on those grade distribtion reports - it seems like anything below a C is non-existant. I know these classes aren't easy - whats the catch?

3/28/2009 10:52:28 AM

teachers curve more. You have to have a 3.0 in grad school, anything lower is failing.

3/28/2009 10:58:56 AM

because you can't graduate grad-school (or get your MS or MBA or whatever) unless you have at least a B-average. So in grad-school, A is good, and B is not good.

it's kind of bullshit, but that's how it goes. I think you have to really fuck up to get below a B in a grad class.


When I was an undergrad, I took an EE class that was split between a 400 level and a 500 level class - same section, but had undergrad and grad students. The content of the class was the same, but the difference was the semester-long project for the grad students was much, much harder. They gave the opportunity for undergrads to enroll in the 500 version of the class so they could get graduate credit, if they wanted and the prof approved.

I upgraded to the 500 class just to take on the extra challenge, and it was a mistake. My partner and I bombed the project - it just flat out sucked, no question about it. It was barely functional, and should have been D-level work - i.e. it barely worked, but it didn't meet most of the requirements. Anyway, since we were being graded at the grad level, we got a B- on the project. Meanwhile, my peers who opted for the 400-level had a smaller project (that was actually a subset of the 500-level project) and some of them got C's on their project, even though it was more functional than my B- graduate project.

3/28/2009 11:01:27 AM

if you get two C's your ass is kicked out

3/28/2009 11:02:08 AM

^^ Are you talking about ECE464???

That glass blew; made me realize what I did not want to do as a EE grad. I'll leave Digital Design and computer engineering to someone else.

3/28/2009 12:51:15 PM

yeah, ECE 464/520 ASIC design w/ Franzon, Spring 2002
I enjoyed the class, but the 520 project kicked my ass

3/28/2009 12:57:25 PM

I just happened to notice taht ECE no longer offers any control classes; WTF?

are they so wrapped up with digital design and microelectronics that they neglect power systems and completely gave up any controls engineering classes.

3/28/2009 1:08:10 PM

5^


that, my friends, is why college is bullshit and its unfortunate anything other than completion of a college degree is laughed upon by employers

just push dumbass students on through so you look like youre doin your job, what a great system

its easy to see why college kids get out not knowing how to do shit until theyve had real training hands on for just a few months

its amazing how much you can learn by just participating in your field

[Edited on March 28, 2009 at 1:25 PM. Reason : f]

3/28/2009 1:23:34 PM

i dont know. i am part of training at work, and a solid foundation in programming (and having seen these concepts before) is really nice to have from new hires.

sure they probably could have gotten as much from a 1 year program, but it sitll is nice.

3/28/2009 1:49:29 PM

i didnt mean to call the agentlion a dumbass btw

i was arguing more along the lines of teachers not administering the grades students earn based on their own criteria for successful completion of an assignment

3/28/2009 2:40:54 PM

Quote :

"yeah, ECE 464/520 ASIC design w/ Franzon, Spring 2002 I enjoyed the class, but the 520 project kicked my ass"

Looking back, with the exception of Sr Design, I think I put more work into that project than any other project at NCSU. West and I put in about 6 hrs Thursday evening, 8 hrs on Friday, and probably in the 14 range on both Saturday and Sunday.

3/28/2009 3:11:04 PM

you have to really mess up to get a C in grad school. all we really do is sit around and talk about things and then have papers and projects. there aren't as many powerpoint presentations/lectures as undergrad.

3/28/2009 3:13:23 PM

^ In your major.

Before I dropped out it was entirely lectures and presentations, just as much as undergrad, and the material wasn't presented as well and the assignments were 3x as much work.

3/28/2009 3:15:40 PM

^What was grad degree in, and why did you drop out?

[Edited on March 28, 2009 at 3:19 PM. Reason : ]

3/28/2009 3:18:04 PM

Quote :

"I just happened to notice taht ECE no longer offers any control classes; WTF? are they so wrapped up with digital design and microelectronics that they neglect power systems and completely gave up any controls engineering classes."

HUR, from what I understand, if there is no research money in it, the professors don't do it. Therefore, although there is a big demand in this region for Power and Controls Engineers, those subjects are not taught because there is no research money. Its a shame for the students because like I said there is a lot of jobs in those fields right now and very little in Digital Design and Microelectronics. Also, taking the PE Exam without some knowledge of controls and power is going to be practically impossible. That stuff really burned me when I was going to State and now I am a Controls Engineer, go figure.

3/28/2009 3:20:48 PM

my MIE480 teacher said the only way you can get kicked out of duke's MBA program is if you get caught cheating or for plagiarism.

