engineering at ga tech

[devinwebb907]

right now im a freshman at valdosta state(was local, hope pays for everything, living at home...basically it's free). my major is undecided as of now, but i was thinking of doing engineering as my major, which would transfer me to GA Tech in 2 years. my stepdad is an engineer for lockheed(used to work in atlanta, now he works in texas) and i know the money is good in the field...as well as everyone else.

my question is, is anyone on here familiar with ga tech and if possible the engineering department. pros/cons? any suggestions if i do it? how hard would it be to not live in the dorms and go to school there (parking, driving, etc. etc.)? how about getting a job from wherever i'm living(waiting tables would be straight).

anyways if anyone can give me any info i appreciate it.

[ShooterMcGavin]

make sure u know what u wanna do, don't go in and bounce from one engr major to another only to end up riding the M-train a few yrs down the road. if u don't have long, i'd suggest living on campus or JUST off of campus, it's so much easier to be able to roll out ur bed and walk to class instead of having to worry about traffic and parking (don't even get me started on that). plenty of jobs to be had on campus so i'd look there first. lemme know if u have more specific questions.

[devinwebb907]

id really hate to live in the dorms. how far would it be to have a half ass house[or apartment/townhouse/whatever] that isnt in the 'ghetto' or in really run down areas? and how bad would parking be?

[ShooterMcGavin]

dorms suck, but if ur transferring in chances are they'll put u in the aptments. depends, there are places all over to live (especially w/atlantic station there now), but if u want the better places be ready to pay i guess. and parking is fucking horrendous, i hate parking at tech even when i was there and had a parking pass.

[devinwebb907]

so they have apartment style dorms? more or less an apartment but still living on campus? you said i could get a job easily on campus, would that mean i wouldnt have to drive around or find somewhere to park or are there parking spots in front of those apartments or what? im just trying to understand because i think im gonna wind up doing it, im just the type of person that likes to think about things in advance. go ahead and set up my financial situation before i would get there.

[ShooterMcGavin]

yes, it's 4 rooms typically (some are 6, some are 2) in an aptment w/2 bathrooms, living room and kitchen. yeah there are campus jobs on campus which means u could get to them just as easily as u would ur classes so no need to worry about driving there. there is parking in different zones, and then the zones also make up an east side and a west side. if u were lucky u'd get a parking pass on the side of campus u lived on (probably west) and u could park fairly close to ur aptment then.

[GTScoob]

Its normally a lot smarter to transfer to Tech after having taken Calc I, Calc II, Phys I, Phys II, etc those classes are definate weed out classes at Tech.

I agree with Shazam, know what you want to do before actually transferring. I played around with aerospace and mechanical engineering for two and a half years before finally switching to International Affairs.

Parking pass is around $550 for a year. I live in the neighborhood right across the street from campus so I walk every day. There are a bunch of decent college houses in this neighborhood but its not the most secure area.

[devinwebb907]

this neighborhood...what is the rent? how often do houses/rooms come up? and would somebody just ride by and either break in my truck/house and steal things? i wouldnt want to be anywhere near something like that, but i would love to live off of campus.

[Tarzanman]

There is no such thing as a 'weed-out' class at Tech (even though I felt differently while I was there).

This is how it works: Many of the professors are there to do research and make a name for themselves/the school/for science/etc. As such, teaching undergrads is not necessarily their top priority.

One of my pals there told this to me while I was struggling with one of my classes: At Tech, you need to learn to teach yourself.

... which is *very* true. A lot of times you will only get a concept taught and a few demonstrated examples in class which often isn't enough to put the knowledge into practice until you have pored over your notes, text, and homework outside of class.

If you are an engineering major, then get ready to work (unless you are an IE major, heh heh). It is 100% possible to spend every minute of your free time doing classwork/homework, or studying. At Tech, there is *always* something you should probably be doing (instead of hanging out, skating, etc). One of the biggest adjustments I had to make after graduating was shaking the feeling that I should be working on something (instead of playing video games or watching DVDs, etc).

