Hello, I’m going to be a freshman this fall at UT in the EE department. I have registered for all of my courses but am having second thoughts about some of my choices. Is it extremely important to be in FIGs? I understand they help you make friends etc. but it’s limiting my class selection and schedule. I have the hardest professor for EE 302 and want to switch out of it because of the professor and also the timing of the class (8:30 AM, which limits my selection for calculus classes). There are still spots open in other EE 302 classes for more student-friendly professors, but once I drop the FIG I cannot reenter. Also, advice concerning physics at UT: will it be okay to take out my Engineering Physics 1 and 2 credits using AP tests? Seeing as I am EE physics is quite important. I’m also retaking E&M at CC to refresh before coming to UT. Thanks!
I don’t know about other FIGS but my EE fig wasn’t all that useful for me. We did do a few activities to try to help people bond but it did not appear to me that many people there were actually hanging out outside of the FIG because people did not talk to each other much. The best thing was learning things about the resources on campus such as tutoring and general advice for EE students and stuff. If being in that FIG would cause you to have a much harder professor and at a much worse hour of the day, it would not be worth it.
Thanks SadHippo! I spoke with ESS today and they said pretty much the same thing: it’s mostly helpful getting acquainted with the school and learning about resources and other stuff. I think I’ll drop to keep my options open. Also, since you’re EE, do you have any advice for EE 302 and 306?
I was only EE for the first semester. I did not like it and switched to math. In fact, I had to Q-drop the introductory computer engineering course after the first exam because I was doing so bad and didn’t like it. Engineering classes at UT are no joke. I have heard from upper-classmen in EE that the introductory EE courses are weed-out courses for those that don’t really belong in EE and that the rest of the courses get easier. I would recommend always going in for help, especially for the EE courses whenever you get stuck on anything. There should be professor office hours, TA office hours, or the engineering study tables at Jester which can be found here: http://www.engr.utexas.edu/undergraduate/advising/tutoring/jester
There may be more places you can go in for help for EE but that is all I know of. Class averages for exams when I took that stuff 3 years ago were very low (not uncommon for the class average to be in the 50s). The professor may curve immediately after each exam or may wait until the very end to curve which leaves students unsure where they stand.
FIGs aren’t necessary by any means. ChemE department didn’t even make any FIGs, lol. If you do think a FIG would be helpful for the social/adjustment stuff, you can always ask the EE department to add the FIG lecture into your schedule separately. I got asked to be put into a WEP FIG lecture even though I have no other classes in common with the FIG, just because I wanted to meet new people, learn more about WEP, and get free lunches and I got added with no problems :^)
Thanks SadHippo and ImTheReal! I appreciate your answers. And that’s cool! I think if I get my M408C section that I want (I’m on the waitlist) soon, I’ll drop out of the FIG. I hopefully should be able to make friends just as easily as if I were in a fig.