<p>I'm a long time College Confidential reader, but a first time poster. If this thread is in the wrong forum, let me know.</p>
<p>I'm a high school senior looking to major in electrical engineering. I am considering a big scholarship from Texas A&M, which requires a 3.5 GPA to maintain. That seems pretty steep, especially for engineering. And as an out of state student, it's the only way I could pay for the school. Still, Texas A&M is the best university that I could get into and afford. My family cannot afford a private school, and the state universities where I am at seem pretty bad.</p>
<p>I've got a bunch of AP credits that will get me out of a lot of the freshman weeder courses, like calculus and calculus-based physics. Still, EE is very difficult, and I'm afraid that one or two rough classes will cost me a scholarship. Is it feasible to maintain a 3.5 GPA in engineering, or is it too much of a risk?</p>
<p>Though it is possible, I advise against it for the simple reason that banking on a GPA high enough to graduate with distinction is really not playing the odds. One bout of depression, or difficult year, or stroke of bad luck, or uncharacteristically atrocious performance on a key exam, etc., could put you pretty deeply into debt. This is also assuming that you are more than capable of holding a 3.5, which is really not so certain for a major such as engineering (not impossible but also not that easy).</p>
<p>Does the scholarship demand that you go to school full time or take the full course load each semester? If not, get a part time job and take less credits a semester and just finish later than most…you may not want to spend that much time in college right now but there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. The economy is bad right now and if you took it slower you could easily keep the GPA and master the material much better.</p>
<p>This GPA is very difficult to maintain specially at a school like A&M think about it a semester with a couple Bs and you can be looking at a lot of $$$$ money owed! Although there are some students who get this gpa with ease the majority of us fall somewhere below and it’s still a really good engineering gpa!! I’m pretty sure you can do it! But imagine the stress of knowing that if you get to many Bs you won’t be able to afford it! Like you mention! Trust me you don’t want or need that kind of stress with an engineering course load! Good luck!</p>
<p>In my experience, a 3.5 is around the 75th percentile, even in engineering. That is a difficult mark to maintain, but not an impossible one by a long shot.</p>
<p>It isn’t impossible, and dodging the weeder courses will help, but it will still be very difficult. Like others have said, it only takes one bad final</p>
<p>I engineering college I ended up dodging weeder courses (Physics1 and 2) via AP credit. That had not been my intention, but it worked out well. However you could also make an argument for retaking courses to keep up GPA. It depends a lot on the individual situation.</p>
<p>Seriously, what GPA do you think you can achieve, given that the average GPA is probably going to be about 3.0 and 3.5 will probably be in the realm of 80th percentile? Are you better at school than 80% of students in EE at A&M? </p>
<p>We’ve been to engineering school but we don’t know you so it’s not really possible for us to say. You know you. So go with your beliefs. </p>
<p>At least start out there if you get the scholarship from the beginning. If first semester you find that you can’t make it happen, don’t pay next semesters tuition and leave. A&M is a substantial enough university that credits will likely transfer.</p>
<p>That’s the thing. I have no idea where I’d fit in, percentile wise, in an engineering school. I know that a lot of mediocre kids sign up for engineering and get weeded out. I also know that a lot of the students that stick are dang smart. I guess more generally, my question is: just how difficult is an engineering major? I really don’t want to lose tens of thousands of dollars finding out.</p>
<p>Some personal info, if it helps: I’ve been going to a math and science magnet school for the last six years, with a lot of sharp kids, and I have been about middle of the pack there. I’ve taken calculus BC, and both Physics C’s, and while I got through those, I thought they were pretty tough. I did a concurrent enrollment last year for discrete mathematics and one this year for vector calculus, and I don’t think those courses are too bad. I’ve looked at tests posted online for some classes at both my local state school (Boise State) and Texas A&M, and they look rough, but I have no idea what the curves on them would be or how they’d be graded.</p>
<p>Also, I’m hesitant to just go and “try out” A&M, because I think I would be ineligible for any incoming freshman scholarships if I had to transfer back home. Wherever I go for college, I’m pretty much dependent on scholarships. My parents make under $50,000 yearly, and I have a brother going to school at the same time as I am. I’ve been told that they have little money for me, and I should proceed as if I won’t receive a dime from them. </p>
<p>Thanks for the advice so far from all you guys, but thanks especially to No Imagination for posting that report. Those breakdowns look pretty ugly, and kinda have me shying away from A&M.</p>
<p>@KF7LCE, I think your best bet is to enroll and try to do the best you can. Make sure if you run into some type of difficulty, you speak to your professors and/or advisor about it as early as possible. Keep track of the minimum number of credits required per semester also; you may be allowed to drop some classes and keep your scholarship as long as you maintain the 3.5. Find out if any credits will transfer to another college or university in case you need to leave Texas A&M because you can’t cover the costs of tuition, etc. yourself.</p>
<p>If you do go the A&M and then transfer out; the college you transfer to will be the one to decide if they will accept any credit for the classes taken at A&M. Also, most merit scholarship money is given to students as incoming freshmen (covering all 4 years), but not so much to transfer students. Financial need money would probably still be available to transfer students.</p>
<p>A 3.5 GPA is tough to maintain in most engineering programs. I’d be cautious about any school requiring that GPA to keep your scholarship.</p>
<p>What state?
