<p>Wow!!! That’s some class load. No wonder he faltered.</p>
<p>As far as advisors, in a big University, sometimes the advisors just rubber stamp things. If your S didn’t ask for input, but just registered for classes, I can see how this would happen.</p>
<p>Cut him some slack and see if he can retake the Physics somewhere in the summer. Even if it doesn’t erase the D from the transcript, he needs the concepts for work going forward.</p>
<p>Music and art are not hard core? I take exception to that :). Studio art and music can be VERY hard.</p>
<p>That seems heavy for a normal college (I say normal because places like the academies average 21 sem hours). Did he HAVE to take all SEM classes?</p>
<p>This really isn’t that bad. I agree with everyone it seems like too many courses. My youngest brother got an A, a B, a C an a D his freshman year, he’s VP of his company now. I think he even graduated with honors. What’s he doing this summer? It seems like a physics review course would be in order if he wants to stick with engineering, and it seems to early to eliminate it at this point, if he likes it. He should talk to his advisor about what he can do, and the financial aids folks as well. Hopefully the scholarship won’t be cancelled yet.</p>
<p>That seems like an extremely high course load to take - especially freshman year. Assuming the physics and chem are 4 credits (with lab), the seminar is 1, and the rest are 3, that means he took 21 credits this semester??</p>
<p>Seems like a very challenging class load - even for engineering. I assume the “explorations” were 1 credit kind of courses? Calc 2 can be very hard (as my son told me). Taking that along with physics, chem and a CAD course would be difficult.</p>
<p>Hopefully, the advisor can help him figure out how to get the required classes without such overload each semester. The other important lesson to teach him is how to figure out when it is too much - early on. If he had dropped physics, he would be fine now. Did he go in for help, extra review sessions etc? Seems like those would be the lessons learned.</p>
<p>I feel bad for you son too!</p>
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<p>Depends on the school. I have been very disappointed in the advising my D received at Emory. No discussion of whether or not she should take advanced level classes (which she then struggled in). There was no real advising. </p>
<p>If she were at a small LAC, she would get personalized attention to academic and career goals, but advising (which is critical, especially freshman year) can be just a rubber stamp.</p>
<p>Colleges put so much emphasis on touting their faculty:student ratio. They should have some metric to measure quality of advising, and also the % of students who withdraw from a class each year (which might be because of poor advising).</p>
<p>I’m not sure. In classic hindsight, that’s going to be part of our discussion as he’s a kid who is very independent and asks few questions. But that can backfire sometimes as most adults know. I’m guessing he saw the classes available, signed up and that was that. With it all done via online, the human element of “hmmmm maybe this is too many classes of the same workload for a freshman” was missing.</p>
<p>So maybe we should be asking: “Wow! How did you manage even a 2.33???”</p>
<p>Merry- did your son place out of calc 1 because of AP credits? If so, and unless he is truly a calculus whiz, he may have gotten some very bad advice. Unless he had an exceptional HS teacher, he may not have had enough foundation in calculus to go directly to calc 2, and the physics 1 which was probably very heavy Calc based was probably too accelerated as well.</p>
<p>Nothing here sounds terrible or tragic. Except if you make it so. This is a very hard Freshman schedule- both in terms of rigor and in terms of course hours/problem sets.</p>
<p>Encourage him to get his adviser and an academic dean on board with a plan- to re-take Physics, and to find a way to get his scholarship reinstated or put on some probationary status. Then take him for an ice cream and tell him you are proud of him. A kid with high flying siblings probably did not feel comfortable telling you he was floundering a few months ago.</p>
<p>What a workload. I think his grades are pretty impressive given what he was dealing with.</p>
<p>Did your son use any AP credits to skip intro courses? That often trips up students in STEM majors since the AP courses are often less intense than the corresponding courses for STEM majors, and not nearly as heavy on the theoretical underpinnings. AP Calc AB is great preparation for a student majoring in social sciences or humanities, but probably not adequate background for a student in a STEM major who then has to take more advanced calculus classes that are a lot more in-depth and theoretical.</p>
<p>Was there a suggested course schedule for entering freshmen in engineering? Is that what he took? It is easy for freshmen to get overly ambitious on course load, and too often they get burned. </p>
<p>Mono can take a lot out of you. The school might consider that a mitigating factor on the scholarship front. </p>
<p>I would not say that this in any way means that he shouldn’t be an engineering major. The finances will dictate where he can go to college, but plenty of successful engineers crashed and burned on one of the earlier fundamental courses. The key is picking yourself back up, figuring out what went wrong, and putting effort into getting the course done. H went from a D to an A in differential equations – second time through he took a different professor, and worked his butt off. He graduated from engineering school with honors.</p>
<p>Sounds like another issue here is the sibling grade rivalry. As a parent, you need to try and nip this “competition” out - it’s one thing to be stressed about your own faults, but I’ll bet he is also overstressing about not measuring up with past sibling grades.</p>
<p>MerrySon has basically 2 choices - regroup and try the physics again, or change directions/majors altogether. It is not at all unusual for students, esp freshmen, to sink in physics I, but it can be overcome. I would give him a couple days to get over the shock of the grades, and then have some soul-searching talks about what he wants to do about it. If he wants to soldier on, he needs to get into a summer physics course. Are you near a school where he can enroll in one? </p>
<p>If he is going that route and the C’s are in either Calculus, Chemistry, or both, he also needs to spend part of his summer revisiting material in those courses, which he can probably do on his own.</p>
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<p>This!!!</p>
<p>…and in the same vein, why would you tell his siblings his grades? A simple “he did OK” should be sufficient. Oh, and definitely ice cream and praise are called for.</p>
