Managing an absurd 1st year engineering load

[martinlematre]

So I've got myself set up for a pretty daunting first year. My courses:
Calc I
Phys Calc I
Gen Chem I
CPSC Programming Engineers
CPSC Engineering Graphics
English I (Actually very hard)

Now I think I'd be able to pull off a decent/good GPA if I sacrifice my life completely...but I don't want to do that. The above is a total of about 21-22 credits.

How can I pull off at least a B+/A- GPA If I want to be able to
1) Go out on either friday or saturday night, not both
2) Be able to get up every morning, go to the gym (3-4 days a week), eat my breakfast in peace and have about 3-4 hours a day of "free time" for books or web browsing or socializing (Everything non academic comes into this)
3) Not have to cram and make sacrifices for midterms unless I personally make a huge procrastination mistake or something?

Just wondering your guys thoughts on someone being exposed to a first year courseload who wants to get the most out of it

 

[PhizKid]

You should have an idea of your limits, but if you want to play it safe, you're going to have to make the necessary sacrifices. Do you really want to risk your future just to have a few hours of enjoyment you can make up for later, after you finish your degree?

 

[martinlematre]

You should have an idea of your limits, but if you want to play it safe, you're going to have to make the necessary sacrifices. Do you really want to risk your future just to have a few hours of enjoyment you can make up for later, after you finish your degree?

That's not the point though, I don't want all of uni to be "heyy I'll waste 4 years of the social/fun part of my life just to get my degree", I want to have what experience I can WHILE doing well. Surely that's possible, no?

 

[D H]

Why so many credit hours? I suspect it's you who are doing this to yourself rather than the school forcing you to take this heavy a load. If the semester hasn't started yet, consider dropping one of those classes to get down to a more manageable course load.

 

[Mmm_Pasta]

I don't see anything absurd about your first year load. Also, how could you possibly know that you'll have no life if you haven't even started? Just as PhizKid stated, you'll need to make sacrifices. However, these sacrifices do not need to be made all the time. You'll have to occasionally sacrifice a Friday night here and there, but there's always Saturday night.

By the way, I'm assuming an entire "year" and not just a "semester". Your wording is a bit ambiguous.

 

[MarneMath]

If it's 22 for the whole year, yea that's easy. IF it's 21 for a semester...then no you won't have a life and there is no way around that unless you plan to fail every course you take like I did!

 

[D H]

By the way, I'm assuming an entire "year" and not just a "semester". Your wording is a bit ambiguous.

Good point. I assumed "semester". 21-22 credit hours in a semester is a bit much, particularly for the very first semester in college. A full load is 16-18 hours. Some people can handle more, but it's not for everyone.

On the other hand, 21-22 credit hours over the span of a year is a rather light load.

So which is it, Martin?

 

[PhizKid]

Why do you believe that your English course will be difficult? My first semester in uni, I took calc 1 honors, calc physics 1, gen chem 1 honors, and english 1 honors, and I breezed through them without a problem. I knew I could have taken an extra course, which is what I did the following semester and still got As, albeit not all of them being technical modules.

 

[martinlematre]

Why do you believe that your English course will be difficult? My first semester in uni, I took calc 1 honors, calc physics 1, gen chem 1 honors, and english 1 honors, and I breezed through them without a problem. I knew I could have taken an extra course, which is what I did the following semester and still got As, albeit not all of them being technical modules.

congratulations I am not you, in all of these courses these will be the first times I am exposed to them

 

[PhizKid]

It was my first exposure to them too. My point was that I knew what I could handle and adjusted accordingly, so you should be able to do the same

 

[D H]

My first semester in uni, I took calc 1 honors, calc physics 1, gen chem 1 honors, and english 1 honors, and I breezed through them without a problem.

That's 12 to 14 credit hours or so. The OP is talking about 21 to 22.

Martin, it makes a huge difference if that 21-22 hours is the total for your freshman year. You should be able to handle 11 credit hours in a semester. That is a light load. It might not even be enough to qualify as a full-time student. If that 21-22 hours is your load for one semester, that's overload.

So which scenario does that 21 to 22 credit hours represent?

 

[jbrussell93]

So you're taking 3 courses per semester? Relax, you'll be fine...

 

[PhizKid]

That's 12 to 14 credit hours or so. The OP is talking about 21 to 22.

But 15 'rigorous' credits and 15 'regular' credits require different calibers of study ethics. Anyway, that's why the following semester I added an extra course. It all depends on the coursework and the student's abilities, neither of which we can make judgments from, given what we know about the OP and his/her academic institution.

Another option would be to split the courses for the winter/summer sessions, if possible.

