<p>To do well in engineering curricula, you should EXPECT 30-40 hours of studying outside of class, and to party ONLY one night per weekend. It’s much harder than high school and somewhat harder than most other majors. Only a few small details appear to have changed since I attended a private engineering school 30+ years ago; Statics was easy, Thermo was a weed-out course, different programming languages, etc.</p>
<p>I can’t believe the “basics” of RLC circuits were ignored in the first EE class. But you have to be comfortable with calculus.</p>
<p>Classes don’t actually get easier later on. They only seem easier because you have learned the basics, learned what is expected, and hopefully learned that you want to be there.</p>
<p>That isn’t necessarily true. Yes, there were weeks where I put in 30 hours of studying, but most of the time it wasn’t that intensive. And I usually went out twice a week.</p>
<p>And the classes do get easier later on, for the most part. You move from assignment based classes to project based classes. Most people find that considerably easier.</p>
<p>I have a similar experience to chuy. Generally you’re only going to be putting in over 30 hours or work a week if you’re really mismanaging your time (as an example, I had a roommate who would skip most of his classes and then spend 20 hours straight studying for them the day/night before). In addition to what he said about the shift from assignment-based work to project-based work, you’re also likely to get better at learning how long it takes to complete certain things and how to study more efficiently and such, so you can tackle tougher problems more easily.</p>
<p>I recently got into VT Engineering. I am hoping to major in Civil and Environmental Engineering but that is subject to change (maybe to Mechanical). Who are some professors that I should avoid getting, and on that same note who are some professors that I should definately try to get?</p>
<p>kcblondy - Congratulations on your acceptance! My daughter is a sophomore Civil Engineering major in the middle of finals right now and its tough going for her. I don’t know all of her profs - though I do know that she has Chang for Statics and its been a very tough course for her because of his lack of organization. </p>
<p>You might want to consider joining Hypatia -the living learning community for women engineers. She joined as a freshman and became a mentor for sophomore year and has found it to be a very valuable experience. She met some wonderful friends and developed valuable skills like resume writing, interview skills etc. It has helped her land her first internship with a company that specializes in her dream career. The advisor is great and has been very helpful to her. The Hypatia community will help you identify the best courses and profs for you.</p>