<p>I’m a freshman who took principles of econ with professor klepper. I went in knowing it’d be difficult and ended up with a C. …Am I screwed 
?
a C on my first semester trasncript in college…</p>
<p>Sadly-- and with all due respect to how bright you probably are…this will not be your last “C” at CMU.</p>
<p>Cs happen-- the average GPA at CMU is a 3.1!</p>
<p>That’s alot of Cs and even Ds…yep those happen too.</p>
<p>As long as your parents aren’t freaking out-- just examine what you did and how you’ll change it next time-- time management, note taking, test anxiety, etc…plan on adjustments and use academic support services - it’s hard to make changes on your own.</p>
<p>A C at CMU is worth more to an employer than Bs and As at much less ranked schools. </p>
<p>You’re not screwed-- but you need an A for every C to get back to a 3.0 average.</p>
<p>Everyone knows Klepper’s reputation on campus for being hard as *&^%, and that’s all that really matters. Employers aren’t going to be like “MY WORD, JEEVES, A SINGLE C FRESHMAN YEAR? WE MUST NOT HIRE THIS CHAP.” So you probably don’t have much to worry about.</p>
<p>obviously a higher grade would’ve been nice, but realistically you shouldn’t sweat it.</p>
<p>If you’re above a 3.0 you’re in good shape to land interviews graduating cmu. If you’re above a 3.5 you’re in better shape to get noticed for internships as an underclassman.</p>
<p>My best advice is to try and take stock of what caused the C. Sometimes the blanket “my teacher’s just a $#%@” holds, but if you can better pinpoint the problem, you may find it really helpful. Ask yourself did you go out a little too often on the weekend? during the week? who did you study with? where did you study? If the problem was more along the lines of you never getting the grade you thought you deserved, did you ever talk about your concerns with the TAs? with the professor?</p>
<p>C’s won’t kill you, but I’d urge you not to be happy with them. Because then you’ll get F’s :P</p>
<p>BCO
I hear you about letting Cs slip to Fs…
I started strong, got sidetracked by my language class and went to a P/F option --.
By mid semester my classes had become Bs I was just hanging onto and one still a possible A.
By Thanksgiving-- I had some solid Cs and was hoping I could do well enough on the finals to bring it back to a low B.
I totally blew my finals – so far I have two grades posted - both Cs and the rest of my grades aren’t even up yet.<br>
All I can see is that I probably needed much more time all around on everything. Thankfully with my precollege 4.0, I have some upward pull on the overall GPA, but I’m think I’m going to be a bit under a 3.0. I got two phone interviews for summer internships–I doubt this will be good once they ask about my first semester.
With 251 ahead-- I don’t know what I’m going to do about my GPA next semester.
If I got a C in Concepts, what’s my best hope for 251?!</p>
<p>Well, I’ll not take economics with klepper!</p>
<p>first semester… i got C in econ and high C in concepts : (
i had B in concept until the final exam… <em>sigh</em></p>
<p>I can imagine it’s terribly disappointing to get Cs -especially since it’s unlikely you had any or few of those in high school.</p>
<p>Just keep your chin up-- but do use this as an opportunity to make a plan and follow through on “behaviors” and “habits” you don’t want to set it as you start your second semester.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth CC_0214 and CMUGuy-my S checked his grades this morning–he also got a “C” in concepts. He said he was on the C/B border going into the final. He also said he will never take a class with Mihai again and thinks she shouldn’t even be allowed to teach at CMU-- her accent is awful. Concepts is tough-- but it’s over!</p>
<p>Any upperclassmen can offer some inputs?? My roommate got a D in concepts. He was running a C before the final. I told him I was reading this thread on cc – so he asked me to get some anonymous info b/c emailing Jacobo seemed awful.
He’s wondering what happens next-- does he need to get on OLR now and change his courses or does OLR drop him automatically from taking 251 and 15-150 since Concepts was a pre-req with a C or better?</p>
<p>He got an A in English and Econ, a B in 15122, and a C in Physics and a D in Concepts. At least he’s not on academic probation- but now he cannot take any more CS classes until he repeats 127.</p>
<p>Does he change his course selection now or wait until Jacobo emails?
He is so upset b/c he now is off a full semester to take all the next CS classes and everyone will know.
