Low grades, freshmen at Pitt.

[bjavman]

---

Members do not see this ad.

lol

 

[NubianPrincess]

I had a horrible freshman year. I knew what it would take to bring my GPA up. It didn't happen right away, but I did finish strong. It can be done. Good Luck

 

[Peace&Health]

Well I first enrolled in the Engineering program here, and our Freshmen Engineering Director wanted us to taste some failure. So he set all our first exams together in a small amount of time. Physics, Chemistry, Calculus, and Engineering Analysis.

I failed my Chem and Physics test, pretty much our class did.

So yeah, I recently decided engineering wasnt for me, not because of test grades, but because of the presentations they showed us, of what we do when we are engineers. The thought of becoming a doctor has always been in the back of my mind and just decided to pop out.

Anyway, I would really like to finish with a >3.5 gpa this semester. My Calc grade pretty much depends on my final exam, and for the other subjects I have one more midterm, a final, and some quizzes in between left. Can i finish strong? Is there anyone who's run into a similar situation? I've really picked up my work ethic since i got my grades, i just want to know what everyone else did. And if they started the same way i am. Thanks. 😕

Don't feel too bad about it. If you bring your grades up, and show a strong upward trend, you'll be fine. But learn from this and make sure your priority is good grades as they open many doors. I learned this the hard way, but you're still early enough in the game to make the difference. It will take lots of units to bring up your grades, but just make sure you take only enough courses so you perform well until you graduate.

It may help you to seek tutoring, go to office hours, or study with people who are doing well. Remember its not the number of hours studying, but the quality and whether you are studying the right stuff. Also, study stuff that will be on the exam. Get hold of old exams or talk to students who took the test before and know what to expect.

Good-luck and study well. You'll be fine.

 

[iamgoaloriented]

Hang in there. If you work at it I'm sure you can salvage your first semester, at least to some extent, and even if you do a little less well than you'd like having a sub par first semester will by no means finish you. In the end you can have a competetive gpa, and if you worst semester is your first it wont look that bad.

What is it with the engineering department at Pitt? I knew people who graduated in the top of my class in high school (I know high school is much easier than college but I went to a private school) and ended up flunking out. They make you take such a ridiculously hard first semester, and from what you say they try to also screw you over by giving you many tests at once. I think a lot of really smart people would end up doing well in it if only given the chance to transition.

Pre med at Pitt is much better, you should love it. I thought all of my teachers were great (especially the Neuro ones) and there are a lot of great things going on that you can get involved in.

 

[bjavman]

Well, they give you tests all at once to see how "willing" you are to be an engineer, they want to weed people out early.

I don't agree with that method, but oh well heh. Thanks for the advice everyone. I just read the thread with the worst exam grades ever haha.