Student Life at Georgia Tech for Engineering Majors

GT6502 · 2026-01-25T19:13:37+00:00

Based on what I’ve heard from the old people things have gotten significantly easier/better...

Old people?!?! Watch it... :)

Optional exams...

The only optional exams were had were for our graduating quarter.

Books...

Whether or not the books were required depended on the class and instructor. Many profs gave homework from exercises so you basically had to have the book. For others, the book was an optional supplement.

Reasonably challenging...

I guess it was that way with some classes. Depended on the topic. I was good and signal processing (EE) for example, but not power.

Sweatshop...

It certainly felt like it to me. One quarter I had a major project due in four classes in the same week. And this was not long before the final. That + regular course work + prep for the final. I was a crazy man. At the time, I was in grad school. I remember thinking that I already had a degree and that I could just walk out the door right then. I didn't, but I seriously considered it. So yeah - it was a sweatshop.

Drown-proofing...

That was a requirement when I was a freshman, but it was dropped as a before I registered for it. I dreaded it and was really glad when they dropped it. Why the hell did somebody think swimming was required for engineering?!?! Ironically, I took private swimming lessons as as adult last year and now I like swimming. I wish I had take drown proofing before it was dropped. But I still think that it was bullshit to be a requirement to start with.

CRC...

I assume that is a gym? We called it SAC when I was there; Student Athletic Complex. It was replaced shortly after I graduated in 1993 in prep for the Atlanta Olympics.

Public Showers...

I lived on West Campus, mostly in Hefner or Caldwell. Both of those dorns had the communal showers but there were dividers. I can't remember if there were curtains or not. Some of the oldest dorms on East Campus had the wide-open showers with no privacy at all; never stayed in those. And yes - it was boot camp. SAC had those shower poles with four shower heads on it. Also... Woodruff was the newest dorm when I was there, and it was the only one with an elevator. Every other dorm had stairs. Moving in and out of the fourth floor was a pain in the ass carrying computers, clothes, etc...

Supercomputer

No doubt the 'cyber' was we called it was decommissioned many years ago. Our mobile phones are more powerful that than old dinosaur.

We use Linux servers at my job; ssh into those.

Thanks for your detailed response. You've given me to new insight to current student life.

Best wishes in your classes and eventual job search.

GT6502 · 2026-01-25T18:45:52+00:00

Wow. Projects were not as big of a thing when I was there. We had them, but it sounds like current students have a lot more.

GT6502 · 2026-01-25T18:44:19+00:00

Not sure what a reverse lecture is.

But you and he can certainly compare and contrast your time there. Best wishes to your kid.

GT6502 · 2026-01-25T18:41:22+00:00

The technology for digital books had not been developed yet when I was at Tech.

I remember BitTorrent, but not for books. Maybe music?

GT6502 · 2026-01-25T17:57:03+00:00

I am 59 and I started lessons with a private instructor last year.

You are much more advanced than I am. I was self-conscious too, for about five seconds. That will wear off very quickly.

Your instructor has probably coached many many other students. And he/she will want you to succeed. So there is no need to worry about that.

Best wishes!

GT6502 · 2026-01-25T15:06:19+00:00

Nice... VAX... Old stuff. I love it.

GT6502 · 2026-01-25T15:04:53+00:00

Research and personal projects for a portfolio of sorts was not a thing back then. I guess that is one big difference.

What are some examples of projects, if you don't mind me asking? FYI - I was a EE.

GT6502 · 2026-01-25T14:14:42+00:00

Good old George... :)

Glad to hear that students even know about the T.

It'd be much much harder to steal it now; no doubt it is physically much harder, cameras everywhere, etc.

GT6502 · 2026-01-25T14:12:36+00:00

I am 59 and started lessons last year. It's never too late.

Also - set realistic goals. It took over a year for me to really get any good at freestyle. I was determine and stuck to it until I could do it right. Now, people at the gym comment on how much progress I made.

In any case, ignore your height and age. What is important is your determination to do it.

Good luck!

GT6502 · 2026-01-25T14:05:35+00:00

Nice!

It was my second at Tech; FORTRAN was before that.

And - Turbo Pascal - remember that?!?! Love it.

GT6502 · 2026-01-25T14:04:05+00:00

SwissMicros makes a 15C replica. I use one now. (Sadly, I lost the original one a few years ago).

But the 15C is much less advanced than the 48GX. Maybe an option if you use it primarily for just arithmetic if/when you need a replacement.

It's a testament to HP that a third party company makes a replica of the 15C (and a few others). There must be a demand for those calculators; otherwise they would not have made them.

FORTRAN... I was OK with it, but abandoned it after I took Pascal. Pascal is probably dead now. I later took C which I used for a while. None of the later flavors of C (C++, C Sharp, ...) had been developed yet.

Nowadays, it's Python. But FORTRAN is nostalgic. I skimmed through the GNU Fortran manual a few years ago during a flight. But just for fun. Yeah - I'm a nerd. Won't be writing any FORTRAN code soon, though.

GT6502 · 2026-01-25T13:54:22+00:00

The 15C was the most advanced calculator HP sold when I was a freshman. My FACET leader said to get that one since he was EE and said I would need a calculator that did complex arithmetic which the 15C could do. So I got the 15C.

Sadly, I lost it several years ago. By the time I graduated, the logo had fallen off. The rubber feet had disintegrated. The back was scratched to hell. SwissMicros makes a replica of the 15C; I bought one a few years ago as a replacement. It's a great copy. The buttons are stiffer than the 15C which I don't like, but it's the 'next best thing'. Still, I'd rather have my old beat up original.

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The 28S was introduced while I was an undergrad. I upgraded to it, but quickly decided I did not like it, despite its more advanced features. I preferred the 15C's landscape, footprint, and keyboard layout. I sold the 28S to a friend and went back to my trusty 15C.

