Had a rough first semester in Engineering

College Life
1

I am currently a freshman studying engineering at University of Pittsburgh, and I had a rough academic first semester.

My cumulative average was about a 2.5, with two C’s (Physics, Calc), a B- (Chem) and a B+ (Engineering). I am still very interested in engineering, and I don’t see myself switching out of the major anytime soon. Like many first time college students, I excelled (for the most part) in high school without having really had to try, and for the first couple of weeks, my study habits did not change at all. However, I was also a walk-on varsity athlete for the school (diving), and I really enjoyed it, even though it took up a lot of my time. Sadly, however, I got injured the second month into the year, and was forced to stop diving. I was upset that I couldn’t train and compete and became slightly depressed for a while, and this was reflected in my grades. A month later, I began to snap out of it, and I realized it was more of a blessing that I wasn’t playing a D1 sport anymore, as I could concentrate on my studies and making friends. By the time finals rolled around, I had brought my grades up and I had studied harder than I ever had for my finals (with a decent performance). My goal next semester is a 3.0 (bare min), which would allow me to keep my academic scholarship, but a 3.5 would allow me to be qualified for an internship I am applying for over the summer.

I know what I have to do to realize my goal, including having a talk with my advisor about studying habits/ways, going to office hours more frequently, and being more than just present at class. Is there anything else that I should work on/do to allow me to reach my goal? Any thoughts? Thank you!

2

You have a nice list of methods to try to improve your situation. To reach your goal you will have to actually put your list into action, not just for a day or a week or a month, but on a steady ongoing basis for the entire term. Your first semester was rough, but you passed well enough and you learned from all of the ups and downs, and by the end you saw gains. Welcome to adulthood.

In other words, now that you have a plan…JUST DO IT!

3

Thank you! I will @NorthernMom61

4

Seems like your experience is very typical for engineering students who were top in their high schools. Good luck from here going forward.

5

What about taking a lighter load or some class that you think will be easy for you next semester?

6

Engineering GPAs are typically a little lower than average, you’re not out of the running yet.

Your mistake was taking too many demanding classes in one semester. Into science and eng classes are very demanding time wise. They are weeder classes.

What you should have done/should do in the future is to take two of the sci/eng classes and then two easier gen eds to balance it out, or just lighten the load in general.

7

  1. Go to Professor’s office hours early in the semester. Ask this question: “I know this is a really difficult class-- what are some of the common mistakes students make and how can I avoid them?”

  2. If you have problems with the homework, go to Prof’s office hours. If they have any “help sessions” or “study sessions” or “recitations” or any thing extra, go to them.

  3. Form a study group with other kids in your dorm/class.

  4. Don’t do the minimum…for STEM classes do extra problems. You can buy books that just have problems for calculus or physics or whatever. Watch videos on line about the topic you are studying.

  5. Go to the writing center if you need help with papers/math center for math problems (if they have them)

  6. If things still are not going well, get a tutor.

  7. Read this book: How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport. It helps you with things like time management and how to figure out what to write about for a paper, etc.

8

A few things.

  1. Don’t have a goal to have a 3.0. Have a goal to master the material well enough to get an A in each class. That’s your goal. You will in all likelihood fall short - most of us do - but if you want this to be your profession, your goal needs to be excellence. That’s definitely the attitude you want to have. This will cause you to aggressively try to learn the material.

  2. If you are a ChemE, be very careful. Pittsburgh has this integrated program that seems like it would make it very difficult to transfer courses if you were ever to change your mind. I don’t know about the other departments.

9

The OP needs a much higher GPA this semester to bring the cumulative GPA to 3.0 – needs a 3.5 this semester if taking the same number of graded credits as last semester’s 2.5, or a higher GPA if taking fewer graded credits this semester.