<p>I’ve already warned my son not to be surprised or disheartened when his 4.0 at community college goes down at UM. </p>
<p>Alan, welcome to Michigan and best wishes in all your studies. I’m sure you’ll get a fantastic education.</p>
<p>@VillageMom than you so much.
I am expecting less than 4.0 for sure. My best bet is 3.5+ but I won’t get depressed if I get 3.0-3.5
below that, I can’t take</p>
<p>Well, you gotta realize this, GPA just doesn’t matter that much after a certain point. I came to realize that over my last two semesters, and it is something my friends in engineering that have always expected high grades have started to realize. Now, we are all Jr/Sr credit standing, so we are later on, but really getting a job is all about work experience. Yeah, don’t have a crappy GPA, at least keep it above a 3.0 (major cut off for job applications), but its not like HS at all.</p>
<p>Engineering is hard. Michigan engineering is hard. Things like studying, grades, etc are not always comparable from Ross to LSA to CoE and so on. The average here is like a 3.0, keep that in mind.</p>
<p>Now, that being said, there is no reason why you shouldn’t get at least a 3.0, esprcially if you are as smart as you say you are. </p>
<p>All the intro stuff should be a breeze. Not only is it intro stuff, but you have classmates from various LSA disciplines. Gen Chem may be there weed out course, it should be pretty easy for you.</p>
<p>We these intro classes you can do well by just being naturally smart, or by putting in the time needed. It looks like you are capable of doing both.</p>
<p>Once you really start to dive into the engineering course work it becomes very important how much time you are willing to put into it as far as the grade you will get out. Even then these classes really aren’t impossible. They can be difficult (not all) and they are time consuming. </p>
<p>Even at this point, you will have kids in your class that just don’t care. Crazy I know, for how much this costs, but they will just come in being happy to pass and call it a day. They will help adjust the curve in classes that have one. </p>
<p>Other factors will matter too. Are you a good test taker? Did that 2 question exam happen to be on something you really do or don’t understand? Did you get a good group in your team based class (burn in hell ME 395). Etc etc.</p>
<p>So don’t worry too much. You will be surrounded by A LOT of smart people. You will just be another student. But there is not reason why you shouldn’t be able to get AT LEAST a 3.0. </p>
<p>I don’t think EE is the hardest. There is a group at the top that is generally considered the “harder” majors. Stuff like EE, ME, ChemE, etc, with the easiest being IoE. </p>
<p>Oh, I have like a 3.6 something. I was rocking like a 3.8 until my last two semesters (I’m co-oping now) where I took 4 engineering classes both terms. That is brutal when you add in labs and everything. </p>
<p>Someone mentioned their stats earlier, I was similar. Bunch of APs, 36 math ACT, etc etc, and I know people here that came in with better stats and I know people here smarter than myself. The competition goes up substantially. </p>
<p>I do my work when it needs to be done, and I am pretty busy. But I’m just an average, hard working engineering student. I am not sheltered in a library every day but I don’t go out and party all of the time either.</p>
<p>This was the most helpful reply I have received or read on cc until now. ^
Thank you so much for putting your time into this.
Great job on your GPA. keep it up</p>
<p>That is what I was looking for? why is the average only 3? is it solely due to difficulty or are there a fair number of students who don’t care and are only satisfied with passion…</p>
<p>I want to continue grad school so I think a high GPA is needed, atleast more than when looking for jobs?</p>
<p>Ofcouse I won’t party a lot either. but can you go out/party over weekeneds atleast?</p>
<p>yes, gpa matters much more for grad school. if you are shooting for the most competitive tier 1 programs you really want 3.9+ in addition to extensive research experience. if you are set on going to grad school, i’d recommend forgoing internships over summers and focusing on research. this is assuming you’re talking about phd. for masters research doesn’t really matter all that much</p>
<p>I’m happy to help. I feel like I should help out students they may have been in similar situations as myself a few years ago. Plus you are/are going to be a Wolverine, we help each other out. </p>
<p>Anyway I have never wanted to do research, so I can’t be too much help here. I’m guessing GPA is much more important. Also you want to do research with profs, not internships.</p>
<p>As far as getting research you just talk to your professors I guess. My fluids professor put sticky notes on the students’ exams that got As asking if they wanted to do research through, so I guess they might search you out if you do really well. Myself and most people I know didn’t take him up on the offer though.</p>
<p>Why is the average a 3? Idk. The mentality of just going in and wanting to walk out with a B I guess. I mean, the classes are hard. Most of my Jr level courses are curved to around B- (2.7). Put I come in with that mindset “I want an A” and I do the work I need to. Also, VERY IMPORTANT HERE, I have a close group of friends that are in the same boat. It makes all of this much easier when you have others to go through it with, do HW with, check answers with, etc.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The average is a 3.0 because that’s what they make the average… There’s no objective meaning in regards to an average GPA at a school. </p>
<p>For grad school GPA, yeah, if you want to a truly top school you have to be very good. Really you should be very close to a 4.0 with good research experience. If you don’t have to go to one of the best couple of schools for your field, something along the lines of 70-80th percentile in your major with some research should get you somewhere good with funding.</p>
<p>Hi, I was accepted into the School of Engineering and am planning on being a computer science major. I have AP credits from AB calc and chem, and then another 12 credits for general electives.