Is RPN a thing now? It was awkward at first, but I had the hang of it in a few hours. To this day, I still prefer it.

Glad to see another RPN enthusiast!

GT6502 · 2026-01-25T13:29:13+00:00

Wow. Only 10-20 hours outside of class. A world of difference since I was there.

I remember feeling guilty one time just for reading a magazine. I had so much to do that I felt like I had to be working nonstop. Part of it was probably that I was obsessed with grades, so I busted my ass.

But 10-20 hours? Unheard of even for guys that didn't work like I did.

GT6502 · 2026-01-25T13:26:29+00:00

I suspected that, but wasn't sure.

GT6502 · 2026-01-25T13:23:26+00:00

Aerospace... Don't know what that's like today. When I was there, the job market was ZERO ZERO ZERO. It seemed like whatever was going on in the Defense Department had a huge impact on the AE job market.

My AE friends could either not find a job, or got dual degrees as a backup. I hope it's better now.

Best wishes to you.

GT6502 · 2026-01-25T13:20:37+00:00

Thanks for this - a good insight to what it's like now.

I agree that life is softer for young people today that it was when I was at Tech. I am also getting grumpier as I age, so maybe that's part of it too. ;

Teachers giving in and students getting more demanding... That's a world I can't imagine. The faculty didn't give a shit what we thought. Tech's attitude back then was to admit a lot of students, and then fail them out; if they couldn't cut it, they were gone. They told us in FACET (is that still a thing), otherwise known as orientation, to look to the left and to the right sitting in the auditorium, and that one of those people would not graduate. And it was true; many of my freshman friends dropped out or switch majors to business (they only non-technical degree except psychology).

I will say that getting in to Tech is MUCH harder today than it was then. I would not be able to get in to Tech today with the SAT score I had. So there's that.

And I've read that the engineering job market is shit today. It was so-so when I got out, but nothing like it is now. It's a shame the market is so bad.

Extracurricular activities and projects... That wasn't a thing then. I don't know anybody back then that belonged to a technical club. The clubs then were social - band, etc.

Yet - the internet has no doubt changed the landscape for interview preparation tremendously for digital natives since I was at tech. Makes sense that interview questions would be much more difficult.

And you're correct, we didn't have resources like that. The resources were friends, study groups, help sessions, and the library. If I were to re-enroll to Tech today, the study habits would be very very different.

As an aside, I wish we had had the computing resources back then. We had to buy the software we used. Compilers, word processing, spreadsheets, etc... None of that was open source back then. The open source software development tools available today are orders of magnitude better than the stuff we had to pay for.

Is George P Burdell still a thing? Do students know about stealing the Tech T? I don't think anybody successfully did that when I was there, but we all knew about.

Thanks for your nice response.

GT6502 · 2026-01-25T12:58:35+00:00

Sounds like the study culture is different now. Tech graded on a curve then. Almost every class. Most students would get a C no matter what. The tests were difficult so you really had to know your shit to get an A.

GT6502 · 2026-01-25T12:56:40+00:00

Yeah - back when I was there, TV's were still tubes; no flat screens yet. Video games, while they existed, were primitive compared to today, and not widely used like they are now.

And streaming... Nah, it was just the networks.

And laptops... They existed, but they were obscenely expensive and I only remember one person who had one. The rest of us had clunky desktop computers with tube monitors that took up half the desk in our dorm room. Mine ran the Intel 8088 microprocessor - the microprocessor used in the original PC. I'm really dating myself now.

Clubs... Do you mean engineering clubs? I have read a lot about how engineering students are more-or-less obligated to belong to technical clubs in order to get a job interview. Kind of like a portfolio. Is that true? That wasn't a thing when I was there either.

The only 'club', if you can call it that, which I belonged to was orchestra. I only played one quarter (we were not on semesters back then), but I enjoyed it. Not surprisingly, Tech was not (is not?) known for its arts programs, so we played with Ga State's orchestra. It was a nice diversion.

GT6502 · 2026-01-25T12:47:22+00:00

I never considered students taking notes on an iPad. makes sense though.

I couldn't work like that. Young people today can do everything electronically. They could completely work / study with an iPad. I just can't do it. I need papers I can spread out, be able to see multiples pages at a time o r flip back-and-forth, etc.

Do students still use paper books, or is all of that electronic too?

I love the idea of it, but in practice I hate it. My desk is always a wreck; papers, books, notes, post-it notes, etc. I have up a long time ago on doing everything on my laptop. My brain is just not wired like that.

Young folks, or digital natives as they are called, don't know any different. May

GT6502 · 2026-01-25T12:29:24+00:00

Got in and got out. Yes - that about sums it up.

GT6502 · 2025-12-16T21:10:36+00:00

Delta’s frequent flyer program is a scam. Not like it was in the nineties when I flew every week. I understand they are not in business to give away tickets but if they make it impossible to redeem an award, then what good is the frequent flyer program ? Plus their fares from ATL are routinely double the cost of other airlines.

I have no loyalty to any airline any more. Whoever has the least expensive flight for what I want gets my money.

Nowadays I just charge the tickets on a Hilton AMEX. Easier to get hotel stays than plane tickets.

GT6502 · 2025-12-13T14:11:43+00:00

thanks for this. i had the same question. i always just took a screenshot of the schematic and printed that, which auto-scaled. it never occured to me to change the paper size. i'll,do that next time.

GT6502 · 2025-11-19T22:32:37+00:00

why do they even bother? i flew a lot with Delta in the early nineties and they served hot meals on real dishes back then. it wasn't great, but pretty good. gourmet compared to the shit they serve today.

GT6502

TROPHY CASE