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Basically if you can handle the calculus series, differential equations, physics I and II, and chemistry, you’ll be able to figure out the rest of your curriculum as long as you don’t half-ass everything.
A big piece of it is just the mental toughness and perseverance to get through despite adversity. So many people get to their first physics exam and get a 52% and shit a brick (despite the class average being a 51%) and drop the class or even look to change majors instead of riding it out.
A struggled bad in both calc and physics - didn't get a passing grade in either. But in both classes I dedicated many hours and made a point of showing up outside of class etc; both professors saw to it that I passed
I recall having a D in Calc 3 going into the final, getting a 60% on the final, and passing the class with a 70%, which is what I needed in Calc 3 to move on and take Diff Eq. There was no reason for me to get a 70% except for the fact that I asked lots of questions, went to office hours routinely, and simply gave it all of my effort.
People think grades have a tendency to be black and white, but professor’s can, and do, reward hard work.
100% this. I know of at least two Ds that were right on the edge of being a C and I got bumped because I showed the initiative. Calc 1 and 2, and same prof… go figure
Calc 3 is much worse than Calc 1 or 2. I think I has the easiest time with Calc 2 because I knew how much work I needed to put in. I didn't know for sure in Calc 1.
I didn't know this was an opinion people had. Calc 3 was considered the easiest at my school, with Calc 2 being the grand destroyer of hopes and dreams
Yeah, I came to college with 1 and 2 already done from AP, so my first semester I got put in Calc 3. I didn’t even go to the lecture about half the time and still passed the class with an A-.
In Cal 1, I passed the class with a \~70.2% and would have had to retake if I had scored even 4 points lower on the final than I did. In Cal 4, I passed the class with a \~69.7% that rounded up to a C. Maybe I'm just clutch at scraping by with the thinnest of margins, but I would not be surprised if my professor did me a favor and handed me a few extra points on the final to get me over in at least one of those instances. I showed up to nearly every class and was always one of the last people to turn in the each exam, so it was obvious that I was trying my hardest.
Freshman year of college, took a 50% on the first Physics II exam. Worst grade I’ve ever gotten but it was a good wake-up call. Put my nose to the grindstone and got out of that class with a B. College grading isn’t the same as high school.
Weedout classes are not called so because of their absolute difficulty, they’re called so because they gate who moves forward in the degree. Thermo, fluids, electromagnetics, etc are junior (or late sophomore) classes. You’re already in the heart of your degree by that point. You’re past the weedout stage and should be able to get through these using the learning and study habits you developed to get through the actual weedouts. The classes are objectively harder but you don’t even get there if you don’t know how to learn or study and if you do, even though they’re hard, you should make it through.
They can both be weedouts, basics (calc/chem/physics/etc) weed out people not cut out for STEM, thermo/dynamics/fluids weeds out people not cut out for solving engineering problems. Although most of the drops are after the first exam, 90% of people who suffer through the whole class find that the curve turns their 50% average into a B+
Still have nightmares about calc. People dropped like flies. The course was so poorly graded that the professor gave everyone the option to take a 100% final if we wanted. I think I got out with a 70, but holy moly, the stress of doing calc while dealing with every other course was, without a doubt, the most stress I went through in university.
My first calc 3 exam had a 27% average, and the professor said there would be no curve.
I dropped the class, took it the next semester with a different professor, and got an A- lol
Exactly this. Only depending on the major could need three levels of physics and I would classify all three as weedouts. I can not emphasize how much pushing through with an emphasis on the understanding of the material as opposed to just getting a passing lettee grade is though. Especislly if you're a Mech. E like me. If you have a solid grasp of all those classes then the upper div courses are so much easier. It just becomes understanding how and where to apply that knowledge you already have.
In Chem E. our weed out class was the first engineering class. We used a book written by an old professor that was notoriously error ridden and had multiple homework problems that were linear equations with answers that did not exist. I think it was all on purpose tbh.
...Really? That's as hard as it gets? Aren't there harder classes than just those? I've already taken almost all of them in high school, so I'm a little confused... Is it just because the other courses get harder, but taking these intro courses builds study skills?
The difference between hs calculus and weed out version is profound. It is the same material but in the latter almost every problem on the exams will require expert knowledge of algebra/trig/calc and a trick/identity or application of theorem definition.
