Georgia Tech horror stories? Also GT vs Ohio State(computer science)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgia Institute of Technology
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@Iamstruggling, those comments from Fiske for GTech will hold good for any super-competitive Engg. school.Avg. GPA is around 3.07 for GTech COE undergrad.

http://factbook.gatech.edu/academic-information/distribution-of-grades-table-5-13/

My friend’s younger child decided to attend Cornell Engg. as he found his older sibling at CMU SCS to be busy with school work all the time. Does he really think that Cornell Engg. will be any less stressful ?

Focus on the other aspects - jobs, internships, co-ops, etc.
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-20-best-schools-for-getting-a-job-at-google-2014-10
https://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/20-schools-most-grads-apple-153500378.html

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@saismom no I did not know that!

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@dagriff what do you think about the info in post #18?

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@IamStruggling‌

-This is not a problem. You are already used to be graded on a curve. It is called AP/IB. The only difference is that the population being curved is perhaps less variable. There will be competition at any selective school in rigorous courses. However, when you think about it, you have choices. You can go to the school that tries to push students to higher levels than they came in with and designs rigorous assessments to ensure that students work toward that higher level or you can go to the school that since the pool is perhaps less talented, waters stuff down and maybe even intentionally gives assessments to stroke the ego of students by telling them: “You are essentially perfect”. I find that the easier (high average exam scores, let us say 80+) science courses at places like Tech and Emory are much more like a high school (maybe a good one) in that they test lower level skills mainly regurgitation of facts. More challenging courses where a curve is applied ask for more application, synthesis, and stuff like that (look at Bloom’s taxonomy: http://whitman.syr.edu/wsmhelp/faculty-resources/instructional-design-delivery/teaching-pedagogy/blooms-taxonomy.aspx ). You want the school that has more instructors takes into account the level of students and pushes them to the limits (yes, they need to challenge even top students), so yes, sometimes this will be a school with many courses where exams I not designed to be perfected. A good school/education is not meant to stroke your ego. You can congratulate yourself once you become good at completing high level tasks…this is an idea that unfortunately many students at elite and selective universities never get.

-Classes are large in the sciences at most elite institutions as well. Ones at places like Cornell are HUGE. So is Harvard, Vanderbilt, Duke, Stanford, etc. Tech’s classes are about the same size as these places.
-It’s a Tech school, science is hard…but like other places, there are many outlets for fun and relaxation so this is greatly exaggerated.
-That is because some majors are much more rigorous than normal, but the reason for that NOW is because many students are doing Co-ops. I’d rather get work experience and money and graduate a year later than have no experience.
-This is typically not true all around for Georgia Tech level schools…In fact Georgia Tech is better about this than Emory because all of their Big 4 (biol, chem, physics, and math) are taught by actual professors. At Emory the intro calc. courses are taught by grad. students (except life sciences calculus). The same happens at Vanderbilt (maybe many more privates where lower level calc. courses are viewed as “stamps” for pre-meds) TA’s run your recitation sessions at Tech, that is all. Nothing is wrong with that…You are actually lucky that you go to a place that takes math and physics instruction at the intro level very seriously, because they actually have some fantastic instructors (Emory’s is in biology and chemistry). The only difference is that it is more difficult than normal if you take a good instructor. This is honestly a common theme at any school. The best STEM instructors have higher standards. If they put lots of work into running their course, then they expect you to put in lots of work to excel. Again, from point 1, this is what you should expect from an elite institution. If most of your experience is mediocre and classes are taught beneath you, then you wasted your money because you will come out no more well prepped than someone at a cheaper, less selective school.

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@bernie12 that’s very true. May I ask what year you are? and your major? I’m planning on going into the college of computing with not much CS experience. @bernie12 and @dagriff Do you guys think I will be okay in Chemistry and Physics if I do some coursework over the summer?

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I graduated a while ago and am completing a masters in chem (I don’t know what I will do my doctorate in. Maybe like computational/structural biology). I was a chem and biol major. Worry about physics more so than chemistry. That (chemistry) class is not that hard: http://chemistry.gatech.edu/sites/www.chemistry.gatech.edu/files/Sample%20CHEM%201211K%20Final%20Exam.pdf

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@bernie12 alrigh cool. I will study physics and some chem over the summary. Thanks for all your help!

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The following are also true of Ohio State:

  • Classes are big.
  • It’s common to spend 5 years getting your degree.
  • It’s absolutely horrible for things like freshman math classes. You’re typically taught by TAs, maybe half of whom have only the slightest grasp of English.
  • The other two items (curved grades, and stress) I am unsure of, but could be just as bad at OSU. FWIW, I live in Columbus, Ohio.

This is simply a fact for engineering majors at most state universities. The big classes and TAs are mostly limited to freshman year, however.

Plus, Ohio State has wretched winter weather.

Might be too late, but Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology probably does not have these problems. It is an excellent private college in Terre Haute, Indiana.

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I can give some insight into your post because my S graduated from Ohio State (attending on a full merit ride) and I have a current freshman at Tech. We are OOS for both.

