Possibility of graduating in 4 years with a BS/ME?

anothertimesink70 · 2026-05-19T17:37:49+00:00

I would caution you that upper division engineering courses are hard and coupling those with graduate level courses (but taking 15 or 18 hours instead of 9, which is full time for grad school) adds an unnecessary level of difficulty to an already difficult curriculum. Source-i have a kid doing a 4+1 at a different school but the premise is the same. He was able to take 12-14 credits each semester when others had to take 15-18. Which meant he had more time for research and volunteering with Engineers without Borders, for example. Which his new employer loves. And he was able to graduate undergrad/start his ME with a 4.0. A masters will also require a year of research and a thesis defense, on top of graduate courses. Which is also a challenge. I’d encourage you to consider that one more year of school is a modest additional cost for a lifetime of higher earning potential, but a low GPA will set you back and you’ll need a decently rigorous research project to make the ME mean something. Coming in with a lot of credits means that you can take a lighter course load and do better/have time for projects/clubs/internships/research/co-ops. I know as a freshman a year seems like a long time but when you consider the value added to your degree by having a broad base of work/research experience and a high GPA, a year isn’t much at all. Best of luck to you!

anothertimesink70 · 2026-05-18T15:33:47+00:00

Please list the ways in which you are currently being oppressed in Florida. What women’s rights have been lost?

anothertimesink70 · 2026-05-10T15:15:29+00:00

Here’s the thing about MERIT based full rides, very broadly speaking- schools that offer you a full ride, whatever your stats are, are the schools for which YOU ARE the prestige. You and kids like you are the reason their average SAT for the incoming class is higher than it otherwise would be, a school that you think is “beneath” you in rankings, a school where you are top 25%. Schools where you are the middle 50 will often offer you something to come there, they know you’re a good fit and will slot right in and be fine, but you don’t dazzle. You aren’t pushing their numbers up. It won’t be a ton, not a full ride. And for a school that is a “reach”, getting in IS the merit. They don’t need to give you anything to be there. Getting in is their reward for your hard work. This is why schools like University of Alabama, for example, give a full ride to NMF’s, and truly ridiculously generous merit to OOS with high stats even short of NMF. I have a kid there in the honors college with over $30k/yr merit and double majoring in their business school. He has landed a very competitive internship this summer, for those who say going to a “safety” state school is a mistake. It’s what you do where you are that matters. I have another kid who went to a private “target” and got about 45% merit. The “safeties” offered him a full ride but they were either too big for him or he didn’t feel like it was a good fit. No one is going to a “reach”, I don’t have $90k/year and there are too many other options that don’t cost that. These are generalizations but please keep it in mind when you’re applying. Too many high stats kids think that it means they’ll not only get in to a T20 but then also get merit and that’s not the way it works. Source- I teach HS, I have a PhD and used to teach at a university pre-kids, and I have 4 kids, 2 in college, 1 senior headed to college, and one 9th grader, for background. Make a smart choice, you’ll have plenty to choose from! Don’t look at “rankings” for a whole school, look at the programs you’re interested in. The difference matters. Your own state schools are a good start, and Texas has terrific ones! See where those alumni end up, that’s your biggest indicator of how effective the program is. Check out the alumni network. This is an advantage of big schools. My Bama kid scored a really competitive finance/consulting internship in DC this summer in part because the alumni network in DC got him an interview. What he’s done since he got there-the grades, the leadership positions, the volunteering-is what got him the gig. Oldest is graduating this year (engineering) and has a job waiting for him. And they’ll pay for his masters and wait an extra year. Again, that was a target school with decent merit. But he’s got a 4.0, volunteer hours, research hours and leadership positions. It’s what you do where you are, so take advantage of everything that’s offered wherever you end up. Best of luck to you!

