October 22, 2004
A: FROM MENTOR DEBORAH GRUBBE IN DE
Purdue is fantastic for young women interested in Engineering, and it has
the benefits of a large campus with a small campus atmosphere. Also, it is
one of the few engineering schools in the USA that is getting stronger
during this decade.
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A: FROM MENTOR CAROL TOMAN IN IL
Every school has a policy for dropping courses ... generally drops
before a certain date do not show on your transcript but drops after a
certain date show "withdraw passing" or "withdraw failing". Schools
vary quite a bit on how generous they are with the deadline date. The
most generous policy I'm aware of is at Brown in Rhode Island where
students are encouraged to sign up for 6 or 7 classes, attend the first
few weeks of classes, then drop the ones they're less interested in. A
typical course load is 4 classes. This policy helps assure that
everyone in a class really wants to be there.

While I don't have much to say about the specific institutions you list,
I'd advise you to evaluate how competitive their culture is and decide
what level of competition you thrive at. Some schools have an attitude
that there is enough success available for everyone to be successful and
therefore students should help each other learn while other schools
limit how many A's are given in classes and ration how many students
graduate with honors. This is an aspect of evaluating universities that
I feel is neglected. Read some books about choosing a college to learn
about more factors you might want to consider. Start visiting
convenient schools as early as your sophomore year. This will help
refine what you're looking for in a school. Good luck!
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A: FROM MENTOR KATHY JEAN IN IL
I attended both University of Illinois (at Chicago) and Northwestern University in Evanston for my undergrad education. I never dropped courses at Northwestern University, because it is a very expensive private school, and YOU do NOT get your money back if you drop the course(s). I took my classes seriously at NU, and I worked hard at keeping a good GPA there, with no expectation of dropping courses. It's a serious financial commitment to go to such a private school like NU...so be sure to sign up for the right amount of courses, and work load.

As for U of IL at Chicago Campus, the logistics regarding this big university made it very inconvenient for dropping courses....sometimes more hassle if you do not drop the course on time by a certain date. I dropped one course at U of IL very early, when I realized that I signed up for too many courses (beyond full time), and that did not reflect badly at all on my graduate school application to dental school. If you drop too many courses, maybe that would look bad, but if you only dropped one course in four years (to get your bachelor's degree), then that would not be a problem towards your application to grad school. I think that the admissions people for grad school are most likely looking for trends or signs of improvement/progress for your overall undergrad education. They will consider standardized exam scores, letters of recommendation, extra-cirricular achievements too.
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A: FROM MENTOR BARB KONTOGIANNIS IN CO
I think it's harder on the student to drop a course than it is on the university. In my experience, it's common for students to drop courses, for a variety of reasons. You have to make sure you are doing it for the right reason, and that you do not put your full-time status in jeopardy (if that's a concern). I dropped a course twice in college. The first time was when I just wasn't "getting it" in a math class. I had never experienced anything remotely like the failure I was feeling in that class. After lots of soul searching and discussions with my dad, I decided it was best to drop it, and try again later. I enrolled again later 2 quarters later, with a different professor, and what a huge difference! The lightbulb went on, and the material made sense. There was no stigma whatsoever from the school, or my peers. It was the right thing for me to do, and I did eventually learn the material.
The second experience with dropping a course was a little different. It was an engineering public speaking course (important stuff, really!) and the ground rule was that if you missed one class you would fail. I was faced with a dilemma to either travel to a dear friend's wedding out of state, or to stay and not miss the class. I chose to drop the class, and support my good friend on her wedding day. But I actually went to the last two classes and learned the material anyway. It was an elective, and I just didn't get the 1 unit of credit for it, which I didn't need for my graduation totals anyway.
So, it really depends on the situation, but dropping classes is not uncommon. Of course, you have to look at the policies specific to the university where you are enrolled.

