<p>How far of a bike ride is Howell from the Rec Center? It sounds like the best bet of those mentioned. Everything's well maintained, etc?</p>
<p>WaxTheories,</p>
<p>If you're referring to the exercise center for Howell residents, it's attached to the dorm. Just a minute's walk from the dorm.
If you're referring to the campus-wide CRC, it's a very short bike ride (five or so minutes ...)</p>
<p>I suggest you don't apply for dorm. live out of campus i know it's mandatory for first year as 'freshmen experience' but there's chance you don't have to if all the occupancy is fulled. I lived in woodruff and it wasn't so great for me.</p>
<p>I don't know about you, but I'm poor. A dorm is significantly cheaper than commuting from my home in Cumming, much less renting an apartment in downtown Atlanta.</p>
<p>On top of that, I just want to be on campus. Heck, would it be college if I didn't actually live there at some point?</p>
<p>Won't be in Woodruff anytime soon anyways, west campus is too far away and suites are too expensive.</p>
<p>Another question...I've heard of how hard Tech is academically and you have to work your ass off even for a C...so how hard is it to maintain a 3.0? Do most people lose the HOPE or is it possible if you put the work in?</p>
<p>Space10045, it's possible if you put the work in. Some stuff people hear about GT is just myth ... if you work very hard in all your classes, you will definitely secure a B and be in the running for an "A".
Just be judicious about which professor you pick (get one with good record) and make sure to stay in constant contact with him and TA. It never hurts when you're borderline ...</p>
<p>"If you work very hard in all your classes, you will definitely secure a B"</p>
<p>Then, what if you "work hard" you only get C or D?
What is your week and weekend schedule for classes and study?</p>
<p>Windley,</p>
<p>Obviously it depends on an individual’s intellect. But, on average, people who work “hard” will secure a C and be in the running (with an excellent chance) for a B.
Lower Cs and Ds are people who had the misfortune to seriously screw up on tests or perform poorly consistently. They may simply not understand the material or just not put in the hours (reading, seeing profs etc.)</p>
<p>I really hope I’m not making GT seem out to be some sort of impossible hill. It’s a great school, with most professors and TAs being willing to help if you approach them.
There’re a number of competent tutoring services available on campus and the college library does a lot to help out students in any way that it can.
If you make wise use the resources and are somewhat skilled at budgeting your time (and have some minute amount of self-discipline), you will be fine!</p>
<p>I base this on my experience. I admit that I wasn’t the 1590, 3.98, Westinghouse-scholar in high school. My hours (on average):
2 to 4 on weekdays (depends on whether I have tests, homework …)
Around 3 on Saturday and another 3 to 6 on Sunday (again, depends on what I have in the upcoming week …)
Mark that these were my hours spent STUDYING, outside of the massive homework that I was required to do.</p>
<p>The standard, generally un-spoken rule at Georgia Tech: 3 hours outside class, for every hour spent in it.
I found that the above rule generally applies to science, math and engineering classes. But don’t fall for the GT trap and think that liberal arts classes are a breeze. </p>
<p>Those who take all classes equally seriously perform the best overall.
Anyway, those were the hours that I spent generally (since I took equal course loads throughout my school year, something most people don’t do).</p>
<p>If you are a genius who’s coming to GT on a President’s Scholarship, turning down schools like Berkeley and MIT, you might be able to cope with the course load much better than I did.</p>
<p>gt08, Thank you so much for your reply.
What was equal course load that you took througout school years and what is most other peoples do?</p>
<p>Windley,</p>
<p>I took on average 14 hours a semester so far.
Most people take a very light load their first semester and then, if they secure a cozy 3.75, take a massive courseload 2nd semester of their freshman year (or they build it up a little more and take a huge 21-hour courseload first semester of their sophomore year).
I guess they do this, simply to see how much they can handle, to test their own limits. I didn't have the cushion of a good first semester, because I took far too many hours (17, in comparison with the usual 12 ...) and as a result, couldn't take a 21-hour courseload any semester. Too risky ....