My S’s best friends and roommates majored in engineering. Both studied a lot and got great jobs upon graduation. You can get a great education at Ohio State. Recently another poster on CC contacted me because they had the same question. I asked my D and she said that if it meant going into debt the student should select OSU over Tech. She said that an undergraduate degree in engineering will not be much different and that if the person wanted tech, they should go there for a graduate degree. I may not be expressing it as articulate as my D did to me, but I think you get the picture.

My D at Tech studies a lot more than her brother at Ohio State, but he was a humanities major. As others have posted, engineering is a tough major. My D’s friends at other universities seem to study as much as my D (they attend Purdue, Leigh and Washington- all engineering). As others have posted, if you have good study habits and know how to balance things you will be okay at Tech and still have time to have a social life. Frankly my D has gotten the best grades of her life at Tech at the same time of being in a sorority, doing research, being in a special program, playing intramural sports and volunteering at local SWE and robotics events (plus she got a boyfriend too). Among our family, she is the most disciplined so we are thankful she is our family engineer. She regularly meets with her professors during office hours, turns in all homework and attends all classes, attends plus sessions, gets help from the help desk at CULC, keeps a calendar for everything, exercises regularly and gets at least 7 hours of sleep a night.

Her dorm has a pretty gpa average and I think it is because they encourage each other in their classes and study together. At family weekend ,Physics professor Dr. Greco told us parents to encourage our children to seek help from professors early on in their academic career. He gave an example of student struggling for 4 hours over a problem and then the student finally sought his help and in ten minutes Dr Greco asked him a few questions and the student was able to do the problem. Dr. Greco said don’t waste 4 hours of time, if you can’t figure out the problem within an hour then go see him. In fact Dr. Greco gives students his cell phone. I told my D about this and she has made it her habit. As a result I think some of her professors have been kind to her in grading because they see that she is working hard and trying to figure out problems etc. My D has not found Tech to be cut-throat; in fact every time I call I hear laughing and she tells me that she is in the study lounge working on homework with her dorm-mates. Her boyfriend, friends and sorority sisters all seem to do fine grade-wise at Tech.

It has been my daughter’s experience that the students she has encountered who have done poorly at Tech are those who spent all their time doing video games, don’t go to class or turn in assignments. Tech offers lots of academic support; the students who take up those offers seem to do better Tech. Heck my S decided to major in fraternity at Ohio State and let’s just say he had to invoke the freshman forgiveness rule.

I have attended both Ohio State and Tech’s freshman orientation and the theme of each orientation was as divergent as you can get. I loved Ohio State’s, it was all rainbow and unicorns. Student Affairs Dean Stein went on over and over about how "Tech will be the hardest place you will every be, you will get grades you never got before, you will fail…: I think you get the picture. Frankly my DH (an ivy law graduate) and myself (a top ten law graduate) were scared for our daughter and I frankly worried the whole semester because based on Dean Stein I thought my D would for sure flunk out. I think this is part of Tech’s mistique they like to portray. But think of this, what top engineering school has a stadium filled every football Saturday, what eng. school has a super fun homecoming week filled with student riding trikes through campus, has a Greek Week where students doing tug are in mud pit competing against each other. Every week Tech has something fun going on at campus. Tech students study hard and play hard. Plus if Tech was as horrible as these reviews portray I don’t think it would have a freshman satisfaction rate of 96%. Students who study constantly are understandably unhappy; students who know how to balance both social and school are much happier. Sometimes it takes a bit longer for some students to learn this balance.

My D’s friend got into Harvard Medical School this semester and she is a cheerleader and gymnast at Tech.

If money is no object then go to Tech, but if you will go into debt then pick Ohio State. It was great for my S to get that bill each semester that showed a balance of $0.

Good luck.

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I am in a very similar situation choosing between OSU, UIUC, and Georgia Tech for Computer Science.

  • OSU - $4K per year
  • GT - $35K per year
  • UIUC - $48K per year

Actually, UIUC CS grads reportedly make $91K starting salary after graduating and GT CS grads make $70K so that might change your decision because you were thinking they started at $85k. I wouldn’t worry too much about the starting salary because they are usually lower. Mid-career, after you have some experience they really hike up, especially for CS. Also OSU grads at the 75th percentile make $75k and I’d assume those accepted at GT, if they work hard, can be at OSU 75th percentile or higher. But if starting salary was a big factor for you, OSU and GT are at the same amount essentially. Also those schools who have really high staring salaries (like UIUC, lot of Cali schools like stanford and berkeley, MIT) are high up because they are living in places that have really high costs of living. For example, $70k in columbus is essentially $70k in atlanta (source: cnn cost of living calculator). But $70k in columbus and atlanta is actually more than $95k in these other places like cali, chicago etc where the other grads of the other schools i listed go. So don’t really worry about the starting salary.

For me, GT or Illinois would be $120k or $180k more than OSU, which I don’t think is worth it when you consider that if you work hard and stand out from OSU, you can get access to the same opportunities. Also keep in mid, most employers especially for CS majors, typically only want people with a bachelor’s degree, they don’t want most people to get a masters or phd because in CS, there is more job training for the specific CS job position.

