<p>My son just got accepted to GA Tech's Engineering program, early action. Now that he has gotten in, he is hearing (and I'm not sure where) that it is "pressure cooker" school, like MIT or Cornell. We are wondering if there is any truth to this and to what degree the environment, competitiveness, and grading system compares to some of the more notoriously stressful college environments.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Yes, it is tough, but nothing I would say the average Tech student couldn’t do. One of the main things I’ve learned to do well since coming to Tech is time management. If you can manage your time well and get work/studying/etc started early then things will be much easier. Also take advantage of TA and professor office hours. Yes, I would say the classes are harder than the average college class (possibly due to bad professors, speed at which material is covered, etc) but it can all be done with hard work. </p>
<p>Stress wise, yes, its a notch above the rest but that again depends on your course load. Since freshman year I’ve been taking on average 17-18hrs a semester, and I am just now starting to take it easy. Some semesters, I was in the library almost everyday for 5+ hrs. So my advice here is not to overload yourself, and really, if you feel like you’ve taken on too much, just withdraw or drop the class. A dropped class is much better than one in which you do bad in.</p>
<p>Grading wise, I would say it differs from professor to professor, obviously, and courses too. I’ve had classes where 90 is the cutoff for an A, and there is no chance of a curve; no matter how many people do bad. I’ve also had courses where the grading scale was pretty ambiguous all semester, and at the end it turns out 70+ is an A. For the most part, I would say as long as you’re ahead of the average then you are good for a B at least. This is just the general trend I’ve come to see; it may not apply to lots of classes, seeing as I have not taken them all.</p>
<p>I have never been to Cornell or MIT or any other school, so I can’t really compare Tech to those. I do have a roommate going to GSU, and if that represents the average college then, honestly, Georgia Tech is much much tougher than that. (Engineering program at least)</p>
<p>It’s really not that bad to be totally honest, you just have to learn how to manage your time well. As a first year student who went to a challenging high school and 15 credit hours, I expected it would be tougher than my high school, turns out that as long as I keep up on my work everything is fine. I can go out every weekend, get 8 hours of sleep, hang out with all my friends, play sports, and I’m getting good grades so far. The key is just to manage your time well and not save work until the last minute or midnight because you will have 2-3 hours of homework to do everyday.</p>
<p>@Longhorns747: Such a quality response, thank you!</p>