Anonymous wrote:Some engineering schools have an intentional system to admit more freshmen students than they have space for juniors. At such schools, students sometimes do behave in a cut throat manner. There are specific harshly graded weed-out courses at such E Schools. E School courses are almost always graded in a curve.
Other engineering schools (arbitrary example: UVa Engineering, which is both smaller and lower ranked in engineering than UMCP or VPI) plan to keep all their students. UVa Engineering Dean said on the 1st day of Fall semester that everyone admitted was capable of graduating - and they meant it. Doing so required diligence, perseverance, and camping out at faculty office hours for some students. Not everyone had a high GPA when they graduated in Engineering, but everyone had a job.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply - this may help explain what DS is hearing from his friends who are a few years older. I guess I was not viewing it as intentional weed out classes - but seems that may be the case. DA said that his friends said that the first year engineering classes at his friends schools were all graded on a curve and that the collaboration is just not there - it is everyone for themselves.
Thanks to the others who replied as well - seems that it may just be his friends are at less collaborative schools and DS needs to find the right fit, and my personal viewpoint of knowing a few females whose personal experience were toxic may be outliers.