<p>My son at GT is getting more and more discouraged as the first semester progresses. Has just visited the dean who suggested tutoring in two out of five subjects. Does anyone have any weed-out statistics for engineering at GT? Are the first two years actually easier thus not a good sign if there are difficulties?</p>
<p>Don’t know about GT, but in general the first two years of engineering are very difficult. If you survive the first two years, you can generally survive the last two. But lots of students drop out or drop back for another attempt. I assume Physics and calculus are the problems?</p>
<p>thanks for answering! No, actually Calc and Physics are ok…in the mid range for his class (65% avg on the exams so far1). His problems are in Computing for Engineers and some sort of Health class that focuses on being able to “critically analyze sources of health information and practically implement sound scientific information into everyday life to improve health.”</p>
<p>GT is known for being very difficult.</p>
<p>Also, at a school like GT, your son is probably taking classes with people who have already taken them and aced them (physics, chem, calc) in high school. So he is at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>I do know an engineering at a similar school who had a tough time their first year. They managed to scrape through with mostly B’s and a couple of C’s after going to a lot of office hours, and they ended up graduating with high honors. Maybe that will help encourage him.</p>
<p>Math and physics are the most important prerequisites for later courses; computing will likely pop up in various places.</p>
<p>Tech is known for weed out classes - particularly the computing class. I have several friends with kids at Tech, I think they mentioned the average GPA is 2.7. A shock for students that have been successful in hs. Can he drop a class at this point and concentrate on the others he is been successful in?</p>
<p>I have read that the first year return rate for Tech is 95% so they are not weeding out that many.
I have also read that many are on the 5 year plan.</p>
<p>Is he going to get the tutoring? </p>
<p>Does he like the school otherwise? </p>
<p>Ga Tech is on my D’s list so I would love to hear what he thinks.</p>
<p>Has he gone for any tutoring help? Check out the Center for Academic Success on the GT website. You will find there is help available for many of GT’s tougher classes.</p>
<p>Oh boy. It looks like we’re having problem with the order of posts in threads again.</p>
<p>Was this school a reach for him? What were his SAT/ACT scores? Did he come from a good school and did he take challenging courses in high school (APs) and do well on the exams (4s/5s)??</p>
<p>I’m not sure about the belief that he’s ok in Calc and Physics. Is that the class average or his average? What is his average so far for those classes?</p>
<p>
Thanks! I thought it was just my computer. Maybe that pesky McDonald’s ad roll down has something to do with it.</p>
<p>It’s not unusual to have an ‘adjustment period’ when one takes computer science or a related major. I think he should just understand that it’s not unusual for people to find this material difficult when they first encounter it and that it means they need to work harder on it, seek out resources, like other students he might be able to study with or who might be able to explain it better than the prof, consulting TAs, consulting the prof, perhaps a tutor, and referring to other resources, books and online resources (wikipedia is usually a very good resource in the computing area) that might have better explanations.</p>
<p>He also needs to understand that with computing, some students may have previous experience with programming that makes it easier for those students for now but if your S sticks with it he’ll catch up to their level fairly quickly. He might be frustrated if he thinks it’s more difficult for him than some others but this previous experience can explain that - i.e. the other students aren’t necessarily ‘smarter’.</p>
<p>He has a small mountain to scale and he needs to forge ahead while using available tools at his disposal.</p>
<p>Don’t know specifically about GT, but will base my comments on engineering programs in general.</p>
<ol>
<li> Much less spread in abilities than in high school equals tougher competition</li>
<li> You probably breezed thru high school without REALLY learning good study habits. That includes being able to study efficiently. Lack of good study skills is probably the biggest hurdle for engineering students (ie. engineering programs are tough).</li>
<li> You are not the top of your class and it is a real big letdown. Depression sets in and makes it harder to study. You’ve got to relax and “enjoy” the experience; take the pressure off yourself to be the best.<br></li>
<li> Get involved in research as soon as you can. Even freshman can if they push for it. Makes the classes more relavent if you can see the principles in action. You also become a real human being and not just a face in a classroom to the prof.</li>
</ol>