 

[SteamKing]

You can sleep when you're dead. I think it's terrible that college is taking so much away from your social life. There ought to be a law.

If you want to earn an undergrad engineering degree in four years, then a course load of 22 hours is about what you can expect from any institution.

The courses you listed are about what any first semester engineering undergrad will experience. If you took advanced courses in high school, you probably have already been exposed to calculus, chemistry, physics, if not eng. graphics. I took those courses in high school and it made the transition to college much easier. I had some classmates who walked into these same courses without prior exposure, and, needless to say, they had to work harder to keep good grades.

Look on the bright side. You have not stated what particular engineering field you hope to major in, but regardless, after the first semester, your courses will probably get much harder than these. Make the tough choices now about adjusting yourself to college and making the necessary changes to your daily or weekly routine. It will save a lot of trouble later in college when the going gets tougher.

 

[D H]

If you want to earn an undergrad engineering degree in four years, then a course load of 22 hours is about what you can expect from any institution.

That's nonsense. Many, maybe most, schools require advisor approval if one is to take over 18 hours in a semester and place an absolute maximum of 21 hours for undergrads.

Everyone, please stop guessing whether the OP's 22 hours represents a per semester load or the total for the freshman year. There is a huge difference between the two.

martinlematre, you need to clarify what you wrote in the opening post.

 

[martinlematre]

That's nonsense. Many, maybe most, schools require advisor approval if one is to take over 18 hours in a semester and place an absolute maximum of 21 hours for undergrads.

Everyone, please stop guessing whether the OP's 22 hours represents a per semester load or the total for the freshman year. There is a huge difference between the two.

martinlematre, you need to clarify what you wrote in the opening post.

It's an intense engineering program. Max credits here for science students are 18, and this is the only program that passes that (at 21 first semester and 22 2nd)

The second semester is:
Calc II
Linear Algebra
Chem II
Phys II
Engineering Physics I
Engl II

 

[ZombieFeynman]

To the op,

I think with a course load that intense, you're going to have to be either exceedingly efficient in your studying or you're going to have to realize that 3-4 hours of free time per day might be unreasonable if you intend on getting the grades you wish to get.

 

[martinlematre]

To the op,

I think with a course load that intense, you're going to have to be either exceedingly efficient in your studying or you're going to have to realize that 3-4 hours of free time per day might be unreasonable if you intend on getting the grades you wish to get.

yeah I kind of figured that. I just know there's students that study bad and give courseloads like this a stigma because they juts reread their notes 5000 times. I like to make things make sense

 

[SteamKing]

That's nonsense. Many, maybe most, schools require advisor approval if one is to take over 18 hours in a semester and place an absolute maximum of 21 hours for undergrads.

Everyone, please stop guessing whether the OP's 22 hours represents a per semester load or the total for the freshman year. There is a huge difference between the two.

martinlematre, you need to clarify what you wrote in the opening post.

A lot of schools must not have gotten that memo.

In the US, accredited engineering programs must have a minimum total of 132 semester hours of coursework in order to grant an undergrad degree. A lot of institutions go beyond this minimum level and impose additional requirements, like project or thesis work. Some of this work will involve doing labs, so not all of the OP's time will be spent taking lectures. Due to changing requirements and the need to cover additional material, there has been some talk whether 4-year programs should be stretched to include an additional year. Certainly, the colleges and universities wouldn't fight this since it means additional revenue.

 

[lurflurf]

A few things
-It is usual for engineering majors to take 5-7 courses per term. So this load is usual.
-Most people vary there loads a bit different terms.
-Calling this an absurd load is just a being dramatic. If you believe it is absurd that probably means don't do it.
-You should weigh the pros and cons of taking an easy first term. The adjustment is difficult for some.
-Arguing back and forth about the difficulty is silly. It depends on the particular courses and individual.
-These all seem to be freshman courses.
-Many students place into all sophomore or honors courses which might be much harder.
-At the same time sometimes regular freshman classes are harder because the school does not care about the quality.
-Some people tend to slack off more and do worse in easy terms.
-The most worrying thing is you have no previous exposure to English, chemistry, physics, math, or computers.
That is unlikely to be literally true, but if it is you should take all remedial classes.
If you mean you are not "well prepared" that is common and can be worked through, but use caution if you are not prepared for all classes, student in that situation have trouble.
If you mean that you know less than you hope to after the term, that is to be expected.

 

[D H]

In the US, accredited engineering programs must have a minimum total of 132 semester hours of coursework in order to grant an undergrad degree.

Citation needed.

