How hard is engineering?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rutgers University
21

<p>Take all of that advice very seriously; it’s a shame how many people skip class when they are completely clueless about the course.</p>

<p>To answer why engineering majors have low GPAs is because Chem is the only “easier” course we get compared to SAS. Our other related courses are much more difficult, and it’s hard to do well in every course when you take so many of them at once. And when you don’t quite understand what the professor talked about in lecture, it can take a long time to receive help or teach it to yourself.</p>

<p>All of the hard work is very rewarding though. If I majored in something easier and not challenging enough, I would get too bored in college.</p>

22

<p>I agree with Drex,</p>

<p>Another thing is that half of our classes have professors who speaks HORRIBLE english, therefore, it is really difficult to comprehend the material. All Math classes at Rutgers have notorious reputation in having Professors who can’t speak proper English or with a thick accent.</p>

23

<p>Another good advice I would like to share with you is quite weird, but I have just recently started to realize the potential benefits to it. </p>

<p>One of my close colleagues tells me that she never looks at her GPA or grades for any of her class, not even Quiz scores or Exam scores. Her philosophy is that if she truly truly knows and did the best she could at everything, and if the final grades do not reflect her effort, she really cannot do anything about it, because she knows for fact she have tried her hardest. On top of that, most of the time, it usually doesn’t help when you know you just bombed an Organic Chemistry exam, it’s like a parasite, once you know you did bad in something, it kind of spreads to your head and you get depressed and you start doing bad at every other class, slightly. So why add the unnecessary side effect? </p>

<p>This kind of thinking, initially, I thought it was wrong, but then I realized that her philosophy actually makes sense. If you really think about it, All of which she does only becomes valid and true if she starts to work hard from the start. Her hard work is consistent throughout the academic year, it’s not like <em>Oh crap I just got a 10/100 on this Orgo quiz, I need to study harder!</em> This never appeared to her because in her head, she is Constantly working equally hard in all of her courses. And to be completely fair, you do kind of know if you are really doing your best or not, and to me, to herself, she and I both know she is doing the best she can, and there is never lazyness, not even a little. </p>

<p>And ultimately, what attest to her effort, is that she maintains all her scholarship still to this date, this has to mean she is above the 3.5 GPA range, strictly speaking. </p>

<p>Think about it, it took me a while to get her idea, and I think I am going to start doing the same thing. =)</p>

24

<p>I don’t agree with not looking at grades. Even if you try your hardest, it’s always helpful to know what you got wrong on an exam, so you can go back and learn it properly. Or you may need to read a teacher’s margin notes on your papers. Or the teacher may have graded you incorrectly. Getting a bad grade should not be devastating; you have to learn to get over it and move forward.</p>

25

<p>@ Rualum… no one annotates in margins on an exam about what you did wrong at a university level. Everything is either scantron graded, or personally graded without annotations. if they were to annotate, it would take forever to grade people with a size of 700 people per class. </p>

<p>Plus, never said she didn’t look over what is wrong, you don’t have to look at your grade to know what you did wrong. Just cover up the front top corner and look through what you got wrong. Nothing is out of 100, so the numbers that shows up on individual pages in exams means nothing.</p>

26

<p>On top of that, we are speaking strictly under the terms of School of Engineering, there is no exposition class, so paper editing doesn’t exist. I have not had an exam where it wasn’t scantroned, once you hand it, poof, it never comes back. Just have to compare your original question copy with someone else or go to office hour to ask. As far as math exams, which is written open ended, again with the no annotations, it just doesn’t happen at a University level, ESPECIALLY considering the size of classes at Rutgers. This isn’t high school or college several decades ago, things change, and pedagogy is one of them.</p>

27

<p>Another thing is that you really can’t implicate or assume anything based on the mid terms of quiz scores, if there is one thing I have learned from demanding classes with large amount of students, is that the grades before final exams means nothing. </p>

<p>100% of the time, it seems like everyone is failing and there is no hope, but after the final exam, boom suddenly a B or B+ or even A. Since most classes hold DEPARTMENTAL finals, they have to consider student’s performances collectively and as long as you did as well as the average or even slightly better, you’re fine, it’s shocking how many times I thought I was dying but ended up with an A. </p>

