My daughter attends a top engineering school and recently called to say she is so stressed out and not doing well in her classes. Apparently, she is probably going to get a D or F in her mechanical engineering class and a C or D in her Calculus class. What is upsetting to her is that she says she really studied hard for the last two exams but still did not do well. Before this semester, she had a 2.4 GPA. Considering she is a mech engineering major I figured it wasn’t too bad of a GPA. The only classes that she had done well in was economics and english. So my question is this. Should she just change her major and remain at the school? They have a business school she is considering. Or should she transfer to another university so that she can reset her GPA? She really doesn’t want to do that since she is otherwise happy there. My concern is that her GPA at the end of this semester might be 2.0 or below and it will be tough to get it to an acceptable range. She is going to see if it is not too late to drop the classes but then she will have Ws. How will she be able to find an internship or first job with a low GPA?
What does she want to do?
If your daughter is happy with the school then she should absolutely stay. Unfortunately, not doing well in a series of classes for the major is a sign that says “this career may not be for you.” I’ve had plenty of friends who have not done well in their first major but completely succeed in their new one. As far as your concern about her GPA, if she is a freshman and this is her first time getting these grades then it won’t hurt her GPA too much because she wouldn’t have a lot of credit hours to begin with. A 2.0 GPA with 20 credit hours is WAY different than having a 2.0 GPA with 90 credit hours. She will be able to really recover if she starts get all As and maybe a couple of Bs in her new major. As far as internships and jobs go, just have her explain to them what happened since they will have her transcripts. After not doing well as an engineering major, she realized she needed a new path so she she switched majors and started doing better. She can also pad her resume with extra curricular activities and other things on campus.
However, if she is adamant about staying an engineering major then she needs to explore all of her options of maybe trying new studying tactics. She should speak with the professors/TAs so they can help her tackle the problem she is having. Is it learning all of the material in one sitting? Is it the way she is studying? Is it the type of teaching throwing her off? They will be able to really find a solution for her. If that doesn’t work, I know a majority of schools have studying workshops available through their student solutions department. Maybe have her look into that. I hope this helps and good luck!
She might have to re-evaluate her study habits and her understanding of core concepts/ the basics. I know a lot of students have a huge problem transitioning to college academics from high school. Has she been utilizing free tutors, office hours, study buddies, and more resources? Has she been doing well on homeworks, and going to class every day?