I was wondering if it would be smart/possible to take more of my engineering classes freshman year and not intellectual breadth, but save those credits for studying abroad.
I just imagine that it would be easier to get credits for humanities than for engineering while studying abroad. </p>
<p>also, when do register for classes?</p>
<p>Freshman admits register for classes on the 3rd day of their orientation.</p>
<p>If you can take the engineering classes and know you want to study abroad, then take the engineering classes. But I don’t think the only one you could take with what you have now is just EECS 203.</p>
<p>Yeah you won’t have most of the prerequisites. You’ll just have to take the normal Engr 101, 100, Physics, etc</p>
<p>Hello ThisIsMichigan. I’m going to be a freshman next year and I had a few questions I hope you could answer.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How should I try to set up my schedule? Should I try to get all four classes in the first four days of the week or space them out?</p></li>
<li><p>Did you join any clubs and how were those experiences?</p></li>
<li><p>How much do the pretests matter for choosing classes? And what to study for pretests like math, algorithmic reasoning, and chemistry. </p></li>
<li><p>Is there anything you wish you would have done differently?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>It would be great if you answered any of these. Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m not him but I’ll answer and you can do whatever.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>In my opinion, it’s best to get your classes scheduled in close as time as possible. Even if it means you have 9am classes, it’s better than having gaps. First semester it will be hard to get classes scheduled such that you have a day off. Not impossible, but hard, and it’s probably more valuable to pick the best classes for you at that time than to go out of your way to try to get a day off. I find that for any gap between classes, 30 minutes + 1/3 of the rest is useless. So if you have a 30 minute gap, you’re not going to get anything done. 1 hour gap, you can maybe use 20 minutes of it. 1hr 30 min gap you can use 40 min of it. Try to avoid these as much as possible. If you have a gap, try to make it at least 3 hours. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’ve joined a number of clubs and the experience has varied. I recommend you try out at least a couple, and see how you like them. If you find that after the first semester you don’t like it, don’t waste your time anymore. You will know if you like it incase you’re unsure. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The placement test like for Chem and Math? Useless. Don’t worry about them.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It may be hard but seriously, even freshman year, try to find something other than classes to do over the summer. Don’t worry about making sure you keep in contact with everyone you meet early on, your group of friends will evolve naturally. Put some effort in your classes but don’t stress out over a bad grade, it won’t matter. 80% of employers will not care about your GPA, including some good ones that you might very well want to work for. Learn what you want to learn, it’s just worth it for your mental well being to study beyond what you have to for a class if it’s what interests you, even at the slight expense of a grade in a class you have no interest in.</p>
<p>Would you recommend a freshman to retake calc 1 and 2 after he already took them at the local cc while in HS.? Ive been very busy this year with college apps and scholarships. I have a 96 in calc 2 (100 calc 1) but I usually just cram before tests. Im not surei fully understand calculus. Would you recommend retake or not.? (i want to major in computer science through the college of engineering at usf)</p>
<p>Sent from my HTC One X using CC</p>
<p>No, absolutely do not retake anything you have credit for. If you understand basically what a derivative is and what an integral is, you’ve gotten what you need out of Calc.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Lots of good information on this thread so far. Just wanted to give my 2 cents in for grad admissions. You truly need to be top notch if you’re aiming for a Top 10 PhD program, and grad admissions are becoming increasingly competitive because top schools here carry significant prestige in the world and, thus, attract competitive applicants from around the world, particularly from places like India and China in engineering or science fields. International students seem to like studying in the US. </p>
<p>I’m going to add that for some engineering fields, if you plan on going into industry, a PhD will not significantly improve your resume. In fact, a PhD may be a turn off for some employers, unless you’re looking at a research-based career (academia or Microsoft Research comes to mind for me). Keep in mind there is a pretty huge supply of PhDs in the market today, and I hear that professor positions are difficult to come by these days.</p>
<p>You can get into a Top 20 Masters program with a major GPA of around a 3.4 from Michigan Engineering (not sure if the number is higher for IOE, because the grade averages there are higher than the rest of Engineering). It’s not easy to get either, but it’s much easier to maintain than a 3.7+, which is basically expected if you want to stand a chance of admission at a top PhD program with full funding.</p>
<p>@MichiganHello</p>
<p>Vladenschlutte already helped you out but I’ll add in</p>
<ol>
