Reply to Engineering schools that won’t crush my child’s soul

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Engineering schools that won’t crush my child’s soul"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My 2.7/4.0 undergrad engineering degree from a lower ranked engineering program has never held me back careerwise. I can and do solve real problems on the job, and that is what matters. On the job is always "open book", unlike [b]the academic tests of memorization[/b]. [/quote]

Yup, you definitely went to a lower ranked program. Higher ranked programs teach their students to solve problems they've never seen before, so they can graduate and solve problems that no one has seen or solved before.[/quote]

YES. This is the key to top schools, whether it be Engineering or other stem: They teach how to problem solve and they do it by having difficult psets and exams such that 1/3 + of the questions require detailed application of knowledge and understanding of material beyond the scope of the course. Current research problems that have no answer could be on them. The high score could be 78% correct and the professor could say well that is a record high for this exam, and brag about trying to stump them even more next time.  It is not MIT alone that does this. 
Cornell, Stanford, Penn, Princeton, CMU, JHU, Harvard, and 3-4 more are known for this type of rigor in Engineering courses. 
No these are not "soul crushing" environments OP, [b]they are invigorating! [/b]Because essentially all students accepted to the E programs are top students, there is not "weedout": the median score of 60% correct will be a B+. The kid with the 78% gets an A as does the rest of the top 1/4 or so, then A-. Very few get Cs for the semester grade, even if they were well below median (B-/C+)on one exam they seek help and improve. The professors want them to improve. Grad TAs help everyone too: these are phD students who have been accepted to these top departments; all had 3.9+ in their undergrad or they would not be at a top school for phD. Undergrad learning assistants who took the course previously are invited to assist because they were top 1-2 students, and are quite helpful, contributing to the collaborative nature of these programs. The students work extremely hard and are challenged; the pressure is lessened by the fact that it is rare to get a C for the semester and 30-40% get A- or A. [/quote]

It’s definitely hard, but many of the kids at the top schools love a challenge.

It’s only “soul crushing” for kids who aren’t extremely driven or are in engineering for the wrong reasons.

If OP’s kid is at a TJ-caliber school then he may want the peer group and the challenge that a top school provides. I wouldn’t eliminate any schools at this point in the search.

[/quote]

Here we have a cautionary tale on why it’s important to avoid soul crushing schools and people! [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics