Thank you for all your replies and reassurance. I truly believe that her 3.0 is an amazing feat for ECE at CMU. Both myself and my daughter have no issue with what her GPA is or will be if she stays at CMU. The only concern is whether it will put her at a disadvantage if she decides to transfer. However, it sounds like other schools will be understanding, especially given her major and the fact that it is CMU.
While college can be an adjustment to a new workload and grading system, my daughter’s main issue is the consensus that working as much as physically possible is not only expected but desired. Many of her peers will “brag” about how little sleep they get each night. Being involved in extracurricular activities is considered fine if it is a break to relieve stress but not as a valued activity. It also appears that even with the best study habits, the workload is often 10-12 hours a day and does not improve over the next 3 years. After having attended a parent’s weekend engineering seminar, I came to the conclusion that kids just learn to adapt to the schedule, coming to terms with the fact that 15-minute breaks or the occasional dinner with friends is all that can be expected at CMU (in certain majors). All the engineering kids that spoke described needing to seek mental health services at some point. My daughter is also finding that most CS/ECE majors are looking to be software engineers at top companies and are willing to “suffer” in order to achieve this outcome. Given my daughter is unsure what she wants to do in her career and probably will not be a software engineer, I’m not sure the mental health risks are worth it for her. That said, she will be exploring a possible switch to an Information Systems major and may find that this is a better fit for her. She will also apply to several schools as a transfer and make a final decision at the end of the Spring semester. Thanks again!