Do you know about financial aid? Why won’t you qualify?
What are your current stats?</p>
<p>A&M is only risky in your case if the alternatives are less risky. If you live in a state with really no decent public engineering schools, then it’s not risky at all. </p>
<p>However, there are a number of private schools that often make themselves affordable. Have you looked into that?</p>
A whole lot of different, completely unrelated reasons in my experience. I don’t fully understand why, but this group is the one most likely to have a noticeable dropoff in performance. The very brightest students tend to find their way quickly, and average/weak students tend to perform as they always have (with notable exceptions).</p>
<p>Most engineering classes grades by exams. There’s usually 70% to 60% in class exams. Then there’s a final that comprises of 40% to 30%. In class exams are tested by chapter. The final exam tests all chapters, depending on who makes them, some topics would be emphasized more than others.
The following is the main thing you have to consider. In each exam, there’s usually 5-8 questions. These 5 to 8 questions worth around 20 points each. All questions needs to be shown “correct work AND answer” in order to get full points. Getting a wrong answer would sometimes mean minus 15 points to minus 10 pts. It’s very difficult to maintain a 3.5/ 90 gpa because missing one question worth 20 points, and you are looking at 80s or possibility 70s if you getting tiny mistakes here and there.
Finals have a very different structure than during semester exams. Mainly because they test all topic. After you took the last during semester exams, there’s usually 1 last chapter still uncovered. Usually the dates for the finals is 7 days after the last semester exam. Considering how you would have 3 -4 others classes. You usually only have time to review for finals, and not study for them. There’s it’s very difficult to score high in finals, but not impossible if you do well in between semesters.
In a calulus II class, sometimes the highest grade would be an 80. Then 2-5 70s, where 75 was the passing mark. With a curve, the 80 can be brought up to a B+. However, it’s very unlikely for a calculus II to curve extremely high compared to a Physics class.
It’s very difficult to maintain a 3.5 GPA, not to mention every semester.</p>
First, please note that a 3.5 GPA is typically the top 20-25% in engineering. Let’s keep some perspective, and not act like maintaining a 3.5 is the hardest thing on the planet. People do it every single semester. It takes work, for some people a LOT of work, but it is definitely something that can be and IS done all the time.</p>
<p>Second, most scholarships focus on cumulative GPA, not that of individual semesters. You can have semesters where your GPA falls below that 3.5 and still maintain a 3.5 cumulative. Believe it or not, when they give you such a requirement they are not trying to beat you down, they are giving you something that they think you can do IF you actually work at it.</p>
<p>I had a similar worry as an incoming engineering freshman. I didn’t have any calculus or AP credits and assumed that I would be eaten alive at my school (large state school). All I wanted to do was get above average and so studied my ass off and ended up acing my first semester. After A LOT of hard work, I am now a junior managing to maintain a 4.0. I have had to sacrifice most of my social life but for someone who is naturally intelligent, you should be golden. I’d say go for it!</p>