<p>I am currently in my sophomore yr 3rd semester of college as an engineering major. Right now I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with my classes and I blame some of it on currently being on a sports team. I currently have to deal with two practices a day for cross country so my days are always 5am to at least 12am. Since I am only playing a sport at a D3 college it is not quite as rigorous and my college is a little unique since it is a military school, so missing practice is common for all members of the team. I am currently taking 20 credits containing:
Physics 2
Calculus 3
Material Science (complicated chem)
Statics (physics from hell)
physics lab
humanities
ship systems (Engineering class for refrigeration systems)</p>
<p>Right now I am hoping that I can pull off majority B-'s for all these classes, but right now I am struggling pretty badly. Last semester I also struggled with a couple classes and didnt have the greatest GPA afterwards.
My question is, Is it common for people to spend an extra semester or two retaking some classes to boost their GPA? (classes such as calc 2, history, misc 1 credit classes)</p>
<p>Maybe you need to reconsider your involvement in sports, taking 20 credits is no joke especially with the 20 credits you are taking. I think a fair number of students do end up taking 1 or 2 extra semester’s to finish their degree (from my experience taking 5 years to complete an engineering degree is not unusual), however I feel that using this time to retake classes you previously did poor in is less than ideal, it would be better to just slow down (take a lighter credit load) and do it right the first time than have to retake classes later, just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>S was a D1 athlete and an engineering major. (He graduated last May). His approach was to take no more than 15 or 16 credits per semester and include one ‘easy’ non technical course. This approach did not require him to retake any courses. However, it did require him to stay an extra semester (He chose to stay the full year to complete his minors.) It was nice because he was able to be a student and not a student athlete that last year.</p>
<p>I think you should either cut back on your classes or cut back on the athletics. This isn’t simply about GPAs or landing jobs – it’s about your education. No matter how smart you are, if you spread yourself too thin, there’s no way you’re learning the material as well as you should be.</p>
<p>I know a guy who always seems to take on crazy, overworked schedules, and indeed, he seems to take pride in the fact that he can survive them when few others can, but when I ask him questions about a specific class he took, his recollection is always hazy and he often responds with answers like, “I’m not sure… I think my partners worked on that question.”</p>
<p>On the one hand, he finished his BS and MS really quick and started working immediately. On the other hand, he didn’t get into the MS program that he wanted to get into (because his GPA wasn’t high enough) and to this day, I think he has a lot of gaps in his knowledge due to the way he juggled so many classes per quarter.</p>
<p>In my day I was a D3 athlete at a top tier engineering school. It can be done, but you are taking way too many units (athlete or not). Engineering classes do require time to learn the material. 15 units (including one non-engineering class that you don’t need to put in as many hours on) should be about your max. </p>
<p>I didn’t start out playing sports at the varsity level, but the coach talked me into it. Funny thing is that my grades actually improved as I had to manage my time better. One semester I did try to take more units and it all came crashing down.</p>
<p>You do need to pay attention to your GPA. It isn’t impossible to find a job with a midling GPA but it is much harder. See some of the other threads here on try to find jobs with less than a 3.0 GPA.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses I really appreciate it</p>