Let me know if you want links to any of the stats I posted, I can post them as well.

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@AUTenista can you post the average salary for GT? They said it was 85k in the info session I went to last month for CS.

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http://factbook.gatech.edu/academic-information/career-services-tables-5-18-5-19-5-20/

Also, I got a mail from them yesterday, like a informational book and it also said that the computer science starting salary for CS is $70k

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@UATenista‌ that’s weird. At the previous college of computing tour, they said the average for CS was 85k in 2014. A 15k increase in one year seems unlikely.

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Salaries in CS are going up every year. I’m actually more impressed by the 95% job placement rate upon graduation.

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@IamStruggling‌ I’m a bit late here but I have some things to say about the facts you mentioned in post 18. I am in my second year and I have been in only two courses that curved drastically (and even then it was a helpful curve., If you got above a 90 you got an A regardless but it might curve down a little to let people with 85 + get an A as well). It may have been due to having good teachers but I have friends with other teachers who had similar situations. I haven’t gotten too far into my major-specific courses (where I feel like curving is more prominent) but I doubt it’ll be too much of a change from what I have experienced up until this point. ALSO you might find it useful to check out http://critique.gatech.edu/
It is a website run by the Student Government that keeps track of average GPAs per professor and per course. Just type in Math (1501/1502 are intro calc courses if you are curious) and you can see that honestly the average grades are not that poor and almost absurdly high for some professors (I.e. Morley, known for being notoriously easy, has over 50% of his class get A’s).

Big Classes: Yes they can seem problematic, but this only really applies to 1000 level classes: once you get to higher level courses, your class size shrinks dramatically. For example my Calc 2 class had 150 students while my current Math course has only 20. Also, for the early core classes, there are few students who are actually interested in the subjects (since stuff like physics and calc are required for all majors, even non STEM ones like International Affairs) so if you want to build relationships with professors it is not very difficult. I talked to my “Intro to Aerospace Engineering” professor weekly and was offered a research position with him by the end of the class, so it is usually pretty simple if you are genuinely interested in the subject.

Stressed and tired: I can’t argue with this (especially since Finals week is upcoming…gulp) but there are also plenty of ways to get involved and have a good time on campus. One of the number one priorities right now is lowering stress levels so GT sometimes does things like bringing puppies to the Student Center for you to play with the week before finals. Ultimately, if you get involved and make an effort to go out, try new things, and meet new people, the stress won’t get to you as much. You’ll still be tired, but losing sleep is a part of the college experience haha.

5 years for a degree: Yes our 5 year graduation rate is high, but that is due to a variety of factors. Primarily, with so many students coming in with AP/IB credits (average for this incoming class is 10 APs) a LOT of early courses are exempted (I exempted most of my first year courses). This makes students who haven’t gotten that involved in school yet take on things such as second majors and minors, and then when they also want to Study Abroad and Co-Op/Intern, their graduation gets delayed a year or so. I know way more students who had delayed graduation from simply taking too much on to do in four years than who were delayed for failing courses. If you plan ahead well you will be fine (I worked with my advisor to squeeze everything into four years and am still currently on track to do so :slight_smile: although barely).

Oh and about the math courses. A lot of the professors are foreign (but superrr intelligent) so those are the ones whose accents are usually complained about. However, the TA’s go through a pretty rigorous process to get chosen (Source: I’m applying to be a Math TA for next year haha. I might even be yours. Who knows) and so they tend to be more easy to understand. The key is signing up for a good professor (hard, but not impossible. I can give you some tips for having a perfect registration if you do choose GT) but even if you don’t get a Morley, there are good TA’s and an almost absurd amount of extra-curricular tutoring/teaching services to help you learn the material.

Hoped that helped :slight_smile:

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Yeah since the jump from 2012 to 2013 was only $3,000, I wouldn’t think by 2014, it would be more than $5,000. I am also fairly confident that the starting is $70k because I received a book in the mail from them talking about the college of computing and it also stated in there that the stating was $70k for CS grads and that that was the highest from any major at GT. What were your thoughts about OSU?

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@dagriff yes please share some tips for the “perfect registration.” That would be awesome haha. I am planning on majoring in computer science.

Also, I think all students are going to be stressed and worried. It’s college haha. Plus, finals week sounds like hell lol.

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@UATenista OSU was actually a lot nicer than I thought it would be. The engineering program seems pretty meaningful and the library is waaaaaay better then Georgia Tech’s library. OSU’s library is 11 stories, and the 11 story has a fantastic view of campus with open windows. The downsides to OSU were the massive campus size and the general sense of overcrowdedness. Plus, the academics aren’t as prestigious or in depth as Georgia Tech I would guess.

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this is kind of a pointless/subject question but, for people with experience with tech - how much annual cost would you say is ‘worth it’ to go to tech?

I’m about in the same position, where going to an in-state school would cost pennies, but isn’t nearly at the same academic rigor as tech. Right now I’m having trouble weighing monetary risk vs. academic reputation

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@mogirl15 what is your in state school?