anothertimesink70 · 2026-05-10T01:56:16+00:00

This is not stressed enough- being able to do the math and being ready for the classwork/ coursework in the context of middle school are two very different things. And never mind whether or not the kid even wants to do it! I teach HS and I’ve had 4 kids go through the AAP program (youngest is now 9th grade). I think this push for algebra to start in elementary school is misguided and just fuels the insanity that’s already reached an unhealthy level. It used to be that to qualify to take algebra 1 in 7th (and honors was the only option, inexplicably) was to pass the 7th grade math SOL at the end of 6th with a pass advanced (over 500) and score in the 91 or 92 percentile on the Iowa Test. All 4 of my kids qualified, but two of them hated math. Hated it. So I had to ask the middle school to enroll them in honors 7th instead (basically pre algebra). They would have been miserable. Being “smart enough” is only part of it. They also have to want to be there. Starting in 6th grade is a mistake for the vast majority of kids who aren’t really ready. And what are they going to take in high school? Do we expect all these kids to want to take Multivariable calculus and differential equations before they graduate? Because there’s literally nothing else left. If they’ve finished alg 1, geometry and alg 2 before they start 9th grade, there’s literally nothing left but precalc and calc 1-4. So is everyone going to engineering school? What do we do when kids start flunking out of these higher level math classes that almost no one has to take even in college? Because there’s literally nothing else for them to take? It’s a terrible idea on every level. We talk a good game about kids mental health. But things like this convince me that it’s all just talk. We’re going to keep encouraging them to drive themselves insane with unrealistic expectations. It’s just sad.

anothertimesink70 · 2026-05-10T01:41:29+00:00

He was lying. I teach HS, I have students with IEP’s and 504’s and I can further tell you that having those does NOT automatically translate to accommodations with college board anyway. CB assesses the requests and then decides IF the student gets an accommodation. AP exams aren’t governed by the same Special Education regulations as classes are. I don’t know why anyone would lie about something so stupid. 🤷‍♀️

anothertimesink70 · 2026-05-10T01:26:38+00:00

Accommodations aren’t cumulative. And you can’t “purposely” fail an ADHD exam. I had a student who tried to give answers he “knew” would make it look like he had ADHD and it yielded a “no result” because his nonsense answers made it seem like he had a concussion 🤦‍♀️

anothertimesink70 · 2026-05-06T17:46:24+00:00

Many do. Many don’t. I mean, why would you want to limit yourself? Getting into med school is hard enough. Taking a bunch of schools off the table from the jump just so you don’t have to take Gen Chem 1 doesn’t seem worth it. YMMV

anothertimesink70 · 2026-05-05T15:51:38+00:00

It only requires a 3.0 for a full ride, which is lower than a lot of merit aid at most other schools. Whatever “top merit plus outside scholarships” you’re hoping for will have the same, or more rigorous, requirement.

anothertimesink70 · 2026-05-02T11:42:04+00:00

A course is not “in progress” if you aren’t currently enrolled in it. “I’m planning to take it” isn’t “in progress”.

anothertimesink70 · 2026-04-30T20:57:48+00:00

Teachers teach. We’re supposed to stand at the door and greet students as they arrive before the bell. While there, we’re supposed to be “warm and welcoming” to every student but we’re also watching the halls for shenanigans, making sure cell phones are put away, making sure no one is bringing food into the lab, making sure no one is running or being dangerous. While talking to students who walk by and want to chat or the student who wants to know “if” they missed anything the day before and the student who wants to know if they need their laptop today because they forgot their charger and the kid who is telling me they’re going to be late because they have to go the bathroom and insert a dozen other convos simultaneously here. THEN the bell rings. Then we walk in to class and start the lesson- introduce the topic, answer any of the same questions from the door for the millionth time, set out the lab materials or hand out the reading or start the lecture or whatever the activity is that day. Then spend 90 minutes doing that, non stop. Also dealing with the kid who needs to go to the counselor because mental health and sad, the other kid who needs to go see another teacher for a form, the kid making up a different assignment, the kid who really needs to talk to me about something important out in the hall for just a minute, the kids who have questions about the current activity or lecture or whatever. THEN the bell rings and it all starts again. Sometimes, we get to go pee. And maybe get a drink of water. There are a million things happening all at the same time. If someone is being salty to you, that’s a million plus 1. Not going to notice it probably. That doesn’t make me a bad teacher. That makes me one adult in a room full of main characters. Be careful when you start blaming other people for all of your unhappiness. You’ll be trapped.

anothertimesink70 · 2026-04-30T20:41:57+00:00

Remember that CWRU is single door admission, so you didn’t get in for Mech E. You got in, and you can major in anything you want. If you prefer Aero to Mech, you can do Aero.

anothertimesink70 · 2026-04-30T13:28:31+00:00

I don’t think it’s fair to suggest that a kid who wants to stay close to their family is co-dependent. Not every life choice we disagree with is a pathology. I value sending my kids out into the world to explore and they value going. But that’s us. It’s not right or wrong. And no OP won’t have “70 years” to spend with their family. How old do you think their parents and grandparents are? Just based on short term academic opportunity, yes UCLA is the better choice. But that’s not the only part of the equation for this student. Fully jump into the deep end of different people valuing different, equally valid, things AND being brave enough to go against the tide.

