kept her and her partner in the lab well past midnight for several days.” The WSJ also reports that since switching majors, her grade point average has gone from somewhere between a B and a C to near straight As.</p>
<p>Most engineers can relate to these incidents. I personally spent an uncountable number of nights laboring past midnight over one engineering-course project or another, as did the majority of my classmates. One guy I knew dropped out of mechanical engineering partly because he was on academic probation. He switched to political science and within one semester had a GPA near 4.0.</p>
<p>And I would have to say that most engineers complete their degrees through sheer stubbornness rather than because they excel at their class work. On that score, my own engineering-college career began in about the most inauspicious way possible: Freshman engineers at my school went through an introduction-to-engineering course their first semester to get a feel for what lay ahead over the next four years. To say the first exam in that course was hard would be an understatement. I stumbled out of it thinking I might have gotten zero points!..</p>
<p>…Finally, there is one point I wish I could explain to freshman engineering students encountering similar challenges: Many of the most-successful engineers I’ve been lucky enough to work with had college GPA’s that were nothing special.
*</p>
<p>Tough day for us…son did not earn the minimum C- in Statics. He has talked with the professor and his engineering advisor, and his only option is to retake Statics next semester. Of course, he now is not able to take the two subsequent courses, Dynamics and Fluid Mechanics, because they both have the prerequisite of a minimum C- in Statics. I am so heartbroken and frustrated!</p>
<p>We have been looking through course options…of course, ALL Statics classes are full right now. S does not want to take the class with Wahidi again…not that he holds any disrespect toward this professor, but we both agree that perhaps a different teaching style might help. It appears as if S will need to contact a professor directly to get an override for a class that will fit into his schedule. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to successfully obtain an override???</p>
<p>We mapped out his future course of study, and he should be able to get on track Fall 2015 with no problem…assuming that he WILL PASS Statics next semester.</p>
<p>The other email he needs to send is to the co-op department. We are both hoping this class does not directly affect his co-op which is to begin this summer.</p>
<p>Definitely NOT how we wanted to spend his time home. A life lesson in his journey I suppose.</p>
<p>I hope all others who were sweating out this class had more successful results!</p>
<p>I am so sorry for your son. Hopefully he can get an override and get a better professor next semester. From what my son said, among other things, Wahidi wrote his own final which was much harder than the final all of the other sections took. I am sure your son will pass with flying colors next semester! We will be rooting for him!</p>
<p>My son is very happy to have passed with a C+.</p>
<p>My son will be retaking the course too. This time last year, we were celebrating a 4.0 during his first semester as a college student and now even coming to campus with over 50 credits are scrambling to figure out how to fulfill the requirements to finish in 8 semesters, the engineering courses are just on such a rigid sequence that it’s hard to screw up even one course and stay on track.</p>
<p>I also noticed that currently the only open sections are with Dr. Wahidi again. It seems his courses are the final courses to fill up.</p>
<p>My son is considering taking Dynamics over the summer (also assuming he is successful at his second attempt at Statics) and since he’s in an apartment with a 12 month lease if he takes a couple classes over the summer he can get back on track. </p>
<p>I hope your son finds it doesn’t significantly impact his co-op, but know you aren’t alone.</p>
<p>I think both students should contact the dept head and Dr Karr. mention that these are high stats scholarship students who have otherwise high grades. The fact that this ONE prof seems to be the issue, needs to be brought to their attention. Afterall, the eng’g dept can’t have scholarship kids “running out of semesters”.</p>
<p>^^^
Eng’g is a challenging and jam-packed schedule by nature. Any university worth its accreditation does not build in a lot of padding. The flowcharts of courses are sometimes downright scary (most of all in Aero, where if you miss a course, you will have to wait another YEAR, not semester, because many things are only taught 1x/yr). I’m sure M2CK did not mean this this way, but I’m just making sure that people don’t interpret her advice to mean that it is entirely the University’s responsibility that one professor is making students in eng’g do poorly in it. Be 100% sure before you contact Deans and Dept Heads that you are honest in your assessment of your effort + motivation put into these classes. Make sure you have your facts entirely correct before you call anyone. Make out a timeline of specific issues/events. Have a list of what YOU have done to pass the class, because the burden of proof is on YOU, not the university. IMO.</p>