<li><p>That’s really up to you and how you like to work. You most likely won’t get much of a choice as far as the days go, but you might get some choice in the time of day you schedule courses. A gap between classes is as good as you make it. It can help on days when you have an exam in a class, allowing you to study some more before the exam, instead of going from class right to the exam. It also blocks out a time to do HW if you need that extra incentive. But like I said, its all up to how you work.</p></li>
<li><p>Yeah I’ve joined a couple clubs. I’ve become very involved in some and not as much in others. They aren’t a giant part of my time here and I haven’t made any long lasting close friends from the clubs themselves, but I’ve still made friends and have had fun. IM Sports is where I put a lot of my extracurricular time. </p></li>
<li><p>If you are going to be an engineer you shouldn’t have to study at all for the math placement test. Also, I think it will only affect you if you completely bomb it. Chemistry is also very easy. I hadn’t done any chem since Sophomore year of HS and I tested into Orgo. That’s what happens if you do really well, you can go straight to Orgo. But, you are CS so you won’t need Orgo. So just take gen chem and get an easy A.</p></li>
<li><p>As far as academics, I wish I didn’t take honors theoretical calc 3 and 4. No point, I was just in the “I’ve always taken honors courses anyway” mindset. I should have taken regular 3 and 4 and gotten easy As. (Especially considering I took calc 3 during HS through a post secondary program and stupid Umich didn’t give me credit because it was taken before school started at my HS).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Other than that I guess I wish I was more social my freshman year. I have been lucky that my radom roommate freshman year has turned into one of my closest friends in college and I’ve gotten more close friends through him, soccer and mech e. </p>
<p>Also, don’t retake Calc 1 or 2. Give yourself that extra cushion in scheduling by not having to worry about those classes. It will help you down the line. I’ve also heard Calc 2 is pretty hard here.</p>
<p>Oh, another thing. If you can take courses the summer between HS and college at a local CC or something to get humanities or social sciences or something out of the way, do it. Again, provided you more of a buffer and frees up time. </p>
<p>The summer after my freshman year of college I took physics E&M and philosophy at a CC. Helped me free up time allowing me to co-op a semester and have an easy Sr year</p>
<p>Vladenschlutte and ThisisMichigan Thanks so much!</p>
<p>For the prestests question to put things in perspective I got a 5 on AP Chem and CalcBC. And I got an A in both classes. Thanks for clearing the difficulty up.</p>
<p>I have a few more questions: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>For classes when are the exams? Do they replace a lecture or are they on a separate day completely? Do you ever get all the exams crammed into one week?</p></li>
<li><p>What writing class would you reccomend I take freshman year? And how are those classes graded?</p></li>
<li><p>Whats the best place to study?</p></li>
<li><p>Who were your favorite teachers?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>it would be great if you can answer these! and again thanks so much!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Depends on the class. You can have exams pretty much whenever. Some are scheduled during class, some are scheduled during night or something. There’ll be some system that allows you to take alternates in case the exam is scheduled during a different class, so don’t worry about that when scheduling. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>We’re talking about Engineering right? So Engr100. The particular section will depend on your interest and what you think you might want to major in. Of if you’re unlucky, whatever is open when you register.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Up to you. I usually study in the EECS building.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Just their names? What department? If you’re in a MechE department it’s not going to be much use of me to tell you my favorite professors from IOE and EECS.</p>
<p>In MechE, Perkins is pretty awesome. </p>
<p>Freshman and Sophomore year I was doing a lot of my work in my dorm/apartment. From around the end of Sophomore year to now I’ve been working a lot more in the Dude.</p>
<p>
</p></li>
<li><p>Exams vary. I’ve had exams as early as 9 AM and as late as 7 PM (ending at 9). In most of the intro classes, your room assignments for exams will seem random (they book a set of classrooms and put a subset of students in each). </p></li>
</ol>
<p>You’re generally expected to manage your time effectively if you have many exams within a small time window. The only exception that the University grants is that you’re allowed to reschedule an exam if you have 4 in one day. (I’ve had 3 finals in one day … twice)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Didn’t take writing here (I don’t see tech comm in engineering as writing). My sister took Great Books and she didn’t seem to mind it that much. I think she got an A- in it, but she’s a better writer than I am.</p></li>
<li><p>Basement of the Dude. Very quiet … until the next batch of new freshman arrives.</p></li>
<li><p>This is going to be different for each department. In Econ, I thought that Gerson (101) and Stevenson (102) were very good. In Math, I took the honors segment so they were mostly postdocs who no longer teach here. In CS, I highly recommend Prof. Chen and highly discourage against taking a class w/ Prof. Shi unless you have no concern about your well-being. Most CS students take at least a class with Chesney because he teaches many of the gateway core classes and one of the MDEs. He’s OK.</p></li>
</ol>