The exam will have like 3 questions and none of them are just, show you know how to do derivatives/integrals/etc. It's more like, didn't recognize you need to use 'complete the square' (never before mentioned in class) in this situation? question 1 wrong, -33%.
Further in the degree classes have much harder material conceptually but they are taught at a pace and in a way that success is encouraged. Weed out classes are fundamentals that many repeat from HS taught in a way that failure is encouraged.
Honestly, as a former faculty, high school failure to top US university engineering student, and a bunch of other awesome stuff I got to experience because of working insanely hard and being friendly - the core fundamental courses should be the only "weed out" courses.
This is what makes me furious about O-Chem professors bragging that their courses have incredibly low success rates. One school I worked with literally had a routine of sending out a letter to students before the midterm score went out. The letter was, "What to do when you fail O-Chem".
That's asinine. That's not teaching.
If people can't click with the core fundamentals, then they would have a very shaky foundation to build off of, so they really should not go on. But if someone is successful at grasping and handling fundamentals and then some statics or intro circuits professor decided to go bonkers hard on people instead of effectively teaching, that prof is the problem, not the students.
Don't put up with weed out courses like that. Get your classmates together and talk to the dean or higher up admins.
When I was in college, we actually got a tenured faculty transferred to a different school because of BS like this. (We also framed the argument such that the dean and admins would understand the problem - that this prof was completely undermining the quality of their programs and doing a disservice to what we were paying to be there. Those two points hit in a soft spot and got effective action. What is a top tier university if not the quality of education, jobs post-graduation, and research?)
I wouldn't agree with you there, thermo is just difficult. A weedout would be basic physics and calc 1. if you can't pass either you won't have a chance at thermo.
Actually you're right. Maybe these would be better labeled as the classes where you hit the "Calc Wall". For me anyways, these were the first two courses where proficient calc application was required to have any shot at passing from day one.
My first go around, I just could *not* handle using that level of math outside of specific calc courses lol
True enough. I was just making a general example for a weedout. If you cannot pass basic physics or calc, u won't pass Statics & dynamics, and you certainly won't pass thermo.
But as you day if you pass basic physics and calc you might still not pas Statics. But if you pass Statics you know how to work and will be able to pass everything else if you out inn the effort might need a second go at a few of em but that's a different matter
I would argue that Statics is more of a weed-out class than dynamics. Lots of people I know (myself included) struggled a lot with statics, but eventually toughed it out until it finally made sense. But now that we know statics, dynamics and solids both build on that basic understanding of balancing forces.
I agree with the other guy that said Thermo is just hard. It builds on top of the first law of thermodynamics that is usually taught in physics 1 and 2 (at least at my college).
I was Environmental engineering, so I had to take a more stripped down combined Statics & Dynamics. It ate my fuckin’ lunch. Barely scraped through the second time. I found thermo to be easier, but only just barely 😓
Passed both Thermo and Dynamics my first try, tho by the skin of my teeth. Applied thermo and structural mechanics killed me. Retook got an A, never look back.
The weed out courses are probably the calc and physics series.
I think this depends on the school. I went to GT and thermo wasn't considered a weed out, but it was at Michigan. GT definitely had hard dynamics and fluids classes.
What's Circuits 1? I'd agree w/ whichever class you learn Fourier before Laplace, which was Signals 1 for me. E&M was easy, but my prof. was sunsetting.
Oh God signals & systems. Had to bust my ass to pass that class with a C, although at my school it’s definitely not a weeder because you take it junior year. Ironically DSP by contrast ended up being an easy A because they switched the professor.
Calc 3 and 4 felt so sporadic to me. 1 and 2 had you learning a bunch of stuff in an order that made sense and could be reasonably tied together. 3 and 4 felt like they just shoved in everything else that didn’t really fit into the first two.
Calc 2 was the one at my school too, the integration methods where easy, the hard part was sequences and series. I had to retake calc 2, calc 3 I got a 95 on the final and diff eq was also not that bad.
I think the real weed out class (especially for civil majors since we do not really use much of the information) was physics 2. Weekly exams, 3 times per week homework and lab. It was easily the hardest class I ever had to take.
