<p>I have already been accepted to G tech. and Clayton State. I am interested in engineering. But I hear that at GT, you take core/elective classes the first two years and get into your major the 3rd year. Is it best to do these two years at Clayton State, with the benefit of smaller classes and closer to home, or is it best to just do the first two at Georgia Tech. Im pretty good at my school work (AP Calc BC, Chem, Bio, etc.) Which one will work out better? I am a motivated student and I don't mind going to either. Would it be best to do the first two years at Clayton, and then transfer to GT, or just attend GT as a freshman. I just want to know your opinions. Thanks</p>
<p>Im interested in Computer engineering.
[College</a> of Engineering at Georgia Tech](<a href=“http://www.coe.gatech.edu/academics/retp.php]College”>http://www.coe.gatech.edu/academics/retp.php)
This is the website for the regents engineering transfer program I am interested in at Clayton for two years(first).</p>
<p>The problem is that once you are in your major classes at GT, professors will assume that everyone is coming from the same background–that is, the GT background. You may be able to take your core calc, bio, chem, etc. classes at Clayton, but they will not be taught the same way, and may not be as rigorous. Thus you may find yourself behind your classmates and struggling to understand the material.</p>
<p>In my opinion the benefits of attending GT–better faculty, greater resources (research!), a more motivated student body–far outweigh anything you could get from smaller classes or being closer to home.</p>
<p>Assume you are getting Hope scholarship, the only difference cost is room cost or transportation cost if you live home.</p>
<p>However, due to budget cut, there maybe substantial reduction of number of transfer students to Ga Tech in the near future. So if I were you, I won’t take the chance.</p>
<p>Also, you will be behind in your future classmate in both courses and internship opportunities.</p>
<p>The reason why I was thinking about this program was because alot of students are at Georgia Tech right now are failing. And they are working to regain HOPE scholarship. Some of them now have to take summer classes to regain credit. I don’t want to be in this situation, so wouldn’t be better to do first two years at a smaller college, then transfer with a better GPA. Most students find their first two years at GT the hardest, despite having not gotten deeper in their major yet.
Some computer engineering professors don’t care about teaching the students according to some Tech students I talked to. They’re only paid to research not teach. This is probably the reason. Money is a huge issue right now, and I really don’t want to lose HOPE the first year. Its tough decision.</p>
<p>You may want to post in Ga Tech subform to more advice.</p>
<p>Is that possible a way that you can take some Clayton U courses while you are official Ga Tech students? Maybe take half of your courses at Clayton U while take another half at Ga Tech. </p>
<p>I hate for you to give up spot at Ga Tech. Currently, it is relative easy for USG college students to transfer to Ga Tech, but that maybe not the case in the future due to current budget crisis. I read in one proposal, Ga Tech was going to cut # of transfer students from 700 to 300 annually.</p>
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<p>No - the first two years at Tech may be hard, but they prepare you well for what comes after–this is the key point. If you come in having circumvented the difficult core courses, you will not have as strong a foundation as the students who went through it and survived. My mother happens to be GT faculty, although not in your department, and she finds that transfer kids tend to have a much harder time in her classes.</p>
<p>(Honestly, many kids lose HOPE because they mistakenly think college will be like 13th grade. It isn’t. It’s a whole different beast. And I would even go so far as to say that if you try your best, do all the work, show up to class, and make use of all available resources, and /still/ can’t keep up, you should maybe not be pursuing engineering at GT.)</p>
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<p>This is true, and a fault of many big state schools. (I wouldn’t say they’re only paid to research, though. Teaching quality/student evaluations are part of the equation when professors go up for tenure or full professorship.) But the flip side is that these professors are very good at what they do, know a lot about their subject, and are often doing cutting-edge research. If you go to GT you will be able to work with them–as early as freshman year, even.</p>
<p>I just don’t think Clayton can match the resources or opportunities that will be available to you at a top-class research university like GT. If you go in as a transfer you won’t be able to take as full an advantage of them. But that’s just my opinion. [shrug]</p>
<p>I’ve taken hard math and science classes (AP Calc BC, and AP Chem), and Im doing well in these. I understand calculus and I am learning alot in both of these subjects. Would it be helpful to prepare over the summer for the rigorous work at GT?</p>
<p>I mean, it never hurts to prepare. If you want to get a head start, you can buy the textbook (used) for the classes you are planning to take and start trying to read them, work out problems, etc. (Although as someone who is taking GT Calc II and III right now–yay distance learning!–I personally find the linear algebra book pretty hard to understand. The concepts are not explained that well.)</p>