Who Is a PSU Engineering Alum?
- Thread starter AgSurfer
- Start date
BSME 08. That's 2008 in case anyone got confused. Reading this board everyday kinda made me assume everyone was the same age as me. I guess my brain subconsciously turns you guys into something I want you to be. Weird how the mind works sometimes. I am now realizing that most of you are old enough to be my father!
I disagree with not taking the weed out classes. If you can place out of them, then you are missing out on many easy A's that bump up the GPA .
another BSME 1990 here
It depends on the student and the format.
I got an A in Calc in HS, then got a C+ in Math 140. I stink at multiple choice tests -- no partial credit for an error anywhere along the way, and no time to go back and re-work any mistakes.
I went to UPark. Guessing that same class would've been a regular exam at most branch campuses and community colleges, that didn't have 400+ students per section.
Differential Equations was a class that damn near killed me. I finally took it during a summer session and got a B.
If any of you are engineers in the auto industry, just know I bitch about you every time I have to work on my car…
So much has changed since the 70's, 80's, and 90's. I'll give a few examples:
In 1982 my 3.2 GPA put me in Tau Beta Pi, top 10% of the College of Engineering
It used to be that students who failed out of Engineering transferred to Business. Today, Smeal only accepts transfers from DUS and since you can only change Colleges between semester breaks you had to get busy between Freshman and Sophomore years so you could transfer to Smeal after first semester Sophomore year (if you aren't in Smeal during second semester sophomore year you aren't going to get into Smeal). And this only gets you into Smeal because you choose your major first semester Junior year. Oh, and you had to complete about 21 required credits before Junior year or you would be booted. In addition, the lowest GPA for ANY major in Smeal during the 21/22 year was for the BS in Management which required a 3.0 GPA. All other majors were higher, much higher.
The magic of Google has changed college forever. Concepts that may have taken me 20 solid hours to grasp can be delivered in seconds, fully explained with additional examples merely by typing the problem directly into the Google. Google will know what to do and find the complete solution out there somewhere. Kinda of pisses me off when I think about it, but I do like telling the young folks that I'm from the generation that invented the internet! That usually shuts them up for a bit.
In 1982 my 3.2 GPA put me in Tau Beta Pi, top 10% of the College of Engineering
It used to be that students who failed out of Engineering transferred to Business. Today, Smeal only accepts transfers from DUS and since you can only change Colleges between semester breaks you had to get busy between Freshman and Sophomore years so you could transfer to Smeal after first semester Sophomore year (if you aren't in Smeal during second semester sophomore year you aren't going to get into Smeal). And this only gets you into Smeal because you choose your major first semester Junior year. Oh, and you had to complete about 21 required credits before Junior year or you would be booted. In addition, the lowest GPA for ANY major in Smeal during the 21/22 year was for the BS in Management which required a 3.0 GPA. All other majors were higher, much higher.
The magic of Google has changed college forever. Concepts that may have taken me 20 solid hours to grasp can be delivered in seconds, fully explained with additional examples merely by typing the problem directly into the Google. Google will know what to do and find the complete solution out there somewhere. Kinda of pisses me off when I think about it, but I do like telling the young folks that I'm from the generation that invented the internet! That usually shuts them up for a bit.
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Differential Equations and Thermodynamics were the weed out courses. The good thing is I hired a tutor to get through DiffyQ. Ended up marrying the girl. Should have kept her as a tutor. She became expensive as a wife....
Did you by any chance have Dr Steve Turns as your Thermo professor? He's an old friend that I knew when I was in 9th grade.
@AgSurfer Idaho went to Utah State University.
I have 3 cousins that are brothers that all went to PSU for engineering. I think from about 86-96. Last name Plummer. Anyone here possibly classmates with one?
I worked for a corporate engineering firm that was much like the movie Office Space. Drove me insane. I couldn't wait to get out of there.
I now work for a govt agency, and at least our group seems to be fairly well insulated from much of the BS. Or maybe I've learned to ignore it.
I fully agree with you about HR folks. They seem to stir up crap just to justify their jobs.
HR has its own agenda. Like you I am in government. Don't cross them, they make their careers on screwing people. To quote Scott Adams from Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook; like lawyers but without the "charm and verbal skills".
Someday, I'm planning on writing "Confessions of a Bureaucrat". Here's a preview: a 50 something employee (Pitt undergrad) took a job as relatively low level clerical supervisor, despite Rutgers MBA after three years out of work. Issues culminated in waiving a gun like a banana, complete with automatic fire sound effects. Employee Assistance instructed me to counsel about "workplace violence". Result was a nine page handwritten fantasy-laden sexual harassment complaint, written with such rage the paper was embossed. Three months later, HR concluded "no evidence was found to corroborate" the claims. Consistent with EEO law, no consequences for her.