How many students does this happen to each Fall?</p>
<p>ehh. so concepts is definitely an important prereq. there’s really no shame in discussing it with jacobo, so your roommate should definitely contact him asap. This is especially important because he will be missing the pilot versions of the brand new courses, so he should basically just confirm that they’ll still be around the following semester. Yes he’ll be a semester “behind”, but honestly the CS curriculum doesn’t take more than 3 years to complete, so your roommate can still knock out other gen ed’s / minor reqs while he retakes concepts. He can still easily finish on time. It won’t be the case where “everybody knows” he’s behind. Nobody cares, frankly (and i mean that in a good way).</p>
<p>Back to concepts, it really is an essential class. 15-251 is MUCH harder than 21-127. It just is. Von Ahn will make sure of that. You need to understand mathematical proofs very well to succeed, and as hard as it is to prepare, concepts is the best way to do so. If you “just made it” through concepts, I strongly encourage you to continue studying from the book over break. As dry as it may be, it is well written and the examples are very good. Don’t kill yourself (you’ll need a lot of motivation going into the spring), but work through problems and try your best to make sense of topics that didn’t click this semester.</p>
<p>good luck! i’ll be around to post a bit more regularly now that O.S. is done :P</p>
<p>What percentage of CS students earn Ds and Cs in Concepts? Does this extend to 251 – so that’s a repeat course as well for so many as well?</p>
<p>CMUGUY-- since there are so many pilots with the new curriculum and to stay in sync with his peers, is it possible that your roommate could ask Jacobo if he can retake 127 while taking 150 concurrently? That might be possible if 127 material really isn’t essential to 150? It is a pilot class.
Or perhaps BCO can comment-- is OLR automatically drop students from previously registered classes if they no longer have the pre-req that was in progress?</p>
<p>Best of luck to your roommate CMUGUY.</p>
<p>im not a cs major but i have to take 251 later on as a required class for my major (cant take it in spring due to scheduling conflict-- THANK GOD!). How is the FALL SEMESTER 251? Is it a different teacher?</p>
<p>prereqs are not set in stone. for example, i have a friend who had to drop 15-213 last year, but she still took graphics this fall (which requires a C in 213). Advisors have magic buttons that can do lots of things, but they’ll only use them if you make a good case.</p>
<p>I have no clue of the percentage earning Cs / Ds in concepts. My group of friends last year was almost entirely As / Bs, but I knew of a few who struggled. </p>
<p>In my experience, I went from an A in concepts to a B in 251. A C isn’t out of reach in 251… nor is a B really. Basically, the way it goes is the homeworks are HUGE time sinks, but very doable for a good grade if you’re careful, and the tests are next to impossible. Homeworks are worth a large enough portion of the grade that if you nail those, failing test grades are not necessarily nails in the coffin.</p>
<p>Here’s the final email from last spring, in case you’re interested:
</p>
<p>Getting a C in Kleppernomics isn’t the biggest deal.</p>
<p>As for the roommate who got a D in concepts, getting the pre-req is pretty important. Von-Ahn probably won’t be teaching 251 in the Fall (though that doesn’t mean it’ll be easy), so if he squeaks by in Spring concepts, he can take a run a 251 in the fall.</p>
<p>Also, as far as people getting D’s in Concepts, it is not very many as most of those who would have received D’s drop the course.</p>
<p>DS got his first B, ever, in Econ. I believe it was macro. He almost was able to AP out of this course. Established the lowend benchmark for him. </p>
<p>Personally glad that he finally got a "B’. He gets a couple more. </p>
<p>7 semesters to go. You’re out of bootcamp now.
:)</p>
<p>As excited as I was about taking 251 with VAhn, reality is I’m actually now petrified that I’ll get a D.
I was thinking maybe I’ll put it off until Fall with the other person who teaches the class.</p>
<p>Any insights? Doesn’t look like I need it as a pre-req for 210, 213 etc.</p>
<p>I got a low C in concepts and thinking maybe 251 not such a good idea yet for me.</p>
<p>Will I learn enough with the other prof in the fall? Will I still be on schedule to take electives in CS if I wait to take 251?</p>
<p>bump</p>
<p>Any thoughts</p>