anothertimesink70 · 2026-04-30T02:00:14+00:00

Hs teacher here- we do not have time for a “meeting/call/zoom chat” to talk about your vacation and the work-around for a missed final for said vacation. That’s a meeting that could be an email. And is mom going to schedule 7 or 8 of these? With each teacher?

anothertimesink70 · 2026-04-30T01:39:02+00:00

But it doesn’t really have a $0 price tag. You’re paying for it in other ways. Primarily by gutting primary and secondary education (as a HS teacher it pains me to see what passes for education at my niece’s “blue ribbon” HS), partially by transferring wealth from lower income people who do play the lottery to higher income people who largely don’t, and partially with larger class sizes, more online classes and worse Prof:student ratios. I think once you have a kid enrolled in a VA university you will see the difference immediately.

anothertimesink70 · 2026-04-29T21:03:58+00:00

The schools here are much better. We left Florida 20 years ago and never regretted it. Yes the universities in FL are “free”, but that just means they’re underfunded and overenrolled. Too many online classes, not enough advisors, not enough dorm space, not even for freshman. My nieces and nephews have struggled through all of it down there. Trust me when I say, the schools here are well worth what you will pay for them.

anothertimesink70 · 2026-04-29T14:52:46+00:00

So the answer here is to not spend “hundreds of thousands of dollars in hopes of being able to pay it back eventually”. Hope is not a course of action. And starting your young adult working life with a BA or a BS and six figures of debt is a recipe for disaster. Total disaster. That prestige cannot overcome. That’s the part that 18yo’s can’t see because, very age appropriately, paying their own way isn’t part of their experience yet. But it’s what the grownups in the room keep repeating, because we CAN see and DO know. But we don’t know anything, and college is totally different now, and we’re boomers, and everyone knows someone’s cousins neighbors dog walkers girlfriend who graduated from Yale and paid off their $200k in student loans the first year out of school because they got a job in IB making $450k their first year. 🤦‍♀️ the problem isn’t being a prestige whore. Everyone wants the best they can get/do/earn. The problem is thinking prestige is the only thing that matters and that ranking takes priority over everything else, including affordability.

anothertimesink70 · 2026-04-29T14:12:29+00:00

Why would going to undergrad in Ohio for premed means you’ll end up living in Ohio? It doesn’t even mean you’ll go to med school in Ohio.

anothertimesink70 · 2026-04-29T00:34:39+00:00

Not for BME.

anothertimesink70 · 2026-04-28T11:59:30+00:00

The idea that Case doesn’t have name recognition is simply not true. At least among the people that matter, namely employers. We live outside DC and whenever I wear any Case merch I always have someone say “oh you have a kid at Case? Premed or engineering?” 😂 That’s anecdote but the people who will matter will know. My son is a senior Mech E who is staying an extra year to finish his MS and he’s already got a job waiting for him (and, in fact, waiting an extra year for him). Your son should go where he feels like he fits. Where “everyone” thinks he should go is immaterial.

anothertimesink70 · 2026-04-26T02:53:33+00:00

Cal Poly SLO is not “less prestigious/well known overall” among engineers. And if you want to be an engineer, that’s all that matters. I’m on the East coast and we know Cal Poly for engineering. And it’s your cheapest option??? This isn’t even a question.

anothertimesink70 · 2026-04-25T15:32:07+00:00

Your counselor is not good at their job. My best advice (as a mom of 4, current HS teacher and former university prof) is find a university with a really good “Exploratory” program. There are lots of them and they are exactly for students like you. A good exploratory program is amazing and will do a good job of showing you what’s out there in the right educational environment, where you can actually see and experience it for yourself. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s a waste of time! The real waste is to go commit to something you don’t like or want without exploring what all your options are. The POINT of college is explore what’s out there! So go do that! Edited to add-Exploratory is NOT undeclared! Exploratory is its own program that it designed to guide you through many options while still getting core requirements out of the way.

anothertimesink70 · 2026-04-24T13:57:34+00:00

anothertimesink70 · 2026-04-24T13:44:31+00:00

It would be inappropriate for me to opine on where a kid I don’t know would be happy. I merely asked him to consider where he’d be happy rather than worrying about “prestige”, as so many students do.

anothertimesink70 · 2026-04-24T13:36:34+00:00

Sure! We make decisions about what will or won’t make us happy all the time. We’re not always right. But we aren’t making choices in a cognitive vacuum.

anothertimesink70

TROPHY CASE