<p>@LanaHere, I think she is doing well. Her first year was a bit rough in some respects. But really I think it was a factor of our personal life changes and she put a lot of undo pressure on herself. She always felt like she should be studying and felt guilty when she was doing something fun. She was second guessing her abilities. This year it is like she is a different person! Much more confident, has no problem in participating in both class load and her social life. Grades are improving. I have not made a point to stress grades other than focusing on 3.0 average as her goal to maintain. </p>
<p>She has mentioned that it seemed as though about 40% dropped the BME track sequence in her classes from Fall to Spring. But she is doing fine in those. I have never compared BME GPA’s to the other areas, so I could not say if one engineering track is more or less difficult for GPA’s. The track is very specific and if you don’t declare by beginning of sophomore year, then you’re behind. (Case allows you to declare your major by end of sophomore year.) But I would assume anyone declaring any engineering major should know sooner as opposed to later to deal with the sequence of required classes. </p>
<p>The only other difficulty with BME is that there are about 8 tracks to choose from, so once you know you’re interested in BME, you still have to decide which track of BME. For my D the choice seemed to come easy. It just seems to me like a lot to decide on in a short time. She meet with profs and her advisor, took some of the career assessment exams and she was doing some volunteering with some of the grad students assisting in their research and that also helped her choose her path. I won’t disclose which track, as it become too specific to id her.</p>
<p>@BluePoodle, Thanks! Your comment is very helpful. </p>
<p>So 40% of her BME classmates took off running in all directions and never came back to continue their BME classes for Spring semester? lol
BME is not easy.</p>
<p>@LanaHere, well I think the problem is GPA. If you have Pre-Med considering BME and you don’t get the grade you need, you drop. A lot of these kids feel the “competitive” pressure to get A’s in everything because they did in HS. But it’s not that way in engineering or at CASE. CASE deals in grade deflation and it really hurts a lot of egos. So yes, from the first class required in Fall and the second half required in Spring, she told me that a lot of kids must have dropped because of the difference in class numbers at registration. She was really surprised. That is why I have emphasized with her to have a goal of getting a B in each class. She has friends who have cried because they didn’t get an A. But she has noticed that the pressure came from the Parents telling the kids they HAD to get an A. I just don’t think these kids and parents understand that is not always possible. </p>
<p>I have stressed with my daughter the importance of building relationships with her Profs and TA’s and being involved in extra curricular activities. She was the youngest person to request to volunteer with the Grad’s in her area (without expecting pay) just for the experience and now she will be an unpaid intern for the summer too. Sure, it would be great to get $ but I would rather her get the experience and have the connections for recommendations for Grad School and future Job. So unpaid verses an unrelated paid summer job is my preference for her. Whatever will give her hands on experience, build her confidence and help her in the future is what is important and grades are not the only factor in the equation. It just seems seems surprising that students and parents still don’t realize this. I could be incorrect but I don’t think so.</p>
<p>Case grading system is unusual undergrad. They use A,B,C for passing grades with no + or - gradations. As a result the average GPA is lower than many schools, roughly 3.1-3.2. Graduation with honors is 3.5 and up, 3.75 for high honors. </p>
<p>Students seem to feel engineering average GPA may be a bit lower, probably because they take difficult classes.</p>
<p>S seems to agree most students, especially premed ones. push themselves to do well rather than that the culture is adversely competitive. Roughly 60% of students are math and sciences types and tend to be serious about studying. Case does seem to us to be a much healthier environment in terms of grade pressure and competitiveness than other schools S considered, for example CMU.</p>