rocky start to freshman year or typical?

[Anonymous]

That B sounds pretty troubling to me. Have you called or emailed the professor yet?

[Anonymous]

My first semester of Freshman year would have looked like that, but for the fact that I took Calc pass/fail. One thing I noticed was that, in college, Calc tests stressed how you set up the problem more than whether you could do the calculation. And tests had fewer but longer problems, so if you couldn't figure out what you were supposed to be doing on even one problem, your grade instantly plummeted. Big transition from HS for me and it took a midterm to even alert me to fact that they were testing different things. Homework had been similar to what I'd done in HS -- learn a technique and practice it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That B sounds pretty troubling to me. Have you called or emailed the professor yet?

Ignore this poster. S/he's preying on your fears, mocking you, and/or batshit crazy.

[Anonymous]

The Op should not have these fears. Agree, Op is too involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That B sounds pretty troubling to me. Have you called or emailed the professor yet?

OP here, not in my plans b or purview. Lol. I will stress from home and on dcum for now

[Anonymous]

These are fine grades, and the B in calculus means nothing. My goodness if everyone changed majors on the basis of receiving one B, no one would ever finish a difficult major. Relax, OP. Let your college student figure things out on his own.

[Anonymous]

That's not a rocky start. It sounds like a pretty good start, IMO. It's hard to believe but your child may earn an occasional B. The world continues to turn and the sun continues to rise.

[Anonymous]

Op here, just a bit concerned about dc losing the merit money as I am full pay otherwise...

[Anonymous]

Try not to stress or to stress your kid. They won't take merit away on those grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC is at a pretty selective school, 3 As or A minuses but struggling to get beyond a B in Calculus. Has 5 more maths classes for this major...is this a bad start, an indication to redirect?

Are you kidding us with this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My oldest was a straight A student in a rigorous high school, but his first couple of semesters in a top 10 college included a couple of bs and even a C+. He's now successfully employed as a bioengineering consultant and headed to a PhD program. Your DS will likely be just fine. College is usually harder than high school. It's an adjustment.

Yes. I went to a strong slac and had top grade in high school, heavy IB and AP load junior and senior year. However, so many schools (especially publics) do ridiculous grade weighting that can alter a kids perspective. When a B+ in AP history because a 100 on your hs transcript and then you get slapped by the intensity of a real college workload it can be a bit of an adjustment!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here, just a bit concerned about dc losing the merit money as I am full pay otherwise...

I will remember this when weighing state school v. Expensive school with merit aid. I don't want that kind of pressure on my kid. I think your kid should be the one to wonder what major is best, not you. It's his life now. Calculus is hard. Did he have calc in HS? I wouldn't worry.