Anyways, as for living arrangements: If you have lived on your own in an apartment or a house, then there is a good chance that you wont' like the dorms. They have their advantages and disadvantages. Unfortunately for students, property values in all of the areas surrounding Tech have gone WAY up in the past 10 years (Centennial place used to be a ghetto, and Home Park used to be a run-down part of town). You can thank the Atlantic Station development, 1996 Olympics, and Tech Square construction for the upswing in rent there. If I had to go back to Tech, I would probably find a place off Howell Mill back around the neighborhoods by the compound to live. I lived in home park for a few months when I got out and wasn't that impressed. Centennial Place looks nice, but I hear that a lot of the neighbors have little-to-no home training.

As for a job... that all depends on what you want to do and how much time you want to spend doing it. I'd get an internship or some kind of part-time work that dealt with technology that you could put on your resume instead of waiting tables.

Which engineering discipline are you thinking about going into?

[GTScoob]

I agree with the comment on weed out classes. They're really hard because you're not being taught information very well. They just have a lot of small assignments but there is plenty of help around on campus, especially for freshmen dorms.

Home park is alright, we've been broken into once. I've never had any problems with my car but my roommate has a Wrangler and has had bums come into his car and empty the glovebox and center console. My house is a little nicer since my parents bought it last year and we fixed it up a lot; rent is $600/person with 3 people living here. I used to live off Collier Rd and it was nice but I had to drive to class everyday.

Get ready for a pretty intense workload and be ready to figure out a lot of stuff on your own. There was another Ga Tech thread a while back and somebody said that Tech doesnt as much teach you information as how to interpret it, essentially you learn a new thought process.

[ShooterMcGavin]

^^^exactly, i had somewhat of an epiphany my last semester. i realized that no matter what classes i had taken there and passed, i'd likely forget it all within some period of time and would have to refresh myself. however, it was then i realized that the one thing that has taught me how to do is to think and to be ABLE to learn. being able pass all the shit there was a lesson, a test, in showing that i can learn and comprehend, even if it's not permanent.

oh, and it doesn't matter where u go but calc 2 has widely been considered THE weedout class, i've known ppl that had failed it multiple times and had to change majors after that.

[imbosile]

I'm a freshman there right now, and the dorms aren't to bad. I live directly across the street from the football stadium, and can wake up 15-20 minutes before my classes start and still get there on time. As of right now Calc II is raping me, I got a 5 on the AB exam from highschool so they gave me credit and really did not want me to take Calc I. This was a huge mistake. You basically will learn nothing in class, I had forgotten so much from Calc AB that it made it much harder for me now. 90% of the time, our professor will do half of a problem and then say "I don't want to insult your intelligence, so I am not going to finish the problem, if you want to know the answer you can work it out". We've had two quizes so far, of which I have made 20's on both.

As for the dorms, it's not that bad. But it might suck for someone who is older, I like it because you are with your friends all the time and can get help on homework or easily find something fun to do.

I have a question for you guys about something they told us at orientation. It was some program called "Freshman Forgive". I think they said if you fail a class your freshman year you can retake it the next semester and if you pass the failing grade is off of your transcript and only the passing grade is figured into your GPA. Do you guys know anything about this?

[ShooterMcGavin]

^^^must be a new program...gl w/calc 2 btw, just remember, a 20 is like a C in a lot of classes at tech

[imbosile]

^^^must be a new program...gl w/calc 2 btw, just remember, a 20 is like a C in a lot of classes at tech

lmfao, i love how my professor stands in front of his writing when hes writing on the board, so you can't really write it down until he moves a few seconds later. It sucks because you never can listen to him, instead you're just writing all the time. Oh and each quiz was out of 10 points, and I got 2 points each time just for showing up. The only possible way I could be doing worse is by not showing up at all.

[ShooterMcGavin]

^^^well props to u, i know a lot of ppl that would've already stopped showing up

[imbosile]

^^^well props to u, i know a lot of ppl that would've already stopped showing up

my plan is to go everyday and learn as much as i can, but i already plan on failing. maybe i can learn enough this semester to ace it next semester. we'll see.

[GIXXERDK]

Dorms are too expensive, better off getting 3 roomates and getting a APT. $1100 a month for 4 bedroom at the Heights at Lenox, RIGHT next to Marta and the Mall. Cant beat that

Classes are fucking ridiculous. I have a friend who took Cal III three times lmao. It'll be better if you take as many classes as you can at Valdosta. If your not sure about your classes transfering go to oscar.gatech.edu and go to course equivilency.

