Dropping out of engineering

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s an old joke from my undergrad days: In the limit as GPA -> 0 (Engineering) = Business.

Still holds true

Signed, Parent of a Business Major who was joined by many engineering majors

[Anonymous]

Is your child hooked by URM or geo diversity?

If so, he needs to slow down now before it's too late. Retake classes or take less accelerated classes, are pad with electives that overlap with classes already taken. It's much better to take a 5th or 6th year to graduate with a solid education, then too stumble through 4 years and fail at the end.

Your son's classmates did a year or two of college in high school. Yours didn't, and that's okay. Now is the time to do that work, not try to skip it.

[Anonymous]

Which school it is matters. For some schools the median grade is A-. For others it's lower.

[Anonymous]

The biggest thing I'd worry about is whether he has a solid understanding of both calc and physics, as those subjects are super important to later classes. It all builds, so a C- is fine, unless it means he doesn't have the skills he needs to understand and pass the classes next year.

The best way to improve is to do tons and tons of problems. Then do some more.

[Anonymous]

Don't read too much into the civil liberties course. It's an intro level distribution elective; not meant to push students hard like their major courses.

[Anonymous]

Be more specific. Which Chem and Physics and Calc classes? Colleges have multiple entry points into these subjects. The general pattern is like this (numbers vary):

Subject 1, 2, 101, 102, 110, 201, 202, 210
1,2 are remedial high school "principles" classes.
101, 102 are intro college / AP.
110 is 101 + intensified enrichment, or accelerate 101+102.
210 is similar for the next level.

[Anonymous]

I'd let him stick with it for at least another year.

You don't need a graduate degree in engineering to have a good career. Even with a lower GPA with good work experience he can get into a decent master's program a few years after graduating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't read too much into the civil liberties course. It's an intro level distribution elective; not meant to push students hard like their major courses.

Ohhh, must be Princeton we're discussing here.

[Anonymous]

It is his call. His future.

I recommend that he discuss this with a faculty advisor with expertise in engineering (and years of experience mentoring aspiring engineers).

Your role is expressing support. He is working hard and needs to know you have faith in him and his ability to build a successful future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is your child hooked by URM or geo diversity?

If so, he needs to slow down now before it's too late. Retake classes or take less accelerated classes, are pad with electives that overlap with classes already taken. It's much better to take a 5th or 6th year to graduate with a solid education, then too stumble through 4 years and fail at the end.

Your son's classmates did a year or two of college in high school. Yours didn't, and that's okay. Now is the time to do that work, not try to skip it.

Agree with this. I don't agree with those being completely fine about this. It's concerning both because 1)he isn't mastering the material--which in this case is actually incredibly important for subsequent classes and even work (this aren't history courses) AND 2)the engineering job/internship world right now is not forgiving of GPAs under 3.0. Just because he has not completely failed out into an easier major (and some kids in his cohort have) does not mean his path will be easy. And the engineering world (let's say Boeing) does not worship HYP at all like DCUM does. The marquee employers will have plenty of kids applying with high GPAs from state schools with outstanding engineering programs AND also from his own HYP. It's not easy to get a good internship or job in 2023. I'm not saying it's impossible but it's not a guarantee at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is your child hooked by URM or geo diversity?

If so, he needs to slow down now before it's too late. Retake classes or take less accelerated classes, are pad with electives that overlap with classes already taken. It's much better to take a 5th or 6th year to graduate with a solid education, then too stumble through 4 years and fail at the end.

Your son's classmates did a year or two of college in high school. Yours didn't, and that's okay. Now is the time to do that work, not try to skip it.

No normal family can afford two extra years at an Ivy. That's a huge cost.

As an alternative, he could retake or preview classes online or at a CC over the summer, not for credit. Basically, give himself extra practice or a preview of the material. He needs to have a solid understanding of the fundamentals or he'll crash and burn in the classes to come.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t be an idiot. Don’t discourage him from pursuing engineering

He wants to build airplanes — this isn’t Big Tech money, and will they let C students work on planes??

The answer is: not really, but kind of.

I went to grad school with an undergrad 2.7 from an Ivy because I was in a science (not engineering) major that I sucked at. A curve is a curve and you can’t fight it- my gpa in my non-major classes was a 3.8 but I was stubborn and had crazy parental pressure.

I do not recommend this path! It took several years of entry-level work and some major hustle and post-bac courses that I couldn’t afford to prove myself worthy of grad school.

But: I worked in literal airplane factories after grad school and was in charge of engineers, which is all the fun with none of the engineering angst.

Go for a liberal arts degree and pick up a project management certificate after graduation. Or consider a few accounting or economics or pre-law classes and he can work his way into procurement or HR. Post-bac business classes are a good way to round out an Ivy degree if you plan to compete against people with BBAs.

Check the Boeing job listings and see what degrees they require for post-undergrad opportunities, and also consider a long-term plan of law school or an MBA. I worked with a lot of lawyers in the airline industry and there are some great opportunities in MBA rotational programs at airlines, too. Airline people love to talk to fellow plane nerds. I’ve left the industry or else I’d be offering a burner email. Reach out to early career people on LinkedIn and ask to chat- 90% will say yes!

+100

I lose my faith in this hellsite and then there's a post as helpful as this.

[Anonymous]

Engineering students mantra: “Cs get degrees”

It’s hard.

[Anonymous]

Agree that long post is a good one.

I think the other piece is "whether" he will be allowed to continue if grades worsen. Some colleges use probation or toss the kids from engineering if their grades are not at X level.

If that is the case at this school, then I think that is a serious factor to consider. Yes he can do a liberal arts degree and augment - but what if he switched to a school that did not weed out as much and could graduate with a degree in engineering?

[Anonymous]

I was worried about my kid's grades at a top public and found a Reddit thread that eased my fears because it said the average male graduated with a 3.0 in computer engineering from the school, which they learned from their FOIA request.

The math curve has been a D+ and kids routinely flunk classes.