Schools specific to Engineering

Parents Forum
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<p>Some general questions to a specific situation:

  1. If school transcripts do not show classes that were not successful, as is “NR”, isn’t that deceiving if your transcripts are requested by an employer or another school?
  2. If you attend a specialized engineering school, have you ever tried to transfer your credits to another school (especially if the school you attended was on a quarter system).
  3. If you spend over $50,000 in an academic year on tuition alone, don’t you then feel a financial obligation to continue your education at the school where you have so much invested? Especially if you will lose credits transferring? It is my opinion but it would seem a student may find themselves trapped at a school that is not a good fit, given these circumstances.
  4. Therefore; does the NR that is not figured into GPA encourage students/parents to continue their education at an engineering school, even though the school may not have been a good fit for the student after the first or second year? As a parent, would you encourage your student to stay, if you invested significant money into an education that often does not transfer to another school?</p>
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<p>This sounds like my D’s school. My D’s school does the NR thing, and it is an engineering school. Their requirements for maintaining successful academic progress is successfully completing a certain number of classes at the end of 2 consecutive terms.</p>

<p>If she received an NR, I would seriously reconsider her choice of major and school. At a minimum, I would have a long discussion with her regarding the reasons for the NR. At the parent orientation, the president said that key to success were to: Go to class, do the work, and ask for help.</p>

<p>I would make sure she did made an attempt to be successful. The school offers many resources, and does not want to see student’s fail. I may let her go own more term, but would need to seriously re-evaluate her decisions. She did tell me that she personally knew 5 kids who “NR’ed” Calc 3.</p>

<p>The school may not be for your kid. Transferring to a non-engineering school may be a better choice, if they are truly struggling with the work.</p>

3

<p>What is “NR”??</p>

4

<p>NR is “No Record”, which basically means that the student received less than a C in a class, and it does not show up on the transcript, nor does it get calculated into the GPA, until the student passes the class.</p>

5

<p>Ah, thanks. I am happy to say, as the parent of 2 engineers, that I am not familiar with that term :D</p>

6

<p>Interesting that 5 students NR’ed in a Calc 3 class, gsmomma. That is a high percentage for an engineering school in my opinion. Given that calc 3 is a requirement, not a gen ed, this raises the question: </p>

<p>If the said school truly does not want the students to fail, why would 5 students NR a class that is a requirement for graduation? Were they unable to understand the professor?
Is the professor currently working on research/projects that precludes the professors availability to those 5 students? Do the students have test anxiety? Was the professor able to provide any one-on-one assistance?
At what point did the students NR? At the end of the class? If so, why would the professor not take the students aside to see what might be done to help the students pass the class? It would be in the professors best interest, in my opinion, to have a higher percentage of students pass. </p>

<p>Here is an interesting exercise: If the students who NR’ed truly tried and subsequently failed, if it were me personally, I would be devastated. The question: How would a parent know, especially if the student felt that this was too hard to reveal to their parent?</p>

<p>If this happened to your D, though you seem very involved in her education, gsmomma, it is possible as a parent, you (or other parents) may never know due to HIPPA law and that the NR is not on any official transcripts.
Thus, returning to my question: </p>

<p>Is this an ethical practice in the opinion of parents, employers and schools that request the students official transcript? The GPA may not be reflective of a students true standing or struggles. </p>

<p>In addition, as part of my question:
I would also be interested in hearing from parents who have put a significant amount of money into their student’s education and for reasons beyond their control (and there can be many, such as the students develops an illness, death in immediate family, etc.). </p>

<p>The student needs to transfer; however, the credits at the school do not transfer to other schools (due to quarter system, class is not recognized by other schools as part of their graduation requirement, specific gen ed classes required at most schools are not part of the curriculumn at the engineering school, etc). What do you do? Are you willing to lose over $50,000 a year plus the books, housing, etc to start over? What if similar circumstances occurred further into a student’s education? </p>

<p>These are merely scenarios to consider. Your opinion is most welcome.</p>

7

<p>I will PM you.</p>

8

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<p>5 out of how big a class? 5 out of 10 would be a concern about either the school or the preparedness of the students attending the school. 5 out of 500, well, 99% pass rate isn’t too bad.</p>

<p>As far as what it looks like on transcripts, the student’s transcript will show fewer courses completed in the term when NRs were earned.</p>

<p>As far as transferring credit, if the school is regionally accredited, it is likely that the courses in common subjects like math, physics, English, etc. will transfer. Quarter versus semester system means that a quarter course is typically 2/3 of a semester course, with 2/3 the credit (but you take 3/2 the number of courses in an academic year). This could result in some issues with partial course equivalency (e.g. 2 quarters of freshman calculus transferred to a semester school could require taking a partial repeat of second semester freshman calculus).</p>

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<p>Most freshmen at her school start out with Calc3, due to AP credits. There are 1000 freshmen, so I would assume that it was 5 out of 500 or so. And, the 5 were kids that she personally knew, so there were more than 5 who received an NR, even though she does know many kids. D passed the class :)</p>

10

<p>Your question is a little vague, but I would probably consider the $50K as a sunk cost and have the kid start over somewhere else. This is far preferable to sinking another $150K into a degree that may not be completed, and may not be in a field where the student can succeed after college.</p>

<p>There may also be a limited selection of other majors at the engineering school. For example, RPI has a communications and electronic media majors, business, economics, sciences, and some others.</p>

11

<p>I am not a fan of NR. As a kid, I would not apply to those schools and I would discourage my own kids if they should happen to consider those schools.</p>