[Edited on March 28, 2009 at 3:31 PM. Reason : forgot plagiarism]

3/28/2009 3:30:43 PM

Quote :

"i didnt mean to call the agentlion a dumbass btw"

yeah, i know - it was pretty clear you were railing against the system, not the products of the system

3/28/2009 3:40:43 PM

^^^ yeah I am a controls engineer and I really like it.

I never got any real exposure to this area except for haphazardly falling into ECE435 as my very last 3 hours i needed to get my diploma last summer. The indians though love some digital design though.

3/28/2009 3:45:00 PM

Ehh Im in grad school for chemistry and I got a C is a class.


Like others have said, anything below a B is failing in grad school. I had to either take the same class over again (professor was terrible) or take another class to replace it.

If you get a lot of Bs in grad school (for chemistry) they can force you to get your masters if they think you cant cut it.

3/28/2009 4:32:09 PM

they don't call it a "masters" cause you "mostly learned it"

3/28/2009 4:38:57 PM

I'm in grad school and for the most part I've had classes w/ only 3 major projects. With 3 projects spread out over a semester, you really have to fuck up to to that poorly (as long as you spend significant time each day including weekends on your stuff).

3/28/2009 5:40:01 PM

Quote :

"just push dumbass students on through so you look like youre doin your job, what a great system"

yea i know i mean like they (most engineering students anyway) spend years doing research on something most could never understand and writing it up in a "paper" on the order of 100, to 100's of papers.

it isnt like, in your defense, your professors cant ask you about ANY subject you have learned in undergrad and grad and hold you back til you get it right.

grad school is such a cakewalk, i'm gonna go get another masters

3/28/2009 6:52:06 PM

I've been in grad school for three years, and the main reason, I think, is that people in grad school are professional students. They are good at school and accustomed to getting A's and B's, so that's what they do (studying their asses off if necessary.) It's a standing joke in our Department, actually:

A=acceptable
B=bad
C=crap

3/28/2009 7:15:25 PM

Quote :

"^What was grad degree in, and why did you drop out?"

It would've been a Masters in Civil Engineering (non-thesis).

I dropped out for a number of reasons.

1. My department wouldn't provide me financial aid or any opportunities to help with tuition/expenses (minimum GPA for that is 3.50, mine was 3.413).
2. I had to work at least 24 hours a week at the engineering firm I was at in order to pay the bills.
3. I had to stay in school full time to keep my health insurance, otherwise I couldn't afford to go to school (I am paying for it now at about $370/mo).

I couldn't stay in school full time, but if I dropped down my health insurance would get nixed and I absolutely have to have it because I'm a diabetic (and there aren't affordable healthcare options for us, we just get fucked by the system).

I tried my hardest to get my work done but it was completely unmanageable and just studying and doing the homework was more than a full time job by itself. With lots of work, lots of school, barely enough time for sleep, and no time to exercise or even tend to my basic healthcare needs, my shit got messed up in a hurry. It got to the point where I was in a weakened state and started getting a sinus infection again, but it was bad enough that my ears were ringing extremely loudly all the time. It was so bad I couldn't hear the professors presenting and I couldn't focus on things while reading, it just totally fried your concentration.

At that point I dropped out because things were financially and health-wise unmanageable. I was also depressed, but I don't feel like whining about that. I managed to go to a bunch of doctors after dropping out and they figured out I am retardedly allergic to just about everything (which caused the sinus infections) and that I have lost a significant amount of hearing in my right ear (so now my ears don't work together quite right and I have a tricky time paying attention to conversations with any background noise around me).

I also found out, though they didn't tell me, that my parents couldn't afford to pay to put me through another semester of school anyway. I decided to move on and try to take care of my expenses myself and maybe go back to grad school some time later. Then my company said "hey we don't have room for you any more, this is your last day" right as the economy was imploding and I've been stuck without a job since then.

My situation is unique, but it's very different between schools as far as how much work you're going to have to do and what will be involved as far as classwork/homework goes.

3/28/2009 8:27:06 PM

My adviser tells me that grades aren't really the objective in grad school, its your research that's important.

3/28/2009 11:50:05 PM

^ Start getting a bunch of Cs and I bet they'll change their tune.

3/28/2009 11:56:38 PM

Honestly you are older, wiser and a lot more serious about school if you are doing grad school. That and the fact you can't drop below a 3.0. I did really well in grad school compared to my undergrad days. This was basically b/c college was a party for me and I didn't fully apply myself so I did what I needed to do to pass with Bs. After accomplishing what I have in Grad school I do wish I had been more studious in my undergrad days. But like I said you grow older and wiser and become more dedicated.