So, I just stick to about 14 hours a semester. Last semester, I took 15 ...</p>
<p>I have to agree with the take it easy re the number of hours. Tech advisors were recommending first time freshman stick with 12-14 and with AP credit, if you have some, you will not be behind. Kids who took 12 on average did much better than kids who took 15-16... gpa wise that is on average. </p>
<p>I took CalcII, ChemI, EnglishI Health, GT1000, these last two were very easy, and had a lot of kids in them who were trying to get their GPA back up over 3.0. </p>
<p>I did well with the load above, faculty honors, and have a similar load spring semester, CalcIII, PhysicsI, EnglishII, CS for Engineers. I worked very hard but still had time to get out and do stuff. Still it was 2-3 hours a day and 4-5 on weekend with the books. I tutored some kids in chem and calc which helped me as well. The old see one, do one, teach one routine works </p>
<p>Its all a matter of focus. For example I watched a group of 25-30 kids outside of my calc II class recitation arguing if Halo was a better game than some other online thing. What a wasted hour. They could have come into the recitation, got the info they needed to do well on the next test and then gone back to the dorm and played the game...... but they would rather argue. Maybe that was important to them. Didn't seem so important to me.</p>
<p>Needless to say most in the arguing group did not do extremely well in the class. Some very gifted kids in the group did but most did not. You have to know who you are and what your capabilities are and that is one thing you learn quickly at tech</p>
<p>I am not super smart, just average for GATech where everyone is pretty smart. The key is many of the kids who get here have never had to work and so they don't, at first. This makes the class curve better for those of us who do work.</p>
<p>Also get to know your profs and TAs. That helps at grade time too</p>
<p>Bottom line is follow GT08 and take a light load. Its easier to stay even than to try to catch up.</p>
<p>gt8 and steviesteve007, Thank You to both, Excellent reply.</p>
<p>Hey, I'm seriously considering GT(applied reg. decision..waiting)---I'm a woman, and it's not that important-but just for curiousity, how many girls go into engineering there? maybe I can have friends like me next year.
My HS doesn't have that much of an opportunity for engineering, no programming classes. I took computer engineering I & II---as well as calc 1 (ap calc ab) and calc 2 (college credit with ap calc BC). I've done really well in all of these...but it seems that most people trying to get into an engineering program have had a lot more experience with computer engineering/programming classes in HS. Would it be too hard? I mean...I'm still going to try it, but I just want to know if there is anything I can do to help prepare myself now.</p>
<p>WORK HARD! DO YOUR WORK! Even if it seems stupid or redundant, do it!</p>
<p>Not to brag, but I'm definitely one of the smart kids at the top of the learning curve; I decided to be cocky first semester and disregard any studying, hw, test practice, etc. Boy, was I an idiot! I got a .72 my first semester... No, I didn't forget to put a number in the ones column---that is a 0.72 GPA.</p>
<p>Even though I did grasp the content, I didn't examine the "far and beyond" problems that I would be faced with on tests. I didn't go to class (even though some of the courses recorded attendence for a grade). </p>
<p>This semester, however, I totally reversed my trend. I don't have to study hours on end like some of my friends to keep a top grade, but I do have to put in more effort than in HS(maybe 2 hours per class, 2-3 hours for hw). I just took my first tests in each class, and I got: 100 on my calc test, 91 on chem test, 85 on CS test. I have all "Satisfactory" marks for progress report grades.</p>
<p>So, just put in some effort, and study your professors' old exams to understand the testing mechanisms and formats.</p>
<p>seuferk, you don't need extensive programming experience. We use MATLAB in CS 1371 at GT, and it's fairly straight forward. I'd recommend studying very basic structure and logic of programming languages if you want to make it easier in there. Some things you could review (without necessarily learning commands):</p>
<p>-Data types
-Looping
-Vectors vs scalars vs boolean vs cell arrays vs etc. (ways to store variables)
-Mathematical manipulation (if you're good at manipulating math to perform desired outputs, your golden... this is one of the things people have trouble with in programming)</p>
<p>runningncircles1,
Are you doing calc1 or 2 at this semester and how many credit load did you took at first semester and how about this semester? Are you in academic probation?
Congrt for your good marks on progress report grades.</p>
<p>I'm doing calc II. Last semester, I only took about 12 hours and this semester I'm taking 14 (maximum allowed on academic probation).</p>
<p>hey everyone,</p>
<p>im a first year BME major at Gatech and will also be glad to answer any questions.</p>
<p>greymatter: are you doing pre-med?</p>
<p>He said he's in BME.</p>
<p>BioMedical Engineering</p>