Of course, when he attended college, there was less grade inflation. Most colleges were also much less competitive to get into, so they had more students who could not handle the work of a relatively difficult major. So the faculty may be incorrectly assuming that the college graduation rates that they saw apply to current conditions.
Not really. Their point was your all top students. But after your first semester things will change. Get ready for it. It was more a pep talk then anything else. They pointed out since engineering student stereotypically are introverts and writing and communicating are usually their not their Forte that many will be on teams. But if you want to be the leader of the team. Learn to communicate and write well… Because at Michigan we make leaders… Lol. Don’t make me recite the whole speech 
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Sorry phone went crazy:iphone:
Was Hail to the Victors playing in the background during that speech?
My daughter finished in 4 years/8 semesters because that’s how she was funded. She had an 8 consecutive semester scholarship from the school, Bright futures was for 120 credits and there were risks of losing it if you took time off (I think co-ops would have been okay) and she had a 4 year athletic scholarship. She had to plow through. A fifth year would have cost me $60k and I didn’t have it.
She also came in without one single credit from AP and started in Calc 1 and Chem 1. Needed 131 credits to graduate and she just followed the recommendations for civil engineering, which was a schedule to get out in 4 years. Several of her friends also graduated in other engineering majors in 4 years.
My nephew also entered without any credits from high school. He got a D in Calc 1 and had to retake it, so then took Calc 2 in summer school to get back on track. He finished in 4 years but stayed to do a 5th and get a masters.
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Yes, for some of the schools I’m worried about the scholarships going away. That makes a really expensive 5th year!
Rose-Hulman has told us they work hard to get kids out in 4 years. Maybe that’s changed since you looked there @Knowsstuff .
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You could hear it off in the distance
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depends on how many AP/DE credits you have coming in, what kind of workload you’re willing to handle, and whether you’re willing to take courses during the summer.
COE has 53 credits of study mandatory for every major covering general subjects like math, cs, chemistry, and physics. If you have AP credits for Calc BC, AP CSA, Chemistry, and both physics Cs, then you can knock out 27 credit hours, or almost 2 semesters of study.
(EDIT: already posted above)
Rose-Hulman’s CDS says 86% of those who graduate within 6 years graduated in 4. Another 11% in 5.
74% of all who started graduate in 4, 84% in 5.
It’s tough to get that math to a 5 year average.
(the numbers were 88%, 10%, 68%, 76% in 2015)
Fwiw, we attended many info sessions for Purdue, Mich St., UIUC, and Wisconsin. “Expect 5 years” would have been a huge red flag. I don’t recall ever hearing that.
Purdue specifically addresses it in their FAQ
Can I get an engineering degree in four years?
Yes! With the exception of the 5-year Professional Practice Program option or dual degree programs, all engineering degrees are designed as four-year programs. Each major requires 124-132 credit hours, which is a full course load (at least 15 hours per semester) for each of the eight semesters. …
The average time to degree is 4.2 years.
My daughter had zero usable credits starting as a Freshman at Purdue and graduated in 4 years in MechE along with a Certificate in Entrepreneurship. She took two summer courses, but only 12 credits her final semester. The only friend she knows that had to go longer was on a study abroad program in Germany Spring 2020 and the pandemic sent her home with a completely unproductive semester. She finished in December - 8 actual semesters in attendance.
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And the fruits of that effort won’t even start showing until next year’s statistics. It’ll be the first time they have 4 years of data. I probably wouldn’t judge that until 2023 or 2024.
Maybe the “E” stood for “Excellent”.
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You really can’t tell how its going to go. I graduated in 4 years, one DD graduated in 3.5 years, another 5 years (she got a C- in a class that required a C to graduate, are you kidding me? uhggg…4 years then went to 5).
I know I went to school 30 years ago, but it was common to take longer because you couldn’t get the classes you needed when you needed them. I went in with many AP credits and took two summer classes. I could have graduated in 3.5 years (even with having piano lessons as a class every semester) but I needed two classes that had one section at the same time. It did make for an easy senior year at least, and I worked 35 hours a week the final semester.
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I just think regardless parents need to plan it could take longer then traditional 4 years. As I said above with proper planning it can be done. But some kids just need more time.
That’s a luxury some families can’t afford if the scholarships and grants are limited to 8 semesters. My kid had to make the schedule work.
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Not sure about Michigan in particular but in the US overall the graduation rate in undergrad engineering majors is about 50% and about half of those students take longer than five years to graduate. I think this info can be found from a simple Google search.
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