3/28/2009 11:57:14 PM

lol, liberal arts grad school is easy anyway.

3/29/2009 12:46:50 AM

Grad school kicked my ass, but I'm glad I got through it.

There are several reasons grad students have higher grades, and yeah I'm sure part of it is teachers not wanting students getting kicked out of grad school.

But to begin with, the type students who go to grad school tend to focus more on their education. Grad students don't take as many classes so they have more time to work on research and assignments. I didn't do my research project until after I finished all my classes and while I was in class I was still working on school projects or assignments until mid to late evening 5-7 days a week. My research took 6 months of working full time to complete.

I also knew several grad students who dropped classes at their own expenses to avoid getting C's.

3/29/2009 12:49:03 AM

Frankly, grad students who are only capable of comprehending material at a "C" level lose their assistantships. If you're a professor, you're not going to waste your grant money funding a mediocre student. I know a professor who will fire students who work for them if they don't make at least an A- in classes with material directly relating to their research.

3/29/2009 1:08:07 AM

Quote :

"that, my friends, is why college is bullshit and its unfortunate anything other than completion of a college degree is laughed upon by employers just push dumbass students on through so you look like youre doin your job, what a great system"

maybe you see that occasionally in undergrad. you definitely see it in grade school. But I don't see professors pushing grad students through.

1. Most of grad students are pretty damn smart - they are already A/B students for the most part
2. They have semester projects in every class - and not some bullshit, let me google this for an hour then write a paper. They are real research/design projects that take months to complete.
3. GRAs have their own research project to do as well.

With all of the work required of GRAs combined with their determination, you rarely see lower than B effort, work, and results.

3/29/2009 8:47:30 AM

How many of you guys are engineering grad students?

3/29/2009 9:52:06 AM

i am

i'm only doing on class/semester since i work full time though

gonna take forever

3/29/2009 10:04:01 AM

I am (GRA)

3/29/2009 10:09:39 AM

it also looks bad on the program if students fail. if you go through the vigorous interview process and they only accept 6-8 people, they better be good. our department said nobody has ever been kicked out of the program, but i know of one girl they talked to and she "decided on her own to drop out"...after much persuasion from them (or so i heard).

3/29/2009 11:50:42 AM

Quote :

"You have to have a 3.0 in grad school, anything lower is failing."

and then they get deported.

3/29/2009 1:26:32 PM

Does anyone have any experiences from grad school in PRT that they can share?

3/29/2009 2:01:10 PM

.... you can get an MS in PRT?

3/29/2009 2:07:16 PM

^Ph.D.

3/29/2009 2:13:02 PM

wow, jesus.....

I'm a Dr. of Recreation and Tourism. I like the sound of that!

3/29/2009 2:13:57 PM

Quote :

"if you go through the vigorous interview process and they only accept 6-8 people, they better be good."

Lol vigorous interview process.

Yeah, each department is different. <_<

As I said, CE felt just like undergrad only they threw more work your way and didn't give you as many resources.

Getting into the department is a joke if your GPA is 3.0 or up.

3/29/2009 2:55:55 PM

Actually there is a Masters of PRT program that I'll be in next year. Just wondering if anyone on here could give me some insight.

3/29/2009 3:46:45 PM

i think the major third variable here is that folks in grad school are naturally going to have a better work ethic than the general undergrad population.

3/29/2009 5:27:04 PM

C's are basically F's in grad school

[Edited on March 29, 2009 at 5:37 PM. Reason : s]

3/29/2009 5:35:47 PM

thank you captain obvious, we have already come to that conclusion

3/29/2009 6:09:36 PM

just answering the question

seriously, you can take your cock sucking trolling elsewhere, fatboy

3/29/2009 6:21:21 PM

Is anyone here in English grad school (NCSU or elsewhere)? I'd like to hear how the experience is different from all the engineering students.

3/29/2009 6:23:41 PM

My wife has her master's in english. She basically read 2000+ pages per week and probably wrote about 30+ pages per week. Paid assistantships in the humanities are a rarity. That standards for grading still apply however.

3/29/2009 6:42:13 PM

Just finished a master's in economics this past december. I can say that the A/B scenario is definitely a mixture of students and teachers. You do have to mess up or be behind everyone else to get a C (or lower) in a class. However, you have to consider the fact that just about everyone works really hard, spends time on their projects, and are smart individuals to start with. So you have smart people who have personally and financially committed to a little more school. Youd like to think theyd to do well. In addition to that, theres the 3.0 thing and the C stigma in grad school. With that, you have a lot of A's and B's, with very few C's.

3/29/2009 8:40:12 PM

set em up

3/29/2009 10:20:31 PM