Question for the engineering majors out there

3 hours per day is enough, however almost nobody does that, people do little until about 2 weeks before the tests when they study all day

The answers you get here probably will not apply to your particular situation. You'll get better information talking to other ME students. If you can find another Track/XC runner (or even another ICA athlete) who is balancing the load with your major, that would be ideal. If you are concerned about a difficult first year of college studying, see if you can red-shirt the season and work out with the team and compete unattached.

ME at a top program. Top 10% GPA. Ultra competitive classmates.

Outside of class I studied about 5-6 hours a day on weekdays. Usually 4 hours a day on weekends (3 on Sat, 6 on Sun). During exams probably closer to 8 a day outside of class.

Note that this is VERY extreme and I don't think most people need to study that much to get a good GPA (above 3.2). I may be a slow learner relatively speaking (I always needed to study in high school). People were crazy obsessed so they had beds in the adjacent building for people to sleep in without leaving the building (gross).

I know a guy who played tennis (was top ranked) at another less competitive but very good school and he did good in EE. So I KNOW you can do it. You have to be very disciplined (much much harder than you'd expect - lots of fun to be had).

Just don't overload yourself to the point to where you get burnt out physically or emotionally. Your brain will be burnt out if you did your best. If you want to get a cushy internship they like high GPAs, so keep that in mind.

In short, you'll be pretty freaking busy being an XC and engineering stud :)

you need to talk to people from your university in your major or a very similar major (civil, aero, something with similar classes in first couple years).

if you can't find any older ME students via the internet who go to your university, then you aren't smart enough to be an ME anyway. hint: engineering clubs, facebook groups, etc

Note that the first two years are very similar across several majors because it is mostly math, physics, and chemistry. And did I say math? So you are in there with math-, physics-, and chemistry-only majors . . . very tough.

Finding solid study buddies will also make the learning curve a little bit easier

reed wrote:

you need to talk to people from your university in your major or a very similar major (civil, aero, something with similar classes in first couple years).

if you can't find any older ME students via the internet who go to your university, then you aren't smart enough to be an ME anyway. hint: engineering clubs, facebook groups, etc

Hey I wonder where he is more likely to find people who ran XC in college and had engineering majors... engineering clubs or here.

Hint: you aren't smart enough to give advice.

Here is my advice: study enough to get through classes and focus on running.

The amount of effort it takes to be at the top of the class is exponential. And you definitely won't be a good athlete.

From my experience as an ME, the only time somebody asked me my gpa was my very first job interview. Mine wasn't the highest in the world and I just said I played sports and had a needy girlfriend. Everyone laughed in the interview and I ended up getting the job. After your first job, the next job(s) will only care about what you did in your previous job. After 10 years in the industry, no body gives a sh*t about GPAs.

Don't stress it too much. Have a balanced life, run hard, enjoy college and meet as many girls as you can.

It really depends on the individual and the school. I don't think anyone can tell you how much you're going to need to study to get the grades you want without having knowledge of you and the school you're going to. My school had a top engineering program that did not believe in grade inflation. The school kept the average grade to about 2.3 or 2.4 in the ME major courses so pulling a high GPA was pretty tough to begin with. Which means you had to put in a lot of work just to walk out with around a 3.0. I graduated with a little over 2.9 which was probably in the upper third of major and I probably spent about 20 hrs a week on homework and studying. During my third and 4th years when I took the toughest classes I had quarters where the average was more like 30. My school also believed in lots of group projects which probably added an extra 5-10hrs a week depending on the quarter.

For me, DI xc and track, BSME at a uc school. First two years: 0 hours studying, about. 2.7 gpa. Last two years: about 5 hrs per week studying, 3.4gpa. Cumulative was 3.0. Wish I had done that minimal amount of studying my first two years.

The reason I studied at all my second two years was I had started to talk to people in my engineering classes as they got smaller, so I would say yes when somebody asked if I wanted to go study after class. It was amazing how I went from being average in my major classes to setting an occasional curve on a test.

If I went back I would do thst small amount of studying from the beginning. An hour a day really doesn't cut that much into your running, fun, and work (I did about 20 hrs per week, wasn't fast enough to run on money). I had the weekends pretty much wide open and a little time every weekday for fun.

ME dude wrote:

Here is my advice: study enough to get through classes and focus on running.

The amount of effort it takes to be at the top of the class is exponential. And you definitely won't be a good athlete.

From my experience as an ME, the only time somebody asked me my gpa was my very first job interview. Mine wasn't the highest in the world and I just said I played sports and had a needy girlfriend. Everyone laughed in the interview and I ended up getting the job. After your first job, the next job(s) will only care about what you did in your previous job. After 10 years in the industry, no body gives a sh*t about GPAs.

Don't stress it too much. Have a balanced life, run hard, enjoy college and meet as many girls as you can.

