I think having the “big picture” is extremely helpful. But, I suspect many students take an extra year to graduate. The dean attriubuted this to internships etc. Not many students graduate in 4 years either the percentage being around 35%. At the FASET orientation, the advisor to the entire freshman class took quite a bit of time to explain how to transfer credit for courses from other universities and community colleges which leads me to believe that students often take summer courses near their home. He has time to pick it up next semester or even take it over the summer. Albeit, they were all in the liberal arts! He spoke to the freshman advisor who recommended dropping the Computing class in order to focus on the other 4. My son went to an IB high school in Europe and went in to GT with 12 credits under his belt. The concept of “fit” for students and schools is a hard one. It has worked out better than we expected for her and she is very happy where she’s at. She has also gotten some of the more choice project assignments because of her class standing. She ended up at a school where she can be near the top and has made dean’s list 3 out of the 4 semesters so far. So we discouraged her from reaching too far in her college selection. She is the type that gets real frustrated if she isn’t at or near the top of her class and gets real upset if she even gets near class average. She is a junior in mechanical engineering right now. We had the “reach” concern with my daughter. If it is too much for him, then you can look into other schools. Wait at least one semester before you evaluate it. If so, you MAY want to re-evaluate his choice (although I wouldn’t just yet). You also become a real human being and not just a face in a classroom to the prof.Īnother issue could be there. Makes the classes more relavent if you can see the principles in action. Get involved in research as soon as you can. You’ve got to relax and “enjoy” the experience take the pressure off yourself to be the best. Depression sets in and makes it harder to study. You are not the top of your class and it is a real big letdown. Lack of good study skills is probably the biggest hurdle for engineering students (ie. That includes being able to study efficiently. You probably breezed thru high school without REALLY learning good study habits. Much less spread in abilities than in high school equals tougher competition He has a small mountain to scale and he needs to forge ahead while using available tools at his disposal.ĭon’t know specifically about GT, but will base my comments on engineering programs in general. the other students aren’t necessarily ‘smarter’. He might be frustrated if he thinks it’s more difficult for him than some others but this previous experience can explain that - i.e. He also needs to understand that with computing, some students may have previous experience with programming that makes it easier for those students for now but if your S sticks with it he’ll catch up to their level fairly quickly. I think he should just understand that it’s not unusual for people to find this material difficult when they first encounter it and that it means they need to work harder on it, seek out resources, like other students he might be able to study with or who might be able to explain it better than the prof, consulting TAs, consulting the prof, perhaps a tutor, and referring to other resources, books and online resources (wikipedia is usually a very good resource in the computing area) that might have better explanations. It’s not unusual to have an ‘adjustment period’ when one takes computer science or a related major.
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