<p>Point is, grades have no meanings unless it is the final exam. Biggest lesson learned. But of course, that doesn’t mean I don’t study during mid year, I still do, if I don’t, I have no way of acing the final.</p>

28

<p>@Xu701zero and drexeler,</p>

<p>You described Rutgers calculus 1 and 2 as really “different” from those of high school? In what sense? I know it goes more into depth and complexity, but I still don’t see how calculus can be any different whether if it’s taken at high school or Rutgers or MIT.</p>

<p>Also, how did you study for Calc? For example, going over practice tests and what other supplementary resource did you use?</p>

<p>Also, I kinda made a mistake; I sent all the AP scores to Rutgers including English, Calc, Chem Bio, etc…; I think, however, you can still choose to take whatever you like. No?</p>

29

<p>@ Sixflags</p>

<p>Calculus 1 and 2 differs than high school AP calc in this one major area: Errors. Knowing error bounds is crucial in engineering mathematics, and I am sure you can figure out why. Another major thing is the type of application we do with those rudimentary topics like Related Rates and Optimizations. All of those topics are specifically applied to engineering type of processes. </p>

<p>The complexity of limits and integrals they go into is pretty amazing. They love teaching us how to solve <em>classic</em> functions that would most likely be encountered in higher dimension maths. They go in large depth proving you how certain functions are derived, such as how to compute a indefinite/ definite integral using Riemann’s mid/left/right rules, instead of just directly evaluating. And what follows after using Riemann’s method is calculate your error bound for the integral, because if you know Riemann’s method at all, it’s an approximation. </p>

<h2>Plus the whole ordeal with them is that they are technically prepping you for the <em>next</em> level calculus, for you, it would be multivariable calculus. All of their engineering and pure math related calculus sequences are really formulated to test and push boundaries of engineers and innovative thinkers into solving more complex problems. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of the pre-requisite material has to be in depth. </h2>

<p>How did I study for calc? I use [url=&lt;a href=“http://patrickjmt.com/]PatrickJMT[/url”&gt;http://patrickjmt.com/]PatrickJMT[/url</a>] for additional references on top of my (poorly spoken lecture), this man Patrick JMT is truly a math genius, I got an A in both calc because of him. I also do suggested homework’s on the syllabus, and look onto MIT’s calc practice exams. It really does help, because MIT presents an almost equal level of difficulties in terms of calculus. Very nice materials!</p>

<hr>

<p>If you sent them AP scores, they will give you credits for them. You will not be able to take those classes you have been awarded credit for. Not that you can’t fool the registration system and register, but at the end of the year, the dean audits your records and he will see that you already got AP credit for a class you registered, therefore, you did a year of work for nothing, because they will not award you the course credit twice, and the grade will not impact your GPA. Pretty much just spent a whole year doing nothing :(</p>

30

<p>No I don’t think so. If that’s true, then I am exempt from calc 1,2, chem, bio, and expos. I’m quite certain that you can choose to take or don’t take the credit. I’m planning to be exempt only from expos since English is far beyond my field of interest. Who told you that I MUST take the next level course if I send in my 4s and 5s? Can you provide me your source?</p>

<p>Is there a way to retrieve my ap score? It won’t affect my Gpa? So if get straight F’s in the courses I got exempt on upon getting A’s in other class, I will get a 4.0?</p>

31

<p>@ Sixflags, nevermind, i found the solution to your question. here is what it says</p>

<p>Some students may find that these high school level courses did not provide the same foundational knowledge that is available through an introductory-level university course. They may, after consultation with an advisor, decide to waive the credits from the AP course to enable them to register for the introductory course in a particular academic discipline. This waiver must be requested in writing. If the student accepts the credits and subsequently enrolls in the course, the Advanced Placement credit will be deleted.</p>

32

<p>Ah, thank you very much. I’m planning to opt out of Expository Writing only.</p>

<p>But if you were me, would you be exempt from all the courses I got credit for? I will be taking them anyway regardless.</p>

33

<p>Just curious, but why aren’t you opting out of chem or bio?</p>

34

<p>Because I feel like I haven’t mastered some of the materials I went over in high school. I got 5s on both chem and bio, but in order to fully prepare myself for Orgo and other engineering courses, I want to solidify what I should know for more advanced classes.</p>