Here's what I found, just a random sampling of undergraduate requirements at various engineering colleges (all of which are ABET accredited):

• Purdue, Electrical, 125 hours
  http://www.purdue.edu/catalogs/engineering/electrical_computer_requirements_ce.html
• University of Texas, Mechanical Engineering, 127 hours http://www.me.utexas.edu/undergrad/degree_information.php
• Villanova, Mechanical, 129 hours
  http://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/engineering/departments/mechanical/undergrad/curriculum.html
• Purdue, Civil, 132 hours
  https://www.purdue.edu/catalogs/engineering/civil_requirements.html
• Rice, Chemical, 132 hours
  http://chbe.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=109

Even of those that do require 132 hours, that's an average of 16.5 hours per semester.

 

[martinlematre]

Citation needed.

Here's what I found, just a random sampling of undergraduate requirements at various engineering colleges (all of which are ABET accredited):

• Purdue, Electrical, 125 hours
  http://www.purdue.edu/catalogs/engineering/electrical_computer_requirements_ce.html
• University of Texas, Mechanical Engineering, 127 hours http://www.me.utexas.edu/undergrad/degree_information.php
• Villanova, Mechanical, 129 hours
  http://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/engineering/departments/mechanical/undergrad/curriculum.html
• Purdue, Civil, 132 hours
  https://www.purdue.edu/catalogs/engineering/civil_requirements.html
• Rice, Chemical, 132 hours
  http://chbe.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=109

Even of those that do require 132 hours, that's an average of 16.5 hours per semester.

I believe that's only because of the specialization later on. Meaning you do a broader range of courses in your first two years, and then a specialization built upon those fundamentals (Logistically, fewer courses with more concentrated content)

 

[lurflurf]

Who cares about unit nitpicking. Let's just say engineering programs require 120-150 semester units or equivalent. It may be possible to finish in 8 semesters with 15 units each by taking no electives, no recommended courses, no remedial courses, in all options choosing the fewest units, planing carefully, being lucky, and having some odd terms. Such a rigid approach is not usual, desirable, or fitting with ones goals and plans. A 14 unit terms is not necessarily easier or less work than an 18 unit term.

 

[martinlematre]

Citation needed.

Here's what I found, just a random sampling of undergraduate requirements at various engineering colleges (all of which are ABET accredited):

• Purdue, Electrical, 125 hours
  http://www.purdue.edu/catalogs/engineering/electrical_computer_requirements_ce.html
• University of Texas, Mechanical Engineering, 127 hours http://www.me.utexas.edu/undergrad/degree_information.php
• Villanova, Mechanical, 129 hours
  http://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/engineering/departments/mechanical/undergrad/curriculum.html
• Purdue, Civil, 132 hours
  https://www.purdue.edu/catalogs/engineering/civil_requirements.html
• Rice, Chemical, 132 hours
  http://chbe.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=109

Even of those that do require 132 hours, that's an average of 16.5 hours per semester.

also it's worth mentioning that a crazy statistic of engineering take more than 4 years to finish their degree

 

[SteamKing]

Citation needed.

Here's what I found, just a random sampling of undergraduate requirements at various engineering colleges (all of which are ABET accredited):

• Purdue, Electrical, 125 hours
  http://www.purdue.edu/catalogs/engineering/electrical_computer_requirements_ce.html
• University of Texas, Mechanical Engineering, 127 hours http://www.me.utexas.edu/undergrad/degree_information.php
• Villanova, Mechanical, 129 hours
  http://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/engineering/departments/mechanical/undergrad/curriculum.html
• Purdue, Civil, 132 hours
  https://www.purdue.edu/catalogs/engineering/civil_requirements.html
• Rice, Chemical, 132 hours
  http://chbe.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=109

Even of those that do require 132 hours, that's an average of 16.5 hours per semester.

You can visit the ABET website for their criteria here:

http://www.abet.org/DisplayTemplates/DocsHandbook.aspx?id=3149

I mis-calculated the hours for a 4 year program earlier: ABET says 32 semester hours is a year's worth of credit, which is 128 hours for a 4-year total.

However, the criteria do not specify a maximum number of hours. Institutions can and do exceed the minimum number of hours in engineering courses. Often one finds that the hours in a given program are not evenly balanced over each of the four years or evenly balanced between semesters in a given year.

If it was easy, it wouldn't be engineering!

 

[lurflurf]

I read that earlier the exact quote is
"One year is the lesser of 32 semester hours (or equivalent) or one-fourth of the total credits required for graduation."
So a school can have 112 or 120 units and their year would be 29 or 30 units. Units are also defined differently, at some places there can be discussion, lab, or writing requirements that do not carry units. I have not read the link completely, but I do not see a requirement of 4 years. It seems a school could declare itself a seven semester program as a loop hole. Also the amount of general education can vary. Some schools do not have units or define them differently. The amount of work a certain number of units requires varies greatly.

