<p>If this is in the wrong forum, let me know.</p>
<p>You probably guessed it correctly from the title: I'm a freshman engineering major struggling in some weed-out classes. I've got a B in two of them, which normally I'd be happy with. The downside is that I have a big scholarship that depends on me maintaining a pretty high GPA requirement, and getting Bs in both those courses would drag me below that threshold. I would get one semester on academic probation, and have to raise my total GPA above the requirement by the end of that term or lose the scholarship.</p>
<p>I know it's only midterms, and that there's plenty of time to get my grades up. But I am starting to think about this now, because if I can't improve my grades by the end of the semester, then I will have to make a decision very quickly.</p>
<p>My first option would be to transfer to an easier major. I have seen the work that students in certain majors do, and to be honest, I think that maintaining my grades in those classes would be no issue. The upside is that I would continue getting a nearly free education at a great school.The downside is spending four years in a major I don't like, and likely graduating with poor job prospects.</p>
<p>Or, I could keep going in engineering. If I could get my grades up, things would still be good. At the same time, I think that if I am struggling to maintain the required average now, I don't think I could earn much higher grades next semester. I'm at an out-of-state university, so if I lost my scholarships, I would be forced to leave and move back home. There's a nearby commuter school I could go to, but I'd be paying full freight there, and leaving a lot on the table here.</p>
<p>I don't want to sound like everything is woe-is-me and completely negative; I realize that both my choices are far from bad. Hell, I consider myself lucky just to be at this college. But this is the biggest decision I have yet had to make. Any input on it would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Avail yourself of the tutoring services at your university. Have you met with the professors in that you’re doing poorly in? Ask professors for copies of old exams. Will you still be a full course load student if your drop the classes in question?</p>
<p>If you want to do engineering, stick with engineering and consider the option of student loans if you can’t raise your GPA in time. In the meantime, a B is not a bad grade in college and it is only midterm season of your first semester. Even if your GPA falls below the threshold, you still have an extra semester to figure it out. Hang in there.</p>
<p>You aren’t doing particularly poorly and your issues are more mindset than academic difficulty - you all but acknowledge this. I think it’s clear that you should stick it out.</p>
<p>Take easy, padded semesters if you really can’t keep your GPA high enough.</p>
<p>I don’t understand how a couple B’s would drag you below the scholarship requirement. It would have to be around a 3.5 which would worry me because engineering isn’t a major where you can guarantee yourself that high of a GPA every semester.</p>
<p>I do worry about schools with high GPA requirement… especially engineering. How much you’d loose per year for scholarship if your GPA went too low? </p>
<p>Note - There were a lot of things we liked during our tour of RPI a few years back. Not sure if this is still true, but at the time the rep said there is no GPA requirement for scholarship. She said students struggling with low grades already have enough stress without the financial worry. </p>
<p>Of course it is possible freshmen science and math requirements for engineering are poorly taught and/or taught in a poor format at your school, however, the various colleges/departments aren’t trying to force you out. Instead, they are trying to prepare you for your future coursework. It isn’t the case where you pass freshmen physics and calculus and then it’s all down hill through graduation 3-3.5 years later. If I knew how difficult and time consuming upper level courses were going to be my first couple years I would have taken things more seriously. That said, you get to learn and do cooler things so your bs-to-motivation ratio stays roughly the same.</p>
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<p>Unless those courses have a generous weighting/exam forgiveness policy, I can tell you from personal experience over the past 3 years that getting a full letter grade higher than your midterm grade is very unlikely. Raising to a B+ however, is doable if it is simply a function of altering your study habits.</p>
<p>Yep, it’s a 3.5. It’s not based on semesters- it’s based on your aggregate GPA. But being a freshman, this semester’s grades are the only ones I have, so I have to make the cut this first time around.</p>
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<p>I’ve got plenty of old exams. For calculus, the school posts every exam they have given for the last fifteen years. Those are a godsend for studying. I go to 3 tutoring sessions a week, and meet with some other students for regular study groups. I’m taking 13 hours, so dropping a course is not an option.</p>
<p>I have not talked to my professors. What would I say to them?</p>
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<p>All of it - close to $40,000 annually.</p>
<p>As good as this college is, I’m not taking out loans for it. The commuter school back home pretty much sucks, but it is dirt cheap. With my Pell grant and no other scholarships, I could get 3 years of tuition for about $10,000 total. That’s half of what one semester would cost here with no scholarships.</p>
<p>Or I could transfer to an easier major and likely come out of here close to debt free.</p>
<p>What other non-engineering major alternative do you have in mind?</p>
<p>Do keep in mind that some of the engineering jobs are relatively high paying and in the long run can make up for the lost scholarships.</p>
<p>I had a 3.74 during first semester freshman year through brute forcing the courses (poured lots of hours into studying and doing problems and more problems).</p>
<p>I’m currently I’m sitting at 3.54 after biting more than I could chew (5 engineering courses as a 2nd semester freshman was rough), and it’s probably going to decrease to around 3.4 since my first midterms’ scores were around class average.</p>
<p>Update on this. I talked to my parents about this last night, and they made it clear that I would not be welcome to live back home with them if I lost my scholarship. The explanation was that if I waste an opportunity like this, it’s my own fault, and I shouldn’t expect any support from them for screwing up.</p>
<p>The problem there is that room and board or rent in my home state would cost far more than tuition itself. Over three years, I would be looking at something closer to 30K or 40K of total expenses.</p>
<p>So if I land on academic probation, do I go another semester in engineering and bet on myself, or switch to something like psychology or communications that I am nearly certain to keep high grades in?</p>
<p>I think you should probably switch majors because like an earlier post said its not guaranteed that you can maintian a 3.5 gpa in engineering or any stem major for that matter. If you happen to make it this semester you still have to make sure you can maintian that gpa every year which would be very stressful.</p>
<p>I would first ask the scholarship board for an allowance for a major as intense as engineering. You can at least try. Maintaining a 3.25 would be livable. If not, choose a major that is at least useful. If you are a male, education would be better than psychology or communication and it’s a nice lifestyle with summers off. You could even go to school yourself in the summer or nights and finish your engineering degree.</p>