But hey the hard work pays off, AND its TECH. Good luck in your studies

[imbosile]

one good thing about dorms, and being a freshman is the free tutoring in the basement level lounge of all of the Freshman Experience dorms. But there is also plenty of other free tutoring to take advantage of.

[GTScoob]

I have a question for you guys about something they told us at orientation. It was some program called "Freshman Forgive". I think they said if you fail a class your freshman year you can retake it the next semester and if you pass the failing grade is off of your transcript and only the passing grade is figured into your GPA. Do you guys know anything about this?

I remember hearing about this but didnt realize it had gone into effect yet. MIT has had a similar program for a while, it helps freshmen get on their feet.

I'd really encourage you to take some free electives early on too. I was doing engineering because I was pretty good at it but I really didnt like it, I took an international affairs class and was hooked. I would have saved a lot of time if I had realized it during my first or second years.

[GIXXERDK]

I remember hearing about this but didnt realize it had gone into effect yet. MIT has had a similar program for a while, it helps freshmen get on their feet.

I'd really encourage you to take some free electives early on too. I was doing engineering because I was pretty good at it but I really didnt like it, I took an international affairs class and was hooked. I would have saved a lot of time if I had realized it during my first or second years.

That sucks bro

[imbosile]

I remember hearing about this but didnt realize it had gone into effect yet. MIT has had a similar program for a while, it helps freshmen get on their feet.

I'd really encourage you to take some free electives early on too. I was doing engineering because I was pretty good at it but I really didnt like it, I took an international affairs class and was hooked. I would have saved a lot of time if I had realized it during my first or second years.

That's not a bad idea. I may do that.

[GTScoob]

That's not a bad idea. I may do that.

For being a technical school there are plenty of classes about history, psychology, art, music, politics, that many people dont ever get to take since they're too busy going through the rounds of Calc I/II, Phys I/II, Statics, etc.

There is even interesting science electives, I'd recommend the Physics of Music class.

[imbosile]

For being a technical school there are plenty of classes about history, psychology, art, music, politics, that many people dont ever get to take since they're too busy going through the rounds of Calc I/II, Phys I/II, Statics, etc.

There is even interesting science electives, I'd recommend the Physics of Music class.

I know this is sort of different from the electives you listed, but do you know if they have classes on photography?

[ShooterMcGavin]

^^^don't think so, a lot of these electives GTScoob has spoken about is still fairly new to tech and i would venture to say many of them came about in the last 10 yrs or so. used to be tech didn't have shit in the way of classes that weren't sci/engr related.

[GTScoob]

The Architecture dept might have some sort of photography elective you can take. There is probably some sort of photography club at the least.

[devinwebb907]

so you posted living somewhere and taking marta. do alot of people do this? is it a big pain in the ass? etc. etc. more info on this please...id love to live away from campus and not have a huge hassle on getting to class.

[GTScoob]

I'd drive over taking Marta but it is an option. Parking permits were up to $575 I think this year, last year they were 550 and the price keeps rising.

I dont hear of too many GT kids riding marta but there are Tech buses that run to and from the midtown Marta station.

[imbosile]

dorms > all.

[ShooterMcGavin]

^^^correction, harris > all

[imbosile]

^^^correction, harris > all

haha

Glenn > Towers

[ShooterMcGavin]

^^^towers pretty much sux yo

[GTScoob]

Montag dorm parties > anything frat row had to offer my freshmen year.

I swear we had to have had 200+ people in there some weekends, different drinks in each room.

[man]

Im an AE right now and also pledging at a frat down there while living in alpharetta, lets just say I have no free time

[imbosile]

Im an AE right now and also pledging at a frat down there while living in alpharetta, lets just say I have no free time

shit, your pledging and live off campus...thats suicide. my roomate is pledging fiji and a few days a week he has to be at the house at 5 a.m to clean up. he has to be there for hours 5/7 nights a week. I don't know how you do that man. Where are you pledging?

[man]

Delta Tau Delta... I have clean ups at 9am on Saturday + Sunday so it's not that bad. Though it usually take a while to clean up.