Transcript Success in Engineering

Success in Engineering
ELEC 106 Fall 2012
Introduction
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Engineering is hard!
But each of you can get your BSEE degree in
four years
The Citadel EE program has many very
successful EE alumni that had poor HS grades
and low SATs
Other departments also have many ex-EE
students with excellent math and science
backgrounds that would have made
outstanding engineers
Some Case Studies
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Let’s look at some example
transcripts…
Get into five groups
– Study the transcript
– Look at: SAT, Math performance, ECE
performance, Overall GPA, Summer
School
– What can you tell about this student?
How to succeed
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What is success?
– Money?
– Happiness?
– Stuff?
– Feeling of Accomplishment?
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Success is the achievement of goals!
Set Goals
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Goals give you direction
Write your goals down
Ask:
– Why do I want to achieve this goal?
– How can I ensure success at meeting this
goal?
Set Goals
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Divide goals into primary and
secondary, long term (>1 year) and
short term
Make graduating in EE a primary longterm goal
Don’t let hardship deter you from your
goals – it WILL get tough!
Set Goals
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In your group, make a list of goals in
each quadrant Primary
Short Term
Long Term
Secondary
Work Hard
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Ability vs. Effort
– Effort is 99% of the game
– There will always be someone with more ability
than you
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What is effort?
– Using mental power to get something done
– Requires time and energy
– With good time management, it is totally in
YOUR control!
Work Smart
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Recognize what is important to
achieving your goal and what is not
Becoming an expert at anything:
– You must study the theory and practice
– Examples?
Chess
 Musical Instrument
 Sports
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Think Positively
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Be aware of negative attitudes that
can create failure
– Weak commitment to EE
– Becoming a “victim”
– Failure to seek help
– Procrastination
– Avoiding weaknesses
– Negative view of authority figures
Use the tools
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What tools are available to students?
– Other students
– Faculty
– Computer
– School Resources – LOTS!
– Textbook