I have heard from some people that at Northwestern University, the engineering department has a pyramid system, where the students with the lowest grades are kicked out of the program regardless of what those grades are. I don’t know if this is true or not, because I can’t find anything on their website and I haven’t spoken to anyone who actually went to Northwestern. Does anyone here know if this is true?
I’d move this to the Northwestern page since it is school specific.
That definitely didn’t happen when I was there.
Sounds like nonsense to me.
Mind you, some state schools do have weedout classes and GPA requirements for a major, but NU isn’t a state school.
The lowest GPAs are probably under 2.00, which tends to result in academic probation and eventually dismissal if not raised while on academic probation, at any college.
@ucbalumnus, the OP said “regardless of what those grades are”, which at Northwestern is nonsense.
Highly doubtful! This would be published information if true, and “some people” does not sound like a credible source. I have 1 kid that graduated McCormick in 2009, and also have a current student in McCormick - and haven’t heard this from either.
Current NU engineering student. Have never seen or heard about anything like this. I’ve never even seen anything like a negative curve.
Students can get academic probation if their grades are very low (I know someone who got on probation for that reason), but I am fairly confident that there is no scheme to chop off the bottom x percent of the class. If anything, Northwestern Engineering is very accommodating of all students that want to do engineering. The person I know who was on probation is still an engineering student at NU, for instance.
It is possible that students who are getting low grades in engineering prefer to change majors, and be in an area where they can maintain a higher GPA. This might be what the OP was talking about.
@osuprof, nope, the OP said “regardless of grades”, which just doesn’t happen at NU. Kids who find engineering too tough switch out at any school. In some, you need a minimum GPA to get in to some majors. If anything, NU is less demanding in that regard in that, so long as your GPA isn’t absurdly low (you’re not on academic probation or something), it’s easy to declare for any major in engineering.
Current engineering student and this is the first time I’ve heard of any “pyramid system”