Sounds like me a little above. I too was probably a slower learner. I had to study in high school to get A's. I had to study a lot more in college to keep a B average or better to stay in the engineering co-op program which was great experience. In one particular tough EE class the homework was due 2 or 3 times a week and it often took my friend and me 4 hours to do it. In 2nd semester physics for engineers the professor said on the first day of class to look to our left and right. He then said he typically gave 1/3 to 1/2 the class D's or F's. I know one person who took the class at least 3 times trying to pass it. Purdue is very competitive in engineering. They use the curve to make sure they do not devalue the A. I graduated feeling like a point on the curve. The thing that made getting through school much easier was finding classmates who became my best friends who were taking the same classes at the same time or prior semesters of later semesters. When we took the classes together we helped each other figure out the homework. Those who did not contribute in a positive way to the progress of our small study group where not invited back. When we took the same classes different semesters we would share homework, labs, and tests. These all changed every semester so sharing was never cheating. Some dorm offices even had files or prior students' exams that we could checkout. It was very helping seeing how someone solved similar problems. It gave us insight as to how to apply the principles we learned to the homework and exams. Find like-minded serious students taking the same classes who are interested in working with you. I quickly learned which freshmen on my dorm floor did not care about their grades. They had terrible study habits if they shut their TV off at all at night to study. None of them were admitted to an engineering school their sophomore years. Many changed to easier degrees than they started with or dropped out. I spent 3 to 5 hours a night on homework and much of the weekend on computer programming projects, other long term projects, or studying for upcoming tests and homework due on Monday. I did not have time for organized sports. I was not fast enough to walk on the team and was done with running. I just started running again a few years ago after not running for nearly 30 years. If you are a faster learner and have good time management and study skills you may be able to run and make it through an engineering program. Do not take too many credits a semester if you can avoid it and if it does not violate NCAA rules. I took one night class most co-op sessions at a local college and transferred the credit. I took humanity classes that would Purdue would accept the credit. I could not transfer credits for engineering classes. This allowed me to take a lighter load when I returned to Purdue after each co-op session. If you like one of my co-op friends you could read the 2nd semester physics textbook when you are not in school, test out of physics and other classes, and graduate a semester early. This requires a very high IQ.

bold for emph wrote:

ME dude wrote:

Here is my advice: study enough to get through classes and focus on running.

The amount of effort it takes to be at the top of the class is exponential. And you definitely won't be a good athlete.

From my experience as an ME, the only time somebody asked me my gpa was my very first job interview. Mine wasn't the highest in the world and I just said I played sports and had a needy girlfriend. Everyone laughed in the interview and I ended up getting the job. After your first job, the next job(s) will only care about what you did in your previous job. After 10 years in the industry, no body gives a sh*t about GPAs.

Don't stress it too much. Have a balanced life, run hard, enjoy college and meet as many girls as you can.

My GPA kept me in the co-op program. The experience in the co-op program helped me receive more job offers more easily. My B+ average did not hurt me in interviews. Try to get some work experience when you are not in school. Some engineering projects in classes may help with experience. Employers want the applicant to have the degree and some experience related to the job. Once you are out in a job and have experience the GPA does not matter. Even if you don't like your first job use it to get the experience required to move on and get the job you really want. Your co-workers can help you move to a better job at a company or help you get a job elsewhere. Employees move to different divisions or companies all the time and they often recommend prior associates who they were able to work with and respected.

You will be busy.

It depends of course on the competitiveness of the program. Everybody in the program was "the smart kid" at their respective high school.

Nobody I knew who did really well got by studying fewer than 3 hours a day. By well I mean getting into good PhD or Google.

If you can't bring yourself to study that much then your school is just really easy or you are wasting your talent.

It may come down to school or running, but think about how you will make your living afterwards. And try to get laid once in a while.

I studied about 50-60 hpw. Mix up your moderate intensity studying sessions with short intervals and longer sessions. Some engineering students prefer doubles, studying in the morning and then again at night. The overachievers study 100+ HPW and are able to get good results, but I was able to get by on 50 HPW on talent.

ME major wrote:

To those of you who kept a high GPA majoring in engineering, how much time did you spend daily/weekly studying outside of classes? I'm trying out as a XC walk on this fall and if I make the team am just wondering how busy it'll keep me. I was the typical "didn't need to study" kind of guy in high school but I know college will be a lot different. I'm signed up for 18 credits first semester but no terribly hard classes obviously yet.

1) I always felt like running helped me get better grades.

To begin with-- morning runs. Our team had a very loose morning run policy. If you could make it, great. If not, no one really cared unless you didn't show up for a week or two in a row.

On the days I made the monring runs, I always felt like I paid attention better in class. Something about the body being fresh and a little tired allowed me to think.

Even afternoon training helped. Your mornings/early afternoons are going to be spent in class. After that, it will be time for a break-- which for our team was 3 or 3:30 PM practice every day (we had lifting days). When you finish up practice, you go to dinner with your friends, and then sit down and study between 7 and 8 PM. Two or three hours a day studying was enough. I wasn't a big drinker, so I'd relax/call the girlfriend/watch TV and go to bed.

2) The hardest thing was afternon labs in the intro Chem/Bio/Physics classes. Those usually ran from 2-5 PM, and so I'd show up for practice about the same time people were finishing up. After running and eating, it would be pretty late and hard to study sometimes.

My only recommendation is that if you can limit yourself to one lab class per semester, do it.

It was a 2x job for dumb-ass me. Like 60 hr per week. Luckily I had retired from a career as a SW Engr and EE when I went for the MS Mech.