Now for the second part of your question. Stanford. Awesome. I would not trade my educational experience there for ANYTHING! The coursework was strong, and the community and learning outside the classroom was also excellent. Yes, it's pricey, but I would do it again in a minute. I have two degrees from Stanford - BS in Mechanical Engineering and MS in Aeronautics and Astronautics (essentially Aerospace Engineering). I completed both in 5 years.
All of the universities you have listed are excellent for engineering and science. You will have to decide which one is the best fit for you. Years ago, I read a lot of material about each university I was considering, and decided on Stanford over Purdue, RPI, Yale and the University of Colorado. Stanford is big enough, but not so big like U of Michigan where one can become lost. You should consider size, location, extracurricular activities, etc., as it appears all the institutions on your list are high-caliber for academics. Good luck to you, and if you have any specific questions, or specific types of experiences you are interested to hear about, please post another question!
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A: FROM MENTOR TAMAIRA ROSS IN WA
I attended Purdue University for both my Bachelor's and Master's in Aeronautical Engineering. Overall, I had a really positive experience there, which is one reason I decided to stay at Purdue to do my M.S. degree after finishing my B.S. even though I also looked at Stanford and Michigan. The state universities in Indiana are roughly divided along discipline lines - Indiana University has a large arts program, med school, law school, etc. and Purdue has all the engineering, agriculture, veterinary, pharmacy, etc. So, what this means is that Purdue has one of the largest engineering programs in the country because the state's resources (for engineering) are only directed towards one major school. I think being a student in a large engineering school is a positive. All of the engineering disciplines are offered and each one has sufficient resources. The disadvantage of a smaller program is that the specific engineering discipline that you're interested in may not be available as an undergraduate, so you may have to go into a related discipline. I think it's better to pursue the particular type of engineering you would like to do sooner rather than later. I think students respond better when they are truly interested in a subject. For example, aeronautical engineering is not available at many schools as an undergraduate curriculum. I would not have been as interested in studying the related discipline of mechanical engineering for 4 years and then going on to graduate school for aero. Stanford is one school that has that type of setup. Regardless, all engineering curriculums cover general engineering for the first 2 years. Being in your chosen discipline means that you'll get into the specific classes in your junior and senior years.

Overall, I found the professors and staff at Purdue to be great to work with. There was ample opportunity to do research with professors and through student organizations like the solar car project, human-powered helicopter, etc. I also had the chance to organize conferences during job fairs and to be president of the Aero honorary. So, in addition to technical experience, I also gained organization and team-building experience. I think Purdue gave me unique opportunities along these lines that I may have not gotten at another school. Purdue also has a great reputation for engineering. Even with my limited experience in engineering after my freshman year, I was able to get an engineering summer internship. I went on to work at NASA and Boeing for the following summers. Internships and co-op experience certainly help when you're out looking for that first full-time job.

There are some disadvantages to going to a big university like Purdue. The class sizes tend to be very large in the first two years. Because all of the freshman and sophomore engineering students generally take the same classes, there are lots of people, sometimes up to 400 in one class. With all of these students and limited spots in the specific disciplines, some of those classes tend to be "weed out" classes, i.e. the professor is trying to fail about 20-30% of the people. You usually know which classes these are and can get extra help in them, so I didn't find this to be a huge obstacle, but it definitely makes the class challenging. I think students need to be more assertive at a big school, i.e. if you need help in a class, you need to ask because no one is going to hold your hand. I think learning when to ask for help is a valuable part of growing up. It's not that you can't get help from the professors, you just need to make sure you're the responsible one and take the initiative to go get help. I found that the people I knew that didn't do well in engineering were the ones who thought they didn't need any help or waited until two days before the final to panic and desperately seek help.

I hope this long message helps. Go Boilers!!!
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A: FROM MENTOR SUZAN SONG IN MA
Hi Janis: I think there are a few things to think of:

1. Which class was it? Does it relate to what your career may be?
For example, if you want to be a biologist, and dropped out of a biology
course, some would wonder if you really want to be a biologist.

2. Why did you drop out?
If it was due to personal reasons (a relative dying), that would be easier to
accept than for other reasons (it conflicted with your favorite t.v. show)

As for colleges, I really only know about 3 of the above. But keep in mind,
this is just one opinion, and your personality may be completely difft from
mine:

1. Univ of Michigan - Ann Arbor GO BLUE!!!
This is where I did my undergrad. It's a large school with a definite college
feel. The sports are huge - tons of school pride, and the games, before, and
after, are superfun -- even if you aren't into sports at all (like me). It's
also liberal - there are protests and boycots almost daily in the Diag. You
have tons of opportunities, and there is a diverse student body. Ann Arbor is
a college town - safe, lots of students around, tons of school pride. Since
it's large, you can find a niche - whether it be in sports, greek life, the
honors program, or the humanities. I was in the Residential College (a small
program that focuses on languages and the humanities) where you aren't graded
- everything is discussion format and based on evaluations.

