So I’m a freshman at JHU and I am sort of struggling. My major is Applied Math and I’m doing pretty poorly in Discrete Mathematics. I understand that a C- will make Applied Math show up as Satisfactory on my transcript and I am somewhat confident that I can get my grade up to that. However, a C- won’t cut it in the future so should I be worried that my grade is so low? Can this grade be detrimental to my future chances, even if it doesn’t actually show up on my transcript? Thanks!
As you said, they won’t show up on your transcript but they should be a wake-up call for you. You should get a better idea of which of your habits are strong/weak and how much work you can/can’t handle. Your academic adviser might also get involved if he/she thinks you are having problems. Another place it might hurt you is if you ask to do research with certain faculty or take certain classes, you might need a sufficiently high grade.
Maybe if you are wondering if this needs to be a wake up call you could ask around your class and see if other kids who are generally smart and high achieving are also struggling in this particular class… basically just ask around to see if it is normal. Just wondering as a prospective student… what kind of student were you in high school and were you in a competitive school, and if so has hopkins been a huge shock as far as workload? And do you find Hopkins to be as cutthroat as its reputation says?
I never saw any cutthroat activity while I was at Hopkins and I was premed taking some of the most notorious classes. From what I’ve seen, every poster on CC who attended Hopkins echoes my sentiments that Hopkins is competitive (students all work hard, study long hours, and feel compelled to study more when they see their peers slaving away) but not cutthroat. The cutthroat environment either died out long ago or was simply imagined by individuals who never attended JHU.
I was in a rather large study group at JHU and we all shared notes, studied together and helped each other out. It was a very collaborative experience for me. Many students like to study alone, which is fine, but I never saw cutthroat behaviors like lab sabotage, hiding reference materials, etc.
As for covered grades, the big concern is whether a graduate program will ask for those grades to be uncovered or not. If you are taking a class your freshman year that is essential to a graduate program, which is unlikely but possible (e.g. some premed students take organic chemistry their first year), then it is possible that requests can be made to the school to see your covered grades, and that would not bode well for you if they are far from stellar (duh).
While poor covered grades are not a huge problem (as long as you pass and can take the next level of classes), it does indicate you need to change things quickly for next semester. You’re doing something wrong, and you’ll need to up your game or else you’re highly likely to make the same mistakes next semester. I would reduce your course load and drop an EC (or two) for next semester regardless of how you improve your study habits. Grades are more important than anything else, and it’s better to overreact now, ensure great grades, and then slowly add on more credits and/or ECs next school year.
@SFLiger Don’t worry; you aren’t the only one. Discrete Math is pretty different from other AMS courses; I haven’t done many proofs since I took it, and most core AMS courses aren’t proof-based. Sometimes a particular area of math just won’t click with you. For me that was Probability and Statistics. There are always other resources to help you if you’re struggling. I don’t know if Learning Den has a tutor for this course, but at the very least, there are Internet videos and your TA (or find out who the good TAs are and go to their office hours).
@Cestlavie1919 I think most students who are academically qualified for Hopkins didn’t struggle that much in high school. I wasn’t (still am not) crazy smart, but I was a hard worker who always strove to produce good quality work. Didn’t really have any “study habits,” and that’s probably been the hardest thing to figure out since being here.
I didn’t really have any expectations about the workload, though; I had heard coming in that it would be a lot. But it’s not really that there’s a lot of homework; I never realized how much busywork we got in high school until I came here. In some classes, you’ll only have weekly assignments; in others, there’s no homework, just exams. The challenge is that you have to be very diligent with your studying, because there will be weeks where you have two exams, a paper, and a problem set due in a span of three days. If you’re on top of things, it won’t be bad at all, but if you aren’t, that’s when things start to seem overwhelming.
NixonDenier did a good job of addressing the cutthroat rumor that never seems to die no matter how many people we explain it to, lol.
SFLtiger don’t worry about it. You clearly see that you need to make some changes to do better in the future. If you correct your mistakes by the end of the semester you’ll be in a good shape. I thought I was going to fail a class my first semester (Fall 2014) too and put in work to do well on the final, so don’t give up yet! I actually ended up having a near 1 point gpa difference between first semester and second semester after changing a lot of my bad habits. Also, that first discrete test was hard, and I know a lot of people didn’t do as well as they’d hoped to so I’m pretty sure there’s a good group of kids looking to study together for the next test. Don’t be shy to ask for help from other students because a lot of them are probably experiencing the same thing and you can learn from others. PM me if you have any other questions : ).
^^ That is true, lol. I remember my first Discrete Math exam; I think struggling through that is like a rite of passage.
I really appreciate the help and encouragement, @Jsteez @OnMyWay2013 @NixonDenier @YanksDolphins @Cestlavie1919 !!! You guys make me feel a lot better about where I am
To answer your question, @Cestlavie1919 I do not think Hopkins is significantly harder than high school. My high school wasn’t a very difficult one, either. It’s just the whole adjustment from completely different environments that is difficult. Hopkins absolutely is not cutthroat, as a previous poster mentioned. People are more than willing to share notes or to help you out here. I hope this answers your question, if you have any more just let me know!!