<p>I'm almost done with my freshman year in EE, and I'm getting increasingly worried about math. I've gotten As in everything throughout the year, except for math. So far I've had B's in two math classes and may be looking at a C this quarter. </p>
<p>I am worried about how bad that will look? Its not that I'm completely lost in math, I just have not been able to perform well on the tests. The stiff competition (too many math nerds) doesn't help either. I am confident that I will be able to do well in my EE classes, so how would low grades in math look to prospective employers? graduate schools?</p>
<p>Employers won't ever see a transcript, graduate schools probably won't care as long as you do well in your upper-level EE courses.</p>
<p>^^ Don't sweat it. While there usually is a direct correlation between math and your engineering courses, it is still very possible to do well in your higher courses.</p>
<p>Try a lighter course load next semester, or quarter...</p>
<p>Also, I had the same expierence. See if your school offers courses that are taught differently...for example, my school offers Mathematica-based courses that get away TOTALLY from the large lecture hall discussion combo. They better suit people who need visual learning and work better on their own.</p>
<p>Just a thought.</p>
<p>That sounds like UIUC. They have a bunch of courseware on an FTP site buy you need Mathematica to be able to use it.</p>
<p>Blink182, you have it right in that I'm a very visual learner. I breezed through my physics courses, even though they involve a bunch of math. I was fine with calculus (its pretty visual), and got Bs only because I didn't try too hard and found it boring.</p>
<p>I'm taking linear algebra right now, and up until two weeks ago, it was just horrible. The weird thing is that since then I've been really enjoying it because now we're doing all the applications... eigenvalues and eigenvectors, SVD decompositions, etc... But I don't like proofs, they don't help me understand anything most of the time. I also don't like the way its taught because we have no idea of how to really use any of it. Its all theorems and constructions.</p>
<p>It would be awesome to have a smaller class and a Mathematica or Matlab based course. I would love to actually apply all the things from this class, but I don't think my school offers anything like that.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies.</p>
<p>When I was applying to graduate schools, Carnegie Mellon asked specifically for a GPA in my math courses only, which makes sense since their programs was much more quantitative than other programs. When I saw that, I thought I had absolutely no shot at getting in, because my math GPA was somewhere around 2.5.... almost a full point below my overall GPA and over a full point below my in-major GPA. BUT, I was still accepted somehow, so don't worry about grad school.</p>
<p>I've only had one organization ask me for a transcript, and that was a government agency, and it was after I was offered a job. The only reason for that was they needed verification that my GPA was over 3.0. All the other companies that I've worked for never asked me for a transcript (and never asked me how well I did in specific courses). </p>
<p>Don't worry!</p>
<p>Getting B's or even C's in math courses won't mean that you'll do bad in engineering. Now if you were getting D's or F's that would be another thing...</p>
<p>Remember, C is supposed to stand for "average" and B "above average". I know that doesn't win over well here at CC, but that's the reality of things.</p>
<p>Hey RacinReaver,</p>
<p>what do you mean most companies never see a transcript? Do they only ask for your GPA? What if they want proof?</p>
<p>Employment side, it only matters for the very stiff competition jobs such as I-banking, which sometimes asks for your SAT score and high school rank. Employers typically care about your upper level EE classes and the "real" EE fundamentals. </p>
<p>Graduate schools vary--some look at your entire GPA, some look at only your upper division classes and others look at something in between. </p>
<p>I say, don't sweat it. Do well on your other classes and you'll be fine.</p>
<p>lowendnewbie, read ken's comment, most companies won't ever ask for it (when you're finding your first job, I think the general rule is to include it on your resume if it's over a 3.0), and if they do, it'll probably just be for verification purposes.</p>
<p>You'd be much better served taking another EE class over retaking calc, if that's what you're thinking about.</p>