<p>Besides, I want to maximize my gpa as well. Taking what the next course wouldn’t help my GPA at all because basically I will have to relearn all the unfamiliar materials from scratch upon the fact that I haven’t yet mastered the basics.</p>

<p>Will opting out of classes necessarily help improve my GPA?</p>

35

<p>What engineering were you thinking about doing? I am glad you want to solidify your skills so you can have a higher chance of surviving in the advanced courses. Such as Organic Chemistry. </p>

<p>P.S*** Chem for Engineers 159/160 sequence does NOTHING to help you succeed in Organic Chemistry. I personally would know because I took 159/160, but used 161/162’s materials since 159/160 stuff was so boring and rudimentary. As I recall, the option to bump up to taking General Chemistry for Arts and Science was an option offered by the professors first day at lecture. You should perhaps consider bumping up to 161/162 sequence. </p>

<p>If I were you, I would personally exempt out of Biology and Expos. Expository writing is a definitely crappy class, get out if you can. Everyone knows how bad it is. </p>

<p>Biology: The reason why I say you should exempt from Biology is because as an engineer, the only engineering department that would potentially use Biology is the Biomedical Engineers, and biology alone at Rutgers is just as difficult, if not more, than General Chemistry for Arts and Science. Most of my friends are Pharmacy majors, they tell me horrible stories about Biology, and it seems to be universal to whomever you to talk to about it. </p>

<p>Taking classes you already know will DEFINITELY improve your GPA, just don’t have the mindset that since you know it already, you don’t have to study. Still study like usual, you just don’t have to pull an all nighter on it :slight_smile: For me not getting out of Chem with a 5 on Ap chem was a smart choice, it served as a MAJOR GPA booster for me. </p>

<p>To be more precise, the class that will actually affect your GPA the most is Calculus 1 and 2. Both of these courses are 4 credits each, when factored in with your other courses, it can elevate the overall GPA by a lot if you get an A in a 4 credit class.</p>

36

<p>Plus, as an Engineer, you get a lot of advantages in terms of avoiding the pre-requisites, just because School of Engineering has so much power, because just like School of Pharmacy, our schedules are fixed, we follow our own department’s curriculum, we don’t get to pick to say : let’s take this because I feel like it. No, you take what they tell you if you want to get a degree in that engineering field.</p>

<p>An example that would show School of Engineering’s power in overriding pre-requisites would be: Molecular Biology, a class I, as a Chemical Engineer will eventually have to take, officially has a pre-requisites of General Biology, however, the requirement is waived by School of Engineering just because I will have completed Organic Chemistry by the time I register for Molecular Biology.</p>

37

<p>Ahaha, Xu701zero, you guessed it correctly. The reason why I don’t want to opt out of Biology is because I do, in fact, want to be a biomedical engineer.</p>

<p>Also, are there any English course I can take other than Expository Writing? I am a premed/engineer, and Medical schools require 2 semesters of English. If I opt out of Expos, does that give me a free semester of English?</p>

38

<p>Yes there is a second English class after Expository that would be good for your medical school admission, it’s called Technical Writing or I think there is another called Writing for Research, one or the other, it’s good. (I myself do not plan on taking anymore English classes, yay)</p>

<p>I would take the AP credit for Biology, you’ll love me for telling you so :)</p>

39

<p>As Xu said, at least take the credit for Bio. Bio is 2 semesters and has a 3-hour lab each semester. Plus, since you’d get a lot of AP credit for bio, you’d have an upper hand at registering for Spring classes. Registration is first come first serve based on credits, and being able to register for your classes 1 or 2 days ahead of all the non-AP credit freshmen can make a huge difference.</p>

40

<p>It makes no sense whatsoever to opt out of college Biology if I’m a BME. Not only have I taken “college-level” biology as a HS junior, I have also forgotten A LOT about biology. Quite frankly, I do enjoy very much being in a lab as I have worked in a real-life, hardcore laboratory for quite some time in the past. So opting out of bio is not an option for me since I really want to absorb all the materials I need to know to prepare myself for med school.</p>

<p>My only question is if I choose to take the credit, can I still take the course and not have whatever the grade I get in that class affect my GPA? As Xu701zero mentioned, by “fooling” the admissions office.</p>

<p>I fully understand that biology is a tedious and cumbersome course, so I am not quite certain that I will get an A or even a B+</p>