Freshman Engineers

College Majors Engineering Majors
21

<p>I hope she can talk to some fellow engineering classmates. With a very few exceptions, they are all in the same (barely floating) boat. It sounds like she's doing fine and just needs to lower her expectations, grade-wise. Can she not continue at Ohio State even if she looses her scholarship? As long as she passes the coursework, she'll be employable on graduation.</p>

<p>Engineering is hard. It's not a virtuoso performance. I think it's a process - one is growing an engineer brain with logical and analytical skills. That takes time and mental exercise. I hope she sticks with it!</p>

22

<p>
[quote]
Advice from anyone else who's been there?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>So much of engineering school, particularly the first year of undergraduate, is spent wondering silently if you're good enough. The cruelest part of engineering education is that not nearly enough people admit when they're lost.</p>

<p>Your daughter is good enough to be in engineering.</p>

<p>A 3.4 GPA is tough to maintain in engineering. It's tough to have that hanging over her head... It'll be a struggle, but in my experience, anything that's really worth doing <em>is</em> a struggle. </p>

<p>Treetopleaf's comment about engineering not being a virtuoso performance is right on. Engineering always ends up being more than even the most brilliant of engineers can handle without a lot of work. Even the most brilliant engineering students get stuck and frustrated, and end up lost and confused by things.</p>

<p>My first year was pretty terrible. I got a couple of C's, which I'd never gotten before in my life. I didn't like my intro courses, I didn't see how I was getting any closer to being an engineer, and I was massively frustrated. I really doubted my abilities. Things started to get a lot better my sophomore year, when I really started in on my engineering courses... They were still hard, but I could see how they'd eventually be applicable, and I was really interested in the things that we were learning about.</p>

<p>I think maybe what your daughter should consider at this point is <em>not</em> whether or not she can maintain the GPA required to keep her scholarship, because if she truly wants to be an engineer, then this is her shot at it. I think she should consider whether engineering is what she's truly passionate about, or whether it seems like a good major for her because she enjoys math and science and is (completely understandably, if it is the case) not entirely sure what career she wants to pursue. If it's the latter, engineering might not be the best choice for her. If it's the former, then I'd encourage her to keep in mind that the first year is a tough year with a lot of core courses, and that if being an engineer is truly what she wants to do, that she keep in mind that we've all been there, and we've all doubted ourselves and our intelligence at times... But that plenty of people, many who are undoubtedly less intelligent than she is, have made it through engineering before her, and that she should take advantage of every resource available to her, be it working in groups or changing her study practices or taking advantage of professors' office hours to ask more questions.</p>

<p>But she <em>is</em> smart enough.
Best of luck to her, and to you.</p>

23

<p>Gen-ed's are not really GPA boosters. In my experience I have felt Gen-ed's to take more work (lot's of reading and writing papers). In fact all my B's are in gened classes. She should take courses that seem to interest her rather than think that Gened's will boost her GPA. If you find a class is interesting you are bound to do well in it.</p>

24

<p>missil3, gen ed. classes are grade boosters for some. I remain astounded at how much easier english, philosophy, psychology, etc. were than math, science, cs and engineering classes. But I know some people feel differently. It depends on the individual.</p>

<p>
[quote]
The average midterm grade was a 45 and she had a 36.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>My school seemed to shoot for 50% as the average grade for almost every technical course. You end up feeling like you've flunked every test, but one can get a degree that way, and hold their head high too.</p>

25

<p>Thanks to everyone for their advice. My daughter has decided to stay in engineering. ( I hope she still feels that way when she gets her grade from the calculus midterm she took on Friday.)</p>

<p>She is taking a chemistry class this summer at her school to help lighten the load fall quarter. She is taking engineering graphics, materials engineering (?), and calculus in the fall.</p>

<p>As far as the scholarship goes, she would still be able to go to school without it, but it's hard to think of giving it up, especially when this would be a moot point if she were in an easier major. The other thing is, if she falls below a 3.4 she is out of the honors program, which means she is no longer eligible for priority scheduling. That's a real perk when you go to a school of 50,000.</p>

<p>Bottom line--I want her to be happy and to have a career she enjoys, no matter the challenges or the cost. It just helps to vent to people who understand. Thanks.</p>

26

<p>If she gets above a 3.4 can she get back into the program? Also, is there any sort of probation period on which she'd be in prior to getting kicked out of the honors program?</p>

27

<p>So nobody does co-op? I'm not sure what you've heard, but companies will take co-op interns as soon as the summer after freshman year.</p>

28

<p>I would do co-op, but I don't want to spend a fall or spring semester as a rotation. I rather just do 2-3 summers of internship. That way I can get more classes done during the regular school year.</p>

29

<p>I believe more and more companies are doing away with internship programs in favor of co-op programs, though.</p>

30

<p>Are there co-ops where I can do 3 summers instead of rotating after every other semester? I just took so many courses of interest which doesn't count towards my degree, and I don't want to have to spend an extra year or two to graduate.</p>

31

<p>There's no shortage of internship programs. Every company that I've looked at in the past 5 years offered internships. However, not all of them offered co-ops (in fact very very few of them did). Maybe it's different depending on the industry? Or perhaps region?</p>

32

<p>just finished up freshman year.. 3.88 gpa @ the university of maryland, college park - civil engineering (environment and water track)</p>

<p>doing undergraduate research with a civil/env engineering professor with another freshman student. also working as an orientation advisor for incoming engineering students. + taking an online community college course for one of my core credits.</p>