<p>How does everybody find the difficulty of their classes to be? I know this will probably vary widely, but I am curious. I am a little concerned that my son says his freshman engineering classes are boring and too easy. Either they really aren't too challanging for him, or he is totally missing the boat.</p>
<p>I recall the beginning of my daughter's freshman year in engineering. She was working along, without extraordinary effort, for the first several weeks of fall semester, and then a sort of tidal wave of work hit the freshmen. You might ask your son if his engineering classmates also feel the work is too easy. . . . </p>
<p>I think I recall hearing that Pitt students can take up to 30 hours of courses at Carnegie Mellon, paying Pitt tuition. That might be an option for your son to explore.</p>
<p>Thanks, chrisd. I did ask him how much studying and homework he did as compared to his classmates. I got sort of a generic answer that he wasn't sure because he works in little bits as he has time. Also, he says he doesn't poll his friends and has no idea how much time they spend on schoolwork. Hmmm...definitely a "boy" answer.</p>
<p>Maybe I should just be grateful and anticipate the tidal wave of work. CMU might be something to think about as well. Maybe he is just well prepared from high school? Physics and calc are covering familiar ground and the engineering analysis (?) course seems to currently be about learning to operate various computer programs. My son is pretty good with this, so he finds that course to be busy work. Does it get any better? </p>
<p>I'm worried, though, that if he's not challanged he might spend his time looking for trouble. How does you daughter find her sophomore year?</p>
<p>Maybe they're still "reviewing". . . . . . ?</p>
<p>After her freshman year, things levelled out for my daughter. She knew more about her own limits and capacities, and was able to organize accordingly. She's now a junior, and planning a study abroad for spring semester.</p>
<p>Time looking for trouble. . . .most engineering programs have numerous extra projects going on that students participate in, which take care of any possible extra time: mini-baja car competitions, etc. </p>
<p>How's dorm life going for him?</p>
<p>He loves the dorm and has met alot of nice people. Even though the towers rooms are small, he doesn't really care too much (at least they are air conditioned). He has met alot of nice kids, some with similar interests, and he has tried some new activities as well. I was happy to hear that many kids brought musical instruments and they tolerate eachother practicing in their rooms (within reasonable limits, I assume). I think it's going to be a good experience for him. I'm glad that he and his roommate respect eachother and get along. The roommate is an early-to-bed person, so that is probably a good thing!</p>
<p>The car competitions and others sound like fun. Can freshmen participate in these? How do students find out about them?</p>
<p>Also, can you speak about the grading scale, curving, etc. Is it easy to get A's?</p>
<p>My son want to study abroad, too (Germany). Where does your daughter want to go?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I think the grading business varies from school to school. My daughter's experience seems to be that, with serious effort, one will get an A or B. I have read here about other eng. programs that seem to go for the curve method.</p>
<p>When we visited different engineering schools, there were usually flyers posted around about the different extra-curricular projects. . . I'm sure the school of eng. has some central office where one could get the info. There's most likely a Society of Automotive Engineers chapter at Pitt, and they sponsor some of these things.</p>
<p>My daughter is now aiming to do study abroad in Ireland. She did a 5 week summer program last summer in Germany, and enjoyed it very much. The program was about sustainable energy, which evidently
Germany is a top country in applications of in several areas, such as photovoltaics. The program was in the former East Germany, so that was another interesting angle. </p>
<p>My youngest daughter is the one who is applying to Pitt. I was surprised when we toured the Towers dorms that she thought they looked like a great place to live!</p>
<p>Actually, the Towers looked a lot better on move-in days than they did on the tour. There is a great community feel, too. </p>
<p>I guess grading varies widely among colleges. He has had no trouble so far, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!</p>
<p>Just curious, Does your younger daughter have any desire to attend the same college (Olin? Ohio State?) as your older daughter?</p>
<p>My youngest is applying to OSU, but she's not thrilled w/ the large large size of things there. But, she likes the city setting. She likes Pitt as it's urban, but not huge like OSU. As for Olin (where midldle daughter is). . . . she's not interested in engineering, so Olin's not on her list. She's interested in molecular biology. Just to finish it all off, she is probably also applying to Ohio U, where our oldest daughter graduated from in June.</p>
<p>She should have lots of research opportunities at a state school such as osu or pitt.</p>