<p>You have gotten great advice. I agree with everything already said. When/if you S retakes physics make sure he has a tutor, or he regularly sees the professor, probably both.</p>
<p>My best friend’s S just changed majors, from engineering to another type of program. He attends a large state U. THis was his experience: </p>
<p>Engineering was a program–I think there may have been 2 electives. Otherwise, it was credit hours right up to the overload limit, with no flexibility in what one took when. </p>
<p>His full tuition scholarship was awarded for stats, by the state board of regents, with the stipulation that a certain GPA be kept. ALL students, regardless of major, had to keep the same GPA in order to keep the regents scholarship. If at the end of the year, the GPA was not attained, the scholarship was gone. No probation. His GPA was actually pretty high for freshman engineering, but not high enough for the renewal. However, if the GPA comes back up, the scholarship will be re-instated in coming years.</p>
<p>Engineering is a tough major. Kids pick it, often with very little understanding of just what an engineer does. I think I’d be less worried about a D in physics than I would be about what your son wants to do. If he’s still passionate about engineering, stay the course. If he’s not, explore other majors, but this DOES NOT have to be done at a community college. His GPA, while not great, is certainly not teetering near the brink of academic probation. </p>
<p>I might be kind of mean, but having a pity-party because the sibs might tease him? Wouldn’t fly. Both S and sibs would be getting an earful.</p>
<p>Yes the only saving grace is they are in their late 20s/30s and moved on so they aren’t in his face everyday. And it is the oldest one really but she has such high standards, none of us can meet them! My one year old grandson is on the fast track to Havard if she has her way! Classic driven first-born to the umpteenth degree!</p>
<p>Also agree with comments. I do think that his courseload was way too much. Hopefully he can retake Physics and allow grade to be calculated as average with other grade.</p>
<p>At a large university, advisors usually rubber stamp courses. You may want to become helicopter mom this summer and understand requirements/sequence so that you can assist in next year’s course selection. Before my son entered our state university, I had a mtg with one of his Deans reviewing the four year plan and getting recommendations of classes/teachers. I then research all of his classes through rate my professor and gpa grade book. This semester is shaping up pretty difficult, so not sure if work was in vain for spring. His first semester did go well.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Most schools don’t let freshman take so many classes and it’s not just because of heavy course load, it’s so that everyone has a chance at getting classes they need, so kids can’t hog</p>
<p>Art can be very time consuming. And I am actually impressed withnnow your son did as a freshman with that heavy a load. For heavens sake, give him a big hug, tell husband all will be well, he still has scholarship, which is greets, and his siblings need to butt out. He doesn’t have to share anything with the grade wise. </p>
<p>I would tell my child, however that he needs ton plan his fall classes and future classes better, so he can do better in them. Imagine if he had not taken just one of those hard core classes he probably would have pulled mostly bees…</p>
<p>Part of college course planning is to be strategic. Maybe his physics class needed stronger math courses beforehand. </p>
<p>My daughter is taking two art class’s in the fall. One is drawing and one is digital photography, she knows how much time those classes take project wise so she thought long and hard and decided they were both different enough she could balance thebwork load.</p>
<p>Also, something to think about is the level in school of the other students in the classes. My daughter took a class as a freshman she discovered was filled with juniors and seniors, so the expectations were higher. And if there is any curving of grades, if there are more advanced kids in a glass that can skew grades</p>
<p>So chill out, give kid a hug, tell him you are amazed at how he did considering the courses and just move one</p>
<p>Ps there is noreason to tread lightly Just say did you like the courses? Is it something you still want to pursue? If so, what’s your next step, if not, let’s take a look at other majors.</p>
<p>There is no reason to panic or tiptoe around or delay the discussion. He passed all his classes. He passed some very tough classes. He got average grades in most. So what!! Average is not horrid. He can pull them up next semester if he plans his course well. Maybe it’s time to throw in an easier class just to get the gpa up. Nothing wrong with that. </p>
<p>For some, like ops older sister school comes easy, and for others they have to work hard. Frankly, I am much more impressed with the ones that have to work hard, where it’s not a natural gift, where they put their all into it and still plug away. </p>
<p>So grab your son, and husband, say, we are going for a walk, and tell son no one is mad nor disappointed no one is going to gossip about his grades, and you are all going to start fresh, in this moment to co e up with a plan.</p>
<p>Sons job is to find if he can retake physics. And his punishment for the d grade is to wash the car or walk the dog. That’s it. </p>
<p>This is a minor bump in the road. It is not a panic moment, it’s maybe a catching our breath moment and a son, you need to ask for help, and advice, as you can see lecture.</p>
<p>Other than that, eh, he did good.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice. Again, just feeling this out as the information is fresh and S is feeling so bad. As I review the comments, class load was heavy in many opinions (will be asking the advisement dept about this) which, combined with acclimating to college, a gf breakup followed by mono and a partying roommate, this kid didn’t do so bad. But still, moving forward needs some tweaking and that will be this weeks focus.</p>
<p>And I did not mean to portray his older siblings as malicious. This kid is on a pedestal in their eyes and his choice of engineering had them concerned as they could all rattle off friends who WERE engineer students and got out of it quickly when they discovered how difficult it is. S is the one who mentioned he’s embarrassed and didn’t want them to know. And they won’t. Nor will anyone else. Which is why I turned to this forum as it is highly informative yet anonymous!!</p>
<p>Thanks to all for great advice. I feel better already!</p>
<p>A mom</p>