<p>She got good news today. When she talked to her Physics professor they are willing to let her replace the grade if she does better on the final. Since she had an A before this last test, I am sure she will be able to bring up her grade. I am very relieved.</p>
<p>Last semester was Statics, Differential equations, Into to materials, Into to mechanics and graphics for engineering design. It was terrible. She had a really hard time.</p>
<p>If her advisor says she’s ok then she’s ok. But her schedule seems very top heavy. Does she really need a load this intense to get through the program??? And do you know that she can’t switch majors without adding another year, or are you telling yourself this to justify her slogging through this joyless morass??? Has she actually checked with a dean or an advisor to see if she could graduate on schedule with a less intense schedule??</p>
<p>@Shrinkrap - I have no idea - I wondered the same thing myself. </p>
<p>@Deb922 - what school does your daughter go to?</p>
<p>Engineering classes have a ton of prerequisites and sometimes four or five have to be taken in sequence in order to graduate on time.</p>
<p>The good news is this will probably be the hardest term that you D has. It will get easier from here on out. Last semster and this semester combined are the major problem courses.</p>
<p>blossom, that’s what she and her father are telling me. That it is very hard to switch engineering disciplines or out of engineering without adding a year. I have no idea as I have barely any idea of what she is talking about when she talks about these classes. I am not an engineer nor do I pretend to know anything. At this point she is half way done with her degree. </p>
<p>I asked her to explore the possibility of changing majors with her advisor. Whether or not she did I don’t know. What you advise your kids to do and what they actually do are two different things. </p>
<p>I looked at the flow chart for her school and it looks like she is following the curriculum. She is going to take some electives over the summer so hopefully it will lighten her schedule. She says it is hard to take required engineering classes over the summer as the university doesn’t like it, according to her.</p>
<p>She does hear that things should get better after this year. Boy I hope so.</p>
<p>I hate to out my kids by giving too much information on a public board but what the heck. She goes to Lehigh.</p>
<p>deb-
I take it your daughter is an ME major? Or has she even decided which branch of engineering she wants to go into? I didn’t notice what year she was in. Her schedule really seems tough.</p>
<p>Although there is an overlap in required skills, some people are more suited to one type of eng than another.</p>
<p>And here’s another vote for “I hate thermo”. I don’t know what it’s like in the ME dept, I took it for my first degree (Physics) and thought it was about the hardest course I ever took. I think I remember all sorts of despicable boundary value problems I don’t remember being adequately prepared for. I assiduously avoided it later by going into EE.</p>
<p>Her only reasonable option for switching majors is to switch into an Engineering Technology program, which will allow her to be an engineer but take easier classes. I did this but wouldn’t recommend it to anybody else.</p>
<p>If I were in your shoes, I’d encourage your daughter not to take classes over the summer. She will need the summer to rest, relax, and take a break from studying. A summer job is a good way of earning a little spending money while her brain gets a chance to rebound after a hard year. That way, she will return to college refreshed and ready for another go at it.</p>
<p>(And the electives are really nice to have sprinkled in your schedule, sort of like croutons in your salad. Hopefully she won’t have a teacher that is on a tirade and fails 90% of her students like at LSU.)</p>
<p>Next year will go smoother.</p>
<p>Okay, here’s one strategy that could work if she would put in a little time over the summer: pre-learning some of the material in the classes she expects will be hardest in the fall. Try to get a copy of the syllabus from last fall (or whenever it was last taught). Find some general material on the topic to read – there are some wonderful introductions on the web. Get the textbooks, and, if possible, a tutor who can check the work. Read the general material – at least the stuff that matches the first few sections of the syllabus. She’s trying to build 1) some qualitative understanding; 2)vocabulary relevant to the subject; and 3)some understanding about why engineers care about this area. For most any subject, you’ll find that some creative faculty members around the country have posted interesting demonstrations, explanations, examples, lectures and even videos.</p>
<p>Then start working your way through several chapters of the textbook. Go slowly and carefully, reading and re-reading each section until you feel pretty comfortable with the examples. Use the outside resources for additional explanations. Then start working the problems, one-by-one, in a loose-leaf notebook. As you get each one right, check it off. Get help when you get the wrong answer, and then work another problem of that type. Work your way through at least the first fifth of the chapters that will be studied in the course. </p>
<p>It is hard work, but students who pre-work tough areas are usually much better at following the lectures and keeping up with the class work, so they’re not trying to dig themselves out of hole right from the get go. They can ask better questions, and have a better chance of fully understanding the material. If the math is rusty or weak, it is a chance to firm it up and get comfortable before the intensity of school begins. For the student who wants to do well – and in engineering we generally would be quite content to call a B “doing well” in a tough class – it gives a great foundation. And honestly, there were times when the professor seemed not to speak much English that I understood that this is how I ultimately learned the material anyway. (Well, we didn’t have the web back in those dark ages, but still…)</p>
<p>^^ outstanding advice.