It really is an excellent overall university - a great place to be an
undergrad, since I think your undergrad should be where you develop not only
career goals, but also personality. Funny, I always thought I didn't enjoy
college that much, but looking back now, there really wasn't a better place!

And although it's a public state school, it's one of the best (also super
expensive for out-of-staters). A lot of people go there that didn't make it in
the Ivys.

2. Northwestern - have heard great things about this school (that it's ranked
the #1 best place to go to college). I've been, and know people from there...
it seems like a very nice suburb. If you're that type, then it may just be the
right place for you. It's very safe, and the students are all from Gap
commercials :) Evanston is nice (you should definitely visit since you're in
IL)

3. U of I - I have friends from the Champaign (sp?)-Urbana school, and they
all loved it. Not sure if you're Asian (I am, so I'm more interested in that
stuff), but they have an awesome Asian activist scene there.

4. Stanford - beautiful campus - but isolated, so some complain that there
isn't much to do. Although others have said it doesn't matter bc they do
everything on campus. Stanford in general tends to focus on cultivating
diversity of thought, which I really like. They want people to be
multi-disciplinary, with lots of varied interests (well-rounded); so the
education is strong.

Good luck with the whole process! And feel free to contact me with any
questions you may have. Also - the best thing to do is to contact the school
and get a list of names of students (can even be random). Definitely talk
around as much as possible to get a feel of what it's like there. Never base a
decision/impression on one opinion :) take care!
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A: FROM MENTOR LESLIE WAITE IN CA
Hey Janis!
This is something that a lot of people worry about, and in my
opinion, there is a lot of misinformation out there.
Colleges really don't give a rat's patoot if you drop a class.
Honest. People drop classes for a lot of reasons: they take too many
because they don't realize how hard it is, the class isn't as
interesting as they thought, they have another class they need to
focus on, they get sick, etc. etc. etc. All of these are perfectly
good reasons to drop a course, and people do it all the time.
Colleges expect this to happen, and they really don't care.

The only time it MIGHT matter (and I emphasize MIGHT) is if you
routinely drop classes, then retake them later. This might indicate
that you bail on a class if it is hard to avoid a bad grade, then
re-take it a second time to get a better grade. Even then, the
college you are in won't really care; it is only if you want to go to
med, grad or law school later on that someone MIGHT check your
transcripts for this habit. Even here, you would have to do it a LOT
for anyone to even notice. I definitely had courses that I dropped
due to lack of interest or because I underestimated how much study
time each class would take (commonly done as a freshman). I even
dropped a course because I bombed the first exam, and the teacher was
completely unsupportive of helping me figure out how to do better (he
basically said I needed to drop the course because I was a loser! Bad
teacher!). Some I never took again, some I re-took with a new (and
more supportive) teacher. And no one has ever mentioned it to me.
Ever. Of course, this might be because it is not on my transcript: at
the University of Illinois at Urbana, if you dropped classes by a
certain date, there was no record that you had even signed up for
them. Which brings up another point: it is silly for a med or grad
school to care about your "drops"; since different schools have
different policies, things that are on the transcript from one school
won't be on the transcript from another school, so it is hard for
them to compare students in this way. So don't worry about dropping a
class, or feel like you have to stick it out in a course that you
hate or are doing really badly in for whatever reason. It is much
better to use good judgement about your abilities and time and to
drop a course than to stick it out and do poorly not only in the
loser course, but in other courses that you didn't have time for
because you didn't drop the loser course.
As for experiences at colleges- as I mentioned, I got my Bachelor's
degree from U of I at Urbana. I had a blast there! It was basically a
town devoted to 18-22 year olds, and that was cool. It is a big
school, so you need to be independently motivated- no one is going to
call you to see why you missed class, as I have heard will happen at
some smaller liberal arts colleges. But I felt this was a good test
of my ability to be off on my own. I also found that if you sought
out professors (with the exception of the big loser mentioned above)
and/or teaching assistants, there was a lot of support there. Just
don't be shy about seeking help out. If you have more specific
questions, I am happy to answer them. But in a general sense, I would
say U of I rocks! Oskee wow wow!
(http://www.bands.uiuc.edu/MI/tradition/oskee.asp)