 

[D H]

You can visit the ABET website for their criteria here:

http://www.abet.org/DisplayTemplates/DocsHandbook.aspx?id=3149

I mis-calculated the hours for a 4 year program earlier: ABET says 32 semester hours is a year's worth of credit, which is 128 hours for a 4-year total.

Read the link again. Emphasis mine, "One year is the lesser of 32 semester hours (or equivalent) or one-fourth of the total credits required for graduation." That "lesser" means there is no minimum credit hours requirement for a traditional four year college. Look at my random sampling. It includes two highly ranked, ABET accredited engineering programs that require less than 128 hours.

Besides, even if you were correct that 32 hours is 11 hours less than martin will be taking in his first year.

Let me guess, martin: Is it Langara College? That's the only school I could find that has that crazy a schedule for incoming freshmen, and the course names are a near perfect match.

 

[SteamKing]

Yeah by a couple hours. To be precise, the ABET requirement is for the 2013-14 academic year.
In my first semester, I took:

calc.
chem. (lab & lecture)
statics
Eng. lit and comp
Engr. drawing (by hand)
a program specific intro. course (nav.arch. & mar. eng.)

As I recall, the semester totaled about 18-20 hours. The nut-buster was 1st semester sophomore year when the curriculum had 7 courses, only one of which was a humanities course (about 22 hours total IIRC). All in all, I think I had about 145-150 hours by graduation. It was a dual degree program (BS in NA and ME) and it included writing a thesis and 4 work periods in between semesters.

One man's absurdity is another man's daily routine. I have little sympathy for the OP's contention that he is being swamped. We have enough pretty party boys already. Post-secondary education should be treated as a privilege and an investment in trying to secure a better future for oneself. If you want to party and workout, switch your major from engineering to PE or kinesiology.

 

[martinlematre]

Read the link again. Emphasis mine, "One year is the lesser of 32 semester hours (or equivalent) or one-fourth of the total credits required for graduation." That "lesser" means there is no minimum credit hours requirement for a traditional four year college. Look at my random sampling. It includes two highly ranked, ABET accredited engineering programs that require less than 128 hours.

Besides, even if you were correct that 32 hours is 11 hours less than martin will be taking in his first year.

Let me guess, martin: Is it Langara College? That's the only school I could find that has that crazy a schedule for incoming freshmen, and the course names are a near perfect match.

Yeah. So dropping courses is not an option, and i intend on actually learning it and getting the gpa i need for auto acceptance into ubc (so i don't get butt raped next fall)

 

[lurflurf]

OP if you have the minimal preparation you should be able to do it. Think positive.

Everyone arguing about units 5-7 classes per term is usual that is like give or take one. It is not like it is double. The amount of work is not accurately measured by the units. Even if there exist engineering schools with 15 unit semesters and belly rubs and professors that bake fresh cookies they are not necessarily better or relevant to someone not at those schools.

 

[DrummingAtom]

Learn one of two of the courses now. If I were you, and I had no programming experience I would try to tie in Calc 1 and programming. If you have programming experience do Calc 1 and Physics 1. I'm assuming you have about 2 months left before these classes begin, start now.

 

[DimReg]

Here is something I learned in college: Give yourself one day off a week. I found that no matter what, there was one day a week where I didn't get anything done. Make the most of that day, and plan around the idea that you only have 6 days to get things done. It's easier to spread out your work into that day off, than it is to recover from an unexpected lost day. Also, if you want to go out one evening, don't make that your day off, make the next day your day off. It's the day after that hangovers/late nights in general get you.

Also for workouts, some very effective workouts only take 30 minutes. They won't get you ready for the olympics, but they'll keep you in shape. No one can't find 30 minutes 4-5 times a week. However, that time might come out of your "3-4 hours a day", so you may need to consider whether or not browsing the internet/reading books is more important than your workouts.

 

[Superman1271]

Is 21-22 credits, 21 hours/week of class?

 

[verty]

MM: Can your linear algebra course be taken in semester 1? If so, I'd think about doing that or persuade your profs to let that happen because you may struggle toward the end of semester 2, you have a few top-heavy courses that semester.

 

[martinlematre]

MM: Can your linear algebra course be taken in semester 1? If so, I'd think about doing that or persuade your profs to let that happen because you may struggle toward the end of semester 2, you have a few top-heavy courses that semester.

Calc 2 is a prereq so no