If ONLY I could convince my son to read the textbook before class.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice and encouragement. Yes she is a ME major. I’m glad to hear that others hate thermodynamics. Her father liked it so much he got a Master’s in it. Keeps telling her that it’s straightforward. </p>
<p>Don’t ask me. I have no idea about any of this engineering stuff. </p>
<p>She was only going to take a humanities class over the summer. Some intro class which hopefully will be a rehash of stuff she had in HS. The u nearest our house does not offer engineering and the nearest u with an engineering school is an hour and a half away.</p>
<p>Oh, and to add to my advice: Once school begins, many (most?) students would benefit from prereading the section of the textbook to be covered in a given lecture BEFORE the lecture. The lecture will make sense, you’ll understand more of the nuances, and if the prereading is incomprehensible you’ll know that you need to find some additional resources.</p>
<p>deb- ME is hard. Your daughter is to be commended for sticking with something tough.</p>
<p>I would be surprised if most of her classes and credits wouldn’t transfer to another department in full. Econ majors take lots of math. Bio majors take physics. Geologists take Intro to Materials. All of these are hard, quantitative majors but not as “hard core” as ME. Just something to consider.</p>
<p>OP- Before dropping the class, your son needs to consider how it will affect his progress. He might want to hang on if it is only offered once a year and is a prereq for other classes. If he will transfer to another school, his grade won’t matter as long as it is passing and if does not drop his GPA so low that other schools won’t take him (<2.0).</p>
<p>Thanks blossom, I’ll talk to her again about changing her major if that’s what she wants to do.</p>
<p>RMGsmom, I wish she hadn’t dropped the class but I let her if only to alleviate her stress somewhat. She found out that there is a statistic class offered through the ME dept which is suppose to be somewhat easier. She is taking that with a friend next semester. Opps I just realized that you weren’t addressing that to me. Sorry</p>
<p>My S is in his second semester of his freshman year at a CSU campus and started as an engineering major even though he did not know much about it and was not terribly interested in it. However, he wanted to major in something that would be “practical”. He was a marginal candidate for engineering to begin with, with SAT scores of CR 640 and M 620. During his first semester he took one engineering course along with other required math and GE requirements and found out that he really hated engineering. He decided to switch his major to Geology which he has always found very interesting. He is still having to work very hard, particularly in calculus since Geology majors are required to take all the same calculus, physics and chemistry classes as engineering students. The class average on the last midterm he took in Calculus was 74 and he got a 77 which I feel is pretty good considering that all his classmates are engineering, physics, chemistry or math majors. Colleges and universities now have separate and less rigorous calculus courses for business, biology and social science majors so he has to keep up with probably the top 5 to 10 percent of all the students at the university in terms of math aptitude. Although he only received a 620 on the math SAT his math aptitude might actually be higher than that score would indicate. He was a very indifferent student in high school, did not take his SAT prep course seriously and during his first semester at CSU spent very little time studying. He seems to have now finally realized that college is hard work and that he has to study at least three to four hours a day including weekends to do well.</p>
<p>I think changing majors was a good move even if he will have to take the same lower division math and science courses as the engineering majors. once he gets through the prerequisites he will be studying something that interest him and from what I have read employment opportunities and salaries for geology majors are fairly good.</p>
<p>Oh wow! My son would like to do engineering at a CSU, and his first SAT scores weren’t quite as high (610 in math). I’m worried, but I haven’t told him. Also, more into athletics than academics. He would like civil engineering. Which CSU and which engineering?</p>
<p>Bigtrees and arabrab- great advice- have been v worried about my son and all this info helps. hopefully things will improve for him as well.</p>