<p>I just completed my first day of college as a freshman today (yay) and I pretty much enjoyed every class with the exception of calculus for engineers. I’m majoring in Bioengineering and at my uni we have to take calculus I, II and II for engineers rather than the regular calc.</p>
<p>Here’s my issue: I went to high school abroad and didn’t get an opportunity to take calculus in 12th grade. I studied pre-calc in 11th which, technically, qualified me for taking calculus in college. Now, since I am considering transfer to Penn for sophmore standing, I was wondering whether I should:</p>
<li>take calculus for engineers and risk lowering my g.p.a</li>
<li>take precalculus (and potentially risk looking stupid on the transfer app?) this semester and after regaining touch with math again, take calculus for engineers in Spring
or</li>
<li>Take brief calc in prep for taking calc for engg in Spring?</li>
</ol>
<p>What should I do? I’m really nervous and don’t want to jeapordize either my grades or my transfer chances. I’m not avoiding hard work, but consequences are making it so that I am feeling very uncomfortable with my present calc class. :(</p>
<p>I’d really appreciate your ‘words of wisdom’. thanks</p>
<p>if you take a class and study hard for it, I don't see why it can lower your GPA. A good work ethic is very important and it can get you through the hardest of classest. I am not in college, rather going to be a senior this year. But I took a micro-economics course this summer at a college in my area and was able to get an A. I worked hard and studied hard as well. I know you can't compare the two classes, but my point is that if you are willing to put the work into the class, you can see results. Although it does not guarantee that you will recieve an A just because you worked really hard. That's just life.</p>
<p>Some classes are pretty damn hard and will probably end up lowering your GPA. I say that you go with 1. if you can pull a B or better in the class, or 2. if you cannot.</p>
<p>There's really not much you can do about taking calc I/II freshman year if you are considering applying to SEAS as a freshman (not 100% sure). The reason I say this is because those two classes are pre-requisites to the VAST majority of engineering classes that you will take, and it might hurt you. Check the transfer requirements, those classes might even be required.</p>
<p>That said, there's a lot to be said for cramming and getting ahead of the curve.</p>