<p>I know this is a VERY subjective issue, but please do try to answer it as accurately as possible. How difficult is it to achieve around a 3.75 GPA during your freshman year at Cornell (specifically the first semester)? I am especially interested in those of you who are in CALS or CAS. Yes, classes and teachers vary, but I would appreciate a non-exaggerrated reply. thanks a lot!</p>
<p>-if you could, note your school and major (thanks for the heads up mercury)</p>
<p>This question depends entirely, completely, and utterly on your major.</p>
<p>Avg. freshman GPA is around 3.0 (not sure if that's for the entire school or just CAS). That's the stat that they told us during orientation freshman year.</p>
<p>I had a 3.92 GPA first sem, dropped 0.2 next semester, and ANOTHER 0.2 the sem after that. Bio major, CAS</p>
<p>Government Major in CAS, 3.8 for the yr, 3.6 first semester, 3.9+ second semester</p>
<p>good luck, it may take you a semester to acclimate</p>
<p>Most people (excluding those whose natural abilities are far worse than average for Cornell) can certainly get a 3.75 for freshman year IF THEY PUT IN THE EFFORT. The hard part is having the focus and determination to get it done. It's not hard if you're serious about it.</p>
<p>I can't speak for all majors, but for most majors in CALS and CAS this is certainly true.</p>
<p>Rising Sophmore, CALS, AEM, 4.10</p>
<p>How much hw per day and per week do you do (hours)? Do you have time to be in clubs? Do you have time to hang out with people and so on? Thanks a lot AJKates, and GREAT gpa!!</p>
<p>In terms of time spent, it varies. Some days I do no work at all, and other days I spend every waking hour doing it. I would say on average, it's probably about 3 hours per day, though it never really feels like that much except for those really bad days. </p>
<p>Some work is done in groups or at least with someone else, and that time passes more quickly. For instance, Chem homework may take several hours, but we actually have a good time doing it because we're working together. Written homework also takes less time. Statistics homework also takes several hours but it goes by rather quickly as well, and I usually finished it in one sitting for 4-5 hours straight each week.</p>
<p>On the whole, the work doesn't feel so bad. Don't let the numbers I put up scare you, I say 3 hours each day but it never really felt like 3 hours of "work." I have yet to pull an all-nighter or do anything crazy to get work done or handed in on time.</p>
<p>I had a pretty average freshman schedule this year, 14/15 credits and gym in mostly intro classes.</p>
<p>There is plenty of time to do whatever you want. I held positions in two clubs and actively participated in two others. I also went "out," as in to party at frats or the like, about once per week (but more during weeks where not much was going one).</p>
<p>Time management is important though. It's a skill most freshman will quickly learn first semester.</p>
<p>Thanks for the story! gj</p>
<p>:eek: :rolleyes:
4.10!~!~!~!~!
NERD!!!!</p>
<p>he's in AEM, ASP...</p>
<p>You should be talking Arjun :P</p>
<p>Put simply: </p>
<p>i > u</p>
<p>Ya wow in AEM too...how did u get over a 4.0 anyways (the technical aspect, how can u get over a 4.0)? The curve in AEM must be pretty hard to be on top of since there are so many intelligent students in it.</p>
<p>AEM classes are actually curved pretty highly (most classes have medians of A's or A-'s). The avg. SAT score in AEM is not impressive despite its low acceptance rate, probably because they look for good leadership and interpersonal skills and other intangibles.</p>
<p>I came out of freshman year in engineering with a 3.8....all the classes seemed like they were designed to get your feet wet, at least to me. In my experience, unless you have a really niche-ey major that is super-specific, your classes aren't going to get that legit until sophomore year. Use freshman year to pad your GPA. Kick your writing seminars' asses; they are weighted high and if you took AP lit you should be able to get A's or A+'s. Use AP credit to open up room in your schedule for blow-off or fun classes; because of the holes in my major-curriculum-track-thing due to my AP's, I was able to take German and Econ second semester...I was an engineer with half my classes in the Statler! I took a PE, was active in a couple clubs, partied three nights a week, and pledged. So what I'm saying is that you can make freshman year a whole lot of fun (which is the way it should be) if you set it up right, decide your priorities, and don't get in over your head.</p>
<p>The average grades in most AEM classes for freshman and sophmores are B+/A-. The one-credit supplementary classes required for AEM majors the first three semesters each have an average of A (but I haven't taken those yet because I didn't start as an AEM major. </p>
<p>AEM 220 was harder this year than it had been in the past. The average grade was historically an A- but this year it was a low B.</p>
<p>i'm not belittling your your accomplishment AJKates, i'm just saying a 4.1 in AEM (curved higher than engineering) is not the same as if someone were to get that in Engineering. It's still no small feat.</p>
<p>AJKates, I took AEM 220 and Pedro seemed to think the class was run the same way as it was in past years and the performance was just not up to par, since he said the extra credit was supposed to up the average grade and he assumed everyone would do it (I talked to him at office hours). If everyone did the extra credit, the average grade would be higher than a low B (it would have been a solid B). The extra credit was supposed to make up for the lack of a curve on the tests. My friend took it last year and said it was harder than people expected it to be. Regardless of the supposed difficulty, we had an optional project, allowing us to replace a bad test grade with the project grade, which should have been a 90 or higher. Apparently AEM 220 is supposed to be the hardest class in the AEM major. I took it as an elective and it was probably my easiest class this semester.</p>
<p>LOL, sometimes I dream of having the life of an AEM major.</p>
<p>Spanks, a class with an average of low B isn't really an easy class for most people. And rather than being one of the hardest in the AEM major, it is actually considered one of the easiest (if not THE easiest). </p>
<p>For the past two years the average was A- and now it's B. He said the difficulty was on par with previous years, but in fact it was not, becuase he didn't consider how bad his tests were. I'm not saying it's a hard class, I thought it was a joke and got an A+, his tests were just poorly written and that accounted for the low test grades (averages 76, 79, 80) for the 500+ students. </p>
<p>Spanks, whoever told you it was the hardest class in AEM has absolutely no idea what they're talking about. You can check the past grades if you like.</p>
<p>And for those of you who think a 4.1 is easy for an AEM major...I'm not saying it's that hard, but so far us AEM majors have taken 1 AEM course (that's 3 of 29 credits for me), so it's not like the AEM classes are significantly boosting my grades.</p>