kwtortoise

My smaller private school for engineering seems to have less busy work than I hear of. A lot of the upper level classes have homework optional, or a shorter assignment due every week than the amount of problems you *should* be doing. I don't think this makes it any easier though. I think it's because most of the professors don't have TAs, and actually grade the homework themselves--you get their comments on the homework.

That said, I have managed my time so I've never pulled all-nighters in college, and there were only a handful of late nights or early mornings!

mo24

I went to an "open house" visit to an engineering college I was considering, and an admissions officer there claimed that for every 1 hour of class taken, 2-3 hours of studying would be required. I take that to mean that in a 15hr credit week, 30-45hrs additional time must be spent studying. I really found that hard to believe.

Aside from manual homework such as reading a lengthy book excerpt, how could it be that difficult for everyone? The only way I could see it being that hard is if the professors tested you on material that was never covered in the classroom. Does that regularly happen? I almost never had to study for any high school courses I took, since I learned everything from class. For the most part, any studying that was done was to refresh the material in my mind before a test.

I saw a study recently that was conducted on the habits of college students. Mind you, this wasn't on engineering students in particular, but among all college students polled, they found that the average college student has a whopping 11 hours a day in free time. By free time, I mean time that is not spent in class, studying, or sleeping. When I attended high school, I believe the amount of free time I had was only about 5-6 hours on a week day, and it probably would have been less if I had spent the time studying that most people do.

pike

Is EE generally much harder than other engineering majors like civil, etc.? Or is the difference less noticeable? I mean in general like the difficulty of courses you have to take; obviously it would be slightly different for different people depending on strengths and interests.

red sox 7327

mo24, You will definitely have a lot of free time on some days. Your schedule will most likely revolve around your tests, so if one week you don't have any tests then you will most likely have a lot of free time on your hands. Some factors can impact this, mainly sports and work studies, but clubs likely will not unless you are heavily involved.

As far as 11 hours, that seems a little much but you will have your days when you don't have to do much at all. For example, on Wednesdays I have only an 8:30 class. If I don't have any tests on Thursday, I can usually get away with only doing my Physics problem set (about 2 hours) and then I have the rest of the day off (from noon until sleep). Other weeks I will be swamped though...

lil_killer129

11 hours of free time in college is hard to believe. If you sleep for 8 hours and have 11 hours of free time, you will be left with 5 hours. Now, let's assume you go to class for 2 hours/day (which is on the low end), you will be left with 3 hours. I'm assuming you will spend these 3 hours studying?

live-

The average college student is a B- business major at a 3rd-tier state school that parties 5 nights/week. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it's going to be different at any engineering school. You won't have 11 hours a day of free time and still be doing your best.

GatorEng23

11 hours of free time for the average college student is very believable. You guys are engineering majors, so it's unreal to you. I know guys who have one class Tuesday/Thursday (the rest are online courses), so they basically have the entire week off. The funny thing is that they often skip their only course. So even the 11 hours of free time is a generous underestimate for them.

Zorz

my roommate a biomedical sciences student, has a 178 hour a week free time. He as my roommate never went to one class, unless there was a test. never bought the books, never studied, didn't even review before tests. Guess what all A's. he has 76 credits has a 4,0 gpa and has never gone to class not even bought a book. He just plays world of warcraft and sleeps all day. Thats all he does. there was even a time about a month ago he didnt leave the dorm complex for 3 weeks, he went to get food and go to the bathroom. thats all.

GatorEng23

So your roommate had this knowledge planted into his head when he was a baby? Sorry, your story isn't possible.

Zorz

i wish what you said was true, he makes me feel like a dumb ass, but im not lying. I wish I was for my own sake but im not.

collegemom16

Did he hack into the school's grading system?

Ameechee

Wow 178 hours of free time a week. Amazing

Zorz

no he didint hack in and i hit 7 instead of 6.

Qwertz82

haha, i have an exact opposite story of what Zorz told. My friend's sister went to Stanford, and she said that while she was there, she met a friend who was an absolute genius. A few months into the school year, her friend gets hooked onto WoW, stops going to classes, and eventually flunks out.

kwtortoise

After I subtract sleeping, eating, shower, class time, work, club meetings, and studying...I probably have a few hours a day during the week free to be online, watch tv, etc. Weekends, it averages half my waking hours I'm not doing homework or projects.