I’m interested in engineering at UIUC or UMich and I feel extremely underprepared. My school is extremely small and I feel that the courses have not prepared me for a future in college. I have taken only 3 AP classes (of what my school offers) one being AP Statistics, which is as close as I could get to an AP math course. My physics and chemistry classes weren’t that stimulating and I haven’t learned a lot in class. I’m so scared for college and don’t want to drop out/ switch majors because it’s too challenging. Did anyone else feel this way in a STEM major? I have heard a lot about the challenging workload and I feel so scared about college. Help!
Most schools have tons of resources available – office hours, study groups, tutoring. And then there’s the stuff you can find online, like Khan Academy or PatrickJMT or Paul’s Math Notes.
If you dedicate yourself to your studies (no “I don’t do homework on weekends” or “I looked over my notes, so that’s enough studying” or whatever – those people fail out) then it should be totally doable. Hit the ground running and be prepared to work hard.
Good luck!!
Have you taken Calculus, even if not AP Calc?
Have you taken Pre-calc?
How are your grades?
Do you have a Community College nearby that you can take Dual Enrollment courses in?
If not, remember that Colleges start Engineering courses with Calc 1 and Physics and Chemistry.
You can start with those classes and the curriculum assumes you will.
What you have to be aware of (which you are) is that you may not have the background that other students do.
You also may not realize that your study skills that may have worked for you in HS may not be robust enough to work for you in College.
But not to worry, colleges have many many resources to help you when you need extra help. Don’t feel like a “loser” if you have to use them…the only loser is someone who fails but didn’t take advantage of the tools that the college provides.
So to do well, consider the following:
-
GO TO CLASS, BUY THE BOOK, READ THE CHAPTERS, AND DO THE HOMEWORK!
-
Go to Professor’s office hours and 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?”
-
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.
-
Form a study group with other kids in your dorm/class.
-
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 (e.g., Khan Academy) on line about the topic you are studying.
-
Go to the writing center if you need help with papers/math center for math problems (if they have them)
-
If things still are not going well, get a tutor.
-
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.
-
If you feel you need to withdraw from a class, talk to your advisor as to which one might be the best …you may do better when you have less classes to focus on. But some classes may be pre-reqs and will mess your sequence of classes up.
-
For your tests, can you evaluate what went wrong? Did you never read that topic? Did you not do the homework for it? Do you kind of remember it but forgot what to do? Then next time change the way you study…there may be a study skill center at your college.
-
How much time outside of class do you spend studying/doing homework? It is generally expected that for each hour in class, you spend 2-3 outside doing homework. Treat this like a full time job.
-
At first, don’t spend too much time other things rather than school work. (sports, partying, rushing fraternities/sororities, video gaming etc etc)
-
If you run into any social/health/family troubles (you are sick, your parents are sick, someone died, broke up with boy/girlfriend, suddenly depressed/anxiety etcetc) then immediately go to the counseling center and talk to them. Talk to the dean of students about coordinating your classes…e.g. sometimes you can take a medical withdrawal. Or you could withdraw from a particular class to free up tim for the others.Sometimes you can take an incomplete if you are doing well and mostly finished the semester and suddenly get pneumonia/in a car accident (happened to me)…you can heal and take the final first thing the next semester. But talk to your adviser about that too.
-
At the beginning of the semester, read the syllabus for each class. It tells you what you will be doing and when tests/HW/papers are due. Put all of that in your calendar. The professor may remind you of things, but it is all there for you to see so take initiative and look at it.
-
Make sure you understand how to use your online class system…Login to it, read what there is for your classes, know how to upload assignments (if that is what the prof wants).
-
If you get an assignment…make sure to read the instructions and do all the tasks on the assignment. Look at the rubric and make sure you have covered everything.
-
If you are not sure what to do, go EARLY to the professors office hours…not the day before the assignment is due.
-
If you have taken a test and it hasn’t gone well…don’t keep studying the same way. Change what you are doing. Talk to a TA, the Prof, a classmate about other methods of studying.
You might think that this is all completely obvious, but I have read many stories on this website where people did not do the above and then are asking for help on academic appeal letters.
Bopper,
So to do well, consider the following:
-
GO TO CLASS, BUY THE BOOK, READ THE CHAPTERS, AND DO THE HOMEWORK!
-
Go to Professor’s office hours and 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?”
-
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.
-
Form a study group with other kids in your dorm/class.
-
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 (e.g., Khan Academy) on line about the topic you are studying.
-
Go to the writing center if you need help with papers/math center for math problems (if they have them)
-
If things still are not going well, get a tutor.
-
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.
-
If you feel you need to withdraw from a class, talk to your advisor as to which one might be the best …you may do better when you have less classes to focus on. But some classes may be pre-reqs and will mess your sequence of classes up.
-
For your tests, can you evaluate what went wrong? Did you never read that topic? Did you not do the homework for it? Do you kind of remember it but forgot what to do? Then next time change the way you study…there may be a study skill center at your college.
-
How much time outside of class do you spend studying/doing homework? It is generally expected that for each hour in class, you spend 2-3 outside doing homework. Treat this like a full time job.
-
At first, don’t spend too much time other things rather than school work. (sports, partying, rushing fraternities/sororities, video gaming etc etc)
-
If you run into any social/health/family troubles (you are sick, your parents are sick, someone died, broke up with boy/girlfriend, suddenly depressed/anxiety etcetc) then immediately go to the counseling center and talk to them. Talk to the dean of students about coordinating your classes…e.g. sometimes you can take a medical withdrawal. Or you could withdraw from a particular class to free up tim for the others.Sometimes you can take an incomplete if you are doing well and mostly finished the semester and suddenly get pneumonia/in a car accident (happened to me)…you can heal and take the final first thing the next semester. But talk to your adviser about that too.
-
At the beginning of the semester, read the syllabus for each class. It tells you what you will be doing and when tests/HW/papers are due. Put all of that in your calendar. The professor may remind you of things, but it is all there for you to see so take initiative and look at it.
-
Make sure you understand how to use your online class system…Login to it, read what there is for your classes, know how to upload assignments (if that is what the prof wants).
-
If you get an assignment…make sure to read the instructions and do all the tasks on the assignment. Look at the rubric and make sure you have covered everything.
-
If you are not sure what to do, go EARLY to the professors office hours…not the day before the assignment is due.
-
If you have taken a test and it hasn’t gone well…don’t keep studying the same way. Change what you are doing. Talk to a TA, the Prof, a classmate about other methods of studying.
@NASA2014 Y U repeat me?
I didn’t know you did it first. sorry
Sometimes is also good to see it twice.
lol
As @bopper said in the top of their post, colleges do not design their curriculum around people who have a zillion AP classes under their belts. One of the measures of how good a school is is their graduation rate; the school wants to keep that number up, so they will most likely offer you every chance to succeed. Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to start at the beginning, and follow the great advice already listed. I’d be more worried if you thought college would be a piece of cake. It’s supposed to be hard, but not impossible.