<p>Bama does offer Statics online and S had the option to take it online this semester, however I don’t see it as an online option for the spring.</p>
<p>I haven’t looked into what it would cost to take the course over the summer at Bama, but it’d definitely be cheaper than staying a full extra semester. There aren’t any schools nearby our home that would offer Dynamics this summer, he could take it in-state at Purdue, but that would mean paying for other housing too (although cheap summer housing can probably be located in a college town). </p>
<p>I’m still researching options to take Dynamics online.</p>
<p>jrcsmom, is your son an aero major or a mechanical major? Our S is a mechanical major, so he will need to bump 2 classes originally scheduled for next semester. He already spoke with his advisor, and there is no possibility of taking the classes concurrently with Statics…so, we have worked out a revised, “personalized” flow chart to allow completion in 8 semesters. </p>
<p>We have the added issue of working around the co-op, which hopefully is still a “go”. His co-op semesters are Summer 2014, Spring 2015, and Fall 2015. This then involves classes over 2 summers, and we have looked at past summer offerings in ME to make the appropriate class choices. I can envision S needing to go an extra semester because of his co-op, but ultimately, that cost far outweighs what we would be paying in state for Ohio.</p>
<p>S already dropped the two AEM classes that were in his schedule, he scheduled his elective science class, and he is awaiting a reply from a particular Statics professor regarding a class override. He also emailed the co-op director to see if there is any backlash regarding his start date. I believe we have done all we can do at this point.</p>
<p>I do not plan to single out this professor to the Dean or the Department Head. I know the study habits my son has, and I believe more than anything that when he started getting lost in the course he waited too long to seek help. He was never able to get a firm grasp of the material early on, and it snowballed. Lesson learned…but hopefully not with Dr. Wahidi again, as he wasn’t the most helpful professor in this situation when my son did approach him for help.</p>
<p>jrcsmom, feel free to PM me and we can discuss Spring schedules!</p>
<p>My S is a Civil major and Statics is actually a prereq for 3 of the courses he’s currently registered for in the spring. But some juggling can be done to squeeze most of them into 8 semesters. But Dynamics is a prereq to many of his upper division courses, so if he doesn’t take it over the summer, then there are not many courses that he’ll need that he’ll be able to take next fall. </p>
<p>As I noted in an earlier post, S is so used to EVERYTHING coming so easily to him, having a course that he actually had to work to be successful in came as a surprise. I questioned his effort when I saw his midterm grade and he started doing a little better after that, but it was too little, too late, then with the difficult final, he just wasn’t able to pull his grade up to where it needed to be.</p>
<p>I’m so sorry for your students and for you parents. </p>
<p>I see where there is a video version of Statics available. It says for distance learners only, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask for an exception to made.</p>
<p>* S is so used to EVERYTHING coming so easily to him, having a course that he actually had to work to be successful in came as a surprise*</p>
<p>Engineering, math, and physics courses, as you move along in college, can be a shock for those very smart students who got used to not working hard for their grades. Those years are over.</p>
<p>I see where there is a video version of Statics available. It says for distance learners only, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask for an exception to made.</p>
<p>Definitely. An exception should be made for those retaking the course.</p>
<p>Regarding the retake of AEM 201, S was able to enroll in a section with a different professor than the one he had this past semester. </p>
<p>He initially emailed the head of the AEM department to ask for an override for the full class, yet unfortunately the dept. head would not allow an override because there was an opening in Dr. Wahidi’s class offered at the same time. S was resigned to take his medicine again, but miraculously while he was registering, one opening appeared in the other section offered at noon with a different professor! Perhaps this is a sign of better things to come Spring 2014.</p>
<p>Updated schedule is set, we have worked on a revised flow chart to allow for this curveball, and I believe we are officially turning the page on this unexpected experience. As an aside, it is interesting to see Wahidi’s reviews in ratemyprofessor…none are from my son.</p>
<p>Thanks for the good wishes for my son, everyone. He is going to be better for this experience…keep the positive thoughts going for him please!!!</p>