<p>Another issue could be there. Was this school a “reach” for him. If so, you MAY want to re-evaluate his choice (although I wouldn’t just yet). Wait at least one semester before you evaluate it. If it is too much for him, then you can look into other schools.</p>
<p>We had the “reach” concern with my daughter. She is a junior in mechanical engineering right now. She is the type that gets real frustrated if she isn’t at or near the top of her class and gets real upset if she even gets near class average. So we discouraged her from reaching too far in her college selection. She ended up at a school where she can be near the top and has made dean’s list 3 out of the 4 semesters so far. She has also gotten some of the more choice project assignments because of her class standing. It has worked out better than we expected for her and she is very happy where she’s at. The concept of “fit” for students and schools is a hard one.</p>
<p>Atlanta area resident and software engineer here. I took my degrees in another country so have never studied at Tech, but have heard that the first year CS course there has a reputation as a very tough “weed-out” class. So OP, this doesn’t fix your son’s problem, but I think you can be assured that it’s not unusual that he’s struggling. If the dean suggested tutoring then I think tutoring should definitely be pursued. If the student is doing all right in calculus and physics those are more central to engineering, as others have said, and that makes it seem premature to think he’s not cut out for engineering.</p>
<p>I think when they tell frosh that avg GPA is 2.9, kids think it will be everyone else getting that because they are used to pulling As, maybe a B+. The curve saved my ds last yr with the avg in classes being sometimes a 50. It’s a big adjustment for those kids who got 90s to be praying to make a 50 on an exam! Tutoring is important - and that’s another hurdle for overachievers to humble themselves and get into that tutoring center - but it helps ALOT. I know from ds his classes were large (120 I think) in those first yr classes and recitations, though smaller, were sometimes just not as helpful as a good one-on-one tutor - or also study groups.</p>
<p>(*** Sorry, I meant this to go in as post 17 or 18… not sure why it has popped way up to the top. ***)</p>
<p>I have a freshman at GT also. She isn’t taking that Computing for Engineers class because of some odd counseling advice that she got during FASET (she is taking a 1 hour MatLab class instead [also difficult, apparently] because she has come in with CompSci/programming credits) but she has said (as others above have said) that almost everyone struggles with that class. And, oddly enough, she says her Health class (required for all freshman, I guess?)is her hardest class & is more like a Bio class than what she would have considered “Health”. Anyway, I think lots of freshman are struggling & this year (& may other years) are as much a test of perseverance as anything else. Good luck to your son – the tutoring, etc., sound like he is on the right track.</p>
<p>Thanks to all who have written back. My son went to an IB high school in Europe and went in to GT with 12 credits under his belt. Albeit, they were all in the liberal arts! He spoke to the freshman advisor who recommended dropping the Computing class in order to focus on the other 4. He has time to pick it up next semester or even take it over the summer. At the FASET orientation, the advisor to the entire freshman class took quite a bit of time to explain how to transfer credit for courses from other universities and community colleges which leads me to believe that students often take summer courses near their home. Not many students graduate in 4 years either; the percentage being around 35%. The dean attriubuted this to internships etc. But, I suspect many students take an extra year to graduate. I think having the “big picture” is extremely helpful. What I’ve gathered from your responses is that that the first two years are indeed the toughest; getting help is fundamental;knowing that the standards are much higher is essential to keep in mind; perseverance is eventually rewarded and math and physics are the building blocks. THanks again for all your input !</p>
<p>*My son went to an IB high school in Europe and went in to GT with 12 credits under his belt. Albeit, they were all in the liberal arts! *</p>
<p>This may also be an issue.</p>
<p>His classmates have come in with 40+ credits under their belts…and many of those credits are in the sciences…bio, chem, physics…along with Cal I and Cal II.</p>
<p>He also got credit for Calc I but chose to repeat it. His SAT math score was 800, so the math skills are there :-)</p>
<p>One of the biggest problems freshman engineering students have is realizing the outside class work it takes to stay on top grade wise. TA told my child to spend twice as much time on homework and problem sets and prep as spent in class. Things turn around very quickly once they do this. If they are doing what their non Engineering friends are doing work wise, they will sink, and sink fast.</p>