What are some engineering schools where it’s relatively easy to get high grades?
None… Engineering is a lot of work anywhere.
You’re asking the wrong question.
As others are alluding to, understanding the material is far more important than the grade you get. That said, why do you ask?
I’m hearing horror stories of people losing scholarships due to over arduously grading professors…I don’t want to risk that (going to an easier school will even more decrease the already low likelihood, worst-case scenario).
Employers know the “easy” engineering schools and do not recruit there.
What you do when you encounter a hard class is
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take advantage of all of your resources. Textbook, office hours, study groups, tutoring, online video lessons. For a lot of subjects, there is a wealth of information available to you.
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be aware of how you stand in the class. Some classes will have an adjusted grading scale or be curved. In really hard classes, you might be okay as long as you’re above the average.
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do not slack off. If you get one low grade, work even harder to do better on the next one. It’s easy to fall into the trap of giving up and letting a bad test demotivate you. Don’t let that happen.
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keep an eye on the drop deadline. Sometimes you just can’t come back from a bad start in a class and would be better served trying again the next semester. A W is better than an F.
I have a GPA requirement of 3.4 every semester to stay in the honors college. I have only been worried about dropping below that level twice (first and fourth semesters), and it didn’t happen either time because I dug in my heels and persevered.
The answer is to work harder and learn the material, not avoid it.
You don’t have to choose an “easy” school to avoid this, but you might want to avoid some of the unrealistically hard ones to maintain. @ucbalumnus has a good handle on which schools have VERY stringent requirements for maintaining engineering scholarships.
What schools do @ucbalumnus indicate are unrealistically hard to maintain a good GPA?
It’s not how hard they are to maintain GPA at, it’s where they set the bar. That, you’ll have to rely on the summoned one for.
As for schools notorious for grade deflation, I’m sure there are others, but Purdue and Harvey-Mudd come to mind. Interestingly, at Cal Poly, most programs are like any other school, but ME is notoriously difficult. Just over 60% of transcript grades are As or Bs while more than 10% are F.
In “general”, the less selective schools are less rigorous. The stronger the academic profile of the students, the more rigorous can be the classes.
Another way to look at it, a stronger group of students, will need to be tested more rigorously, to allow exceptional students to shine.
I say in “general”, because some schools that may not be as selective as their peers (Purdue comes to mind), are still known as being fairly rigorous.
I don’t agree with this. A lot of state schools aren’t very selective but have rigorous programs. This leads to a high attrition rate. Many of the Big Ten schools are good examples. If a school is not very selective and also has a low attrition rate, I’d agree with you.
Big merit scholarships typically have GPA requirements to renew. Common minimums range from 3.0 to 3.5. While someone able to get the top end scholarship is likely to earn at least a 3.0, a higher threshold like 3.5 can be significantly more stressful. When comparing scholarships, check the renewal criteria.
In addition, check how entry to major is done. There are various ways, some if which can be more GPA stressful than others and create a weed out environment.
A. Direct admit to major, can stay with a 2.0 GPA. (most California publics, Texas)
B. Direct admit to major, need higher GPA to continue in major. (Wisconsin)
C. Admit to pre-engineering, can declare any major with a 2.0 GPA. (Michigan)
D. Admit to pre-engineering, must compete for admission to major; may guarantee an engineering major but not necessarily first choice. (Purdue, Minnesota, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M, Washington starting this year)
E. Admit as general undeclared, must compete for admission to major. (Washington in previous years)
There seems to be a pattern to your recent posts that indicates you are trying find what I could only describe as an easy path to engineering. That approach to this problem (and life) is not likely to net very good results. In this particular instance, engineering is a difficult course of study pretty much across the board and demands a lot of students, regardless of the school. Rather than spending your energy looking for schools that are “easy” or at least “not overly hard”, you’d be better served to sit down and think about why you are interested in engineering and let that motivate you to take the challenge head on regardless of school.
In life, almost nothing worthwhile is on the easiest path.
Even though it’s 5 years old, this article makes some interesting points about engineering education -
http://blogs.ptc.com/2012/08/06/high-dropout-rates-prompt-engineering-schools-to-change-approach/
I agree that the Purdue & VT approach of requiring a minimum GPA for admission to your selected engineering major is more stressful than a direct admit program. And Purdue combines that with grade deflation for an extra dollop of stress. Yet according to the article, they retain 87% of freshmen in the engineering program (and admissions last year claimed 90%, so they may have improved a bit).
To pile on @boneh3ad’s comment, the easiest route might make you the crappiest engineer. Is that something you aspire to?
Perhaps more relevant at Purdue would be percentage of frosh who eventually are able to (a) declare their first choice engineering major, and (b) declare an engineering major acceptable to them. Frosh to soph retention may not be as relevant, since many may still be in pre-engineering then.
https://engineering.purdue.edu/ENE/Academics/FirstYear/T2M does say that there are engineering majors which are not at capacity and admit applicants with 2.0 college GPAs. However, it does not say which programs have higher minimum college GPAs and what their minimums are (there is mention of historical stats, but there are no historical stats or links to such).
WPI gives a lot of good grades. Teacher evaluation is a factor in tenure decisions and we joke that it’s like the inmates are running the prison. Many students manage to get a fine education anyway. It’s a great place for students who might otherwise get weeded out, etc.
The downside is that it’s difficult to impossible for employers to distinguish the good from the great. Another downside is that if you still manage to get poor grades, it’s like a double whammy.
“WPI gives a lot of good grades. Teacher evaluation is a factor in tenure decisions”
@ClassicRockerDad Teacher evaluations are a factor in tenure decisions everywhere. And after that teacher evaluations are 30% of the measure for raises. (The others being publishing and service)
@katliamom, that said, WPI does have a reputation for grade inflation. Why hardly matters. It makes it difficult for someone hiring to know if an applicant is average, good, or really good, if they all get the same grades.