How does your child manage time in college?

[Anonymous]

Spring semester will be done in a few days and DS is really struggling with his freshman year at Geprge Tech majoring in Computer Science.  He takes 16 credits in Falls and Spring semester.  In HS, he spent about 2 1/2 hours a day studying so he had lot of times to play piano, guitar, and saxophone.  On weekends, he didn't study and spent most of his time with sports and music activities.  

At George Tech, he spends at least 50 hours outside of the classroom studying just to keep up, and he is still struggling.  He neither has time to date or any other activities, has not touched his guitar and saxphone in months.  He hasn't been to the golf course except during the Christmas break.  He even had to study during Spring break just to keep up.  He said that CS is so hard here.  He is barely keeping his head above water.  He is just now a shell of himself.  I am seriously considering of pulling him out GT so that he can attend somewhere else.  At this point, I don't know where.

How do people major in CS at Georgia Tech or other places have time for other activities besides studying all the time?  Love to hear what you have to say.

[Anonymous]

Is he signing up for peer tutoring at the beginning of the semester?

Can you have him take a summer school class each summer and lighten his load one class during the year (maybe plan to add in an extra semester as well?)

Does he still like his CS major?

[Anonymous]

My son loves college because he is only in class half the time he was in high school so he has a lot more time to get his work done. He's not a CS major though. He's a business major. Maybe your kid needs tutoring. Have him ask his advisor about it.

[Anonymous]

I have no idea. They handle it. One of my kids was majoring in chem and minoring in music. Another majored in legal studies and minored in creative writing.

No, college kids don't have as much time to "play" as they did in high school. This should not be a shock to a college student or their parent.

[Anonymous]

My DS is at a different school in a different major, but he took 17 credits this semester and is extremely busy. He gets up at 7, works straight all day (between classes, studying, homework, projects).

He does homework and studying on the weekends both days.

He does have a social life, mostly at night and on the weekends, but not all day and not every night. He is in the dorms studying A LOT more than I remember doing that in college. He works really hard. He finds time for things but again, not a 5 hour round of golf.

If it's too much, I would have him transfer schools or switch majors if he wants, or power it out if he wants.

I offered to my DS to take a class in the summer to reduce the load but he likes the summer break. Maybe that would be an option at GA.

[Anonymous]

Really can't judge as my kids are not CS majors. My DS has a very well balanced life where he has a 4.0 and taking 17 credits each semester. He is in writing intensive classes as a humanities major and he has never had an issue. He is in a club sport and he joined a fraternity so he has had time to do all of that and keep his As.

My DD is a stem major and it is much different. She has to study and prepare for two of her classes pretty extensively. She was doing a club sport but recently quit due to the time commitment. She is also in a sorority and has a social life where she goes out on Thurs/Fri but then does work all weekend. She makes time for friends but her GPA is only just over a 3.0 so she is not managing it as successfully as she'd like.

Neither kid had any issues in HS, barely worked, even in all APs. It has been a challenge for my DD for sure, and one which she may change her major as a result. I hope she will keep the bigger picture in mind of what she wants to do for her career but it is alot of work and not such great grades and that has been a challenge for her.

[Anonymous]

Has he engaged with the student success center? If HS came easily to him, he may need some help in learning effective study skills and organization in addition to taking advantage of tutoring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea. They handle it. One of my kids was majoring in chem and minoring in music. Another majored in legal studies and minored in creative writing.

No, college kids don't have as much time to "play" as they did in high school. This should not be a shock to a college student or their parent.

Times have changed, I guess. I felt like I played way more in college than I did in high school. Probably that's because "regular life" felt more like playing -- for example, eating dinner in the college cafeteria with other kids my age felt more like playing than eating dinner at home with my parents during high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has he engaged with the student success center? If HS came easily to him, he may need some help in learning effective study skills and organization in addition to taking advantage of tutoring.

OP here. Yes, he did all that and he is still struggling.

[Anonymous]

DD is an eng major and D1 athlete. 3.9 GPA - they can do it.

Might need to take less classes a semester or get a tutor. Maybe bad study habits?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spring semester will be done in a few days and DS is really struggling with his freshman year at Geprge Tech majoring in Computer Science.  He takes 16 credits in Falls and Spring semester.  In HS, he spent about 2 1/2 hours a day studying so he had lot of times to play piano, guitar, and saxophone.  On weekends, he didn't study and spent most of his time with sports and music activities.  

At George Tech, he spends at least 50 hours outside of the classroom studying just to keep up, and he is still struggling.  He neither has time to date or any other activities, has not touched his guitar and saxphone in months.  He hasn't been to the golf course except during the Christmas break.  He even had to study during Spring break just to keep up.  He said that CS is so hard here.  He is barely keeping his head above water.  He is just now a shell of himself.  I am seriously considering of pulling him out GT so that he can attend somewhere else.  At this point, I don't know where.

How do people major in CS at Georgia Tech or other places have time for other activities besides studying all the time?  Love to hear what you have to say.

GA Tech CS is a very serious program: 50 hours would be on the slightly higher side compared to the average. If this feels much harder than HS, perhaps went to a not very intense HS?

Regardless, things should get better after his first year experience helps him catch up with his peers. If this look just as tough/bad at the end of this coming Fall or the end of sophomore year, he might consider a move to a less intense program.

This said, CS is tough. GA Tech ranks very much and the nature (type) of work in CS (coding, debugging etc) is not for everyone.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like his high school may have underprepared him so he's playing catch up. I attended an engineering school and freshman year really showed who had attended a rigorous high school. Those kids had it easy because they already knew more of the content. That changed sophomore year when you saw more of aptitude. The kids who worked hard and were smart excelled. Those who just had a leg up based on prior preparation peaked and sunk toward the middle.

(The other option is he relied on his AP credits to test into harder math or other courses and that was a mistake. He should be taking the normal freshman sequence.)

[Anonymous]

Does he have good study groups? Those really really help.

[Anonymous]

Wow that sounds awful op. And all the parents just like oh he should be able to handle it - what the heck? My college experience wasn’t like this at all, and the college experience of my peers and siblings. My sister was a chem major so was definitely quite busy, much busier than me - I recall that. But she was still in a sorority and able to have a social life. If you say your son is a shell of himself it doesn’t sound worth it. I don’t have good advice but just wanted to empathize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow that sounds awful op. And all the parents just like oh he should be able to handle it - what the heck? My college experience wasn’t like this at all, and the college experience of my peers and siblings. My sister was a chem major so was definitely quite busy, much busier than me - I recall that. But she was still in a sorority and able to have a social life. If you say your son is a shell of himself it doesn’t sound worth it. I don’t have good advice but just wanted to empathize.

PP here. Sorry if I came across as un empathetic. Not intentional. Just that egg school, especially CS at GA Tech, can be a great leveler. As another poster mentioned the first year reveals differences in pre-college school prep. After the first year, it is a more even field. As to whether this is worth it or not, very hard to say. Except that OP's kid may have more of a feel for this than anyone else. I suppose, he could not be faulted for wanting to continue. Or for getting out. He will do fine either way.