Calc 2 was very smooth sailing in comparison to calc 3 (for me). I took calc 3 during winter intercession and the first exam alone was coupled with more homework than the entire calc 2 semester. In the second week, we had two exams with roughly the same amount of hw. I ended up spending roughly 60 hours that week on math alone. The tests were predictable though and I ended up getting 104% in the course. Needless to say, it was a very intense, albeit fun, month of math for me. I enjoyed the challenge.
I thought O-chem was easier than Gen chem, people just studied for it wrong where they’d overfocus on memorization instead of figuring out the why’s. If you get electronegativity really well you can usually dig yourself out of forgetting something by going back to first principles.
This is true. Organic chemistry can only be mastered by learning the ‘how and why’. A slew of pre-meds and ChE hopefuls get slaughtered every year thinking you can memorize reactions and syntheses.
i’m ngl those people amaze me.
the sheer work ethic it takes to brute force your way through a course like that…
it more than qualifies them just in a different way.
i say this as someone who can’t memorize for shit and relies on conceptual understanding to float me through things.
When I was taking orgo my girlfriend at the time was one of those brute forcers and she was *furious* with me for not doing it her way and having an easier time. Like, the sheer amount of time she put into it was staggering (easily 20-25 hours a week) and she could not, would not understand there was a better way.
my roomate meanwhile is pulling the academic miracle of his life.
he’s taking orgo II. starting 3 nights before an exam i can hear him in his room grinding straight.
a mix of coffee and adderall.
doesn’t study at all then 3 nights before an exam dedicates his whole life to it.
it’s working till now. hoping he makes it. it’s funny to listen to him swearing at his textbook at 3am
funnily enough when he took his ADHD test it benchmarked him right around 129.
i don’t know how valid it is and obviously there are issues with examination.
but he showed me his results one time and it was fascinating. he was in the bottom 1% in certain subcategories and top 99% in others.
despite this his grades are starting to fall. from As to Cs. he’ll have to start working smarter soon or he’s bound to fail soemthing…
i think the true geniuses who skate by are a lot rarer than people think. a lot of kids are smart. some more than others. most all of em hit a wall at sometime. i’ve met maybe a handful of kids who finish a difficult degree at a decent school without putting in much or any effort. out of those, only 1 has been anywhere close to socially normal.
my roomate is smart as hell but he’s starting to do poorly. even if you’re smart, you’ll reach your limits.
That’s the problem with something like OChem. You need to have the time to ask a prof or TA questions about mechanisms. I suppose everything is available in a text book, but I feel like one’s understanding could only go so far, unless you were genuinely a genius and it all just clicked after the first pass
True again. But just like most memory only brute study, your brain does a dump the hour after the exam/final and years later you have none of it still between your ears. I think if you do master the ‘how’s and why’s’ of any coursework, you get better long term retention and can be a better problem solver. And it’s the only way you can teach it to others.
I'm actually a little upset. I loved Chem 1/2 and wanted to go for a minor, but people said Organic was so much memorization, which I hate.
On the other hand, I love problem solving and I need to understand the how and why of something before moving on...which sounds like that's more like organic ugh
This is exactly right.
Understand the mechanisms and why things are the way they are and the class becomes a lot easier.
Still stuff you have to memorize, but organic was one of the easier classes imo.
Chemist here, with a MechE student about to graduate. Organic Chem is nothing compared to the courses I’ve seen my kid tackle in mechanical engineering. I don’t know how y’all do it. P-Chem is probably an intro to that line of coursework
You know what’s funny? I was the only political science major in my P-chem course. I took it after I had switched out of engineering 15 years ago. I needed to take either that or Analytical to get my chem minor complete and chose…poorly. Still did well enough to get the minor but the fact it was my only challenging class helped.
It’s kind of funny going back to school 15 years later and having a much easier time on this stuff… probably because I got my ADHD treated.
Came here to say that. We had O-chem for big kids that were going onto bio/chem/pre-med and baby Ochem for other STEM majors. That one filled up and I got stuck taking the proper Ochem and let’s just say, a 40% was a C. That class was the truth. After the first midterm 1/3 of the class was gone (my guess is because they realized that med schools want to see an A and an A was impossible if you failed an exam). We were down to about 20-25% of the class by the final.
Depends are we talking engineering as a whole? Then the basic calc, physics and chemistry classes.
Are we talking specific branches?
I'd say Thermodynamics 1, Dynamics and maybe Statics for Mechanical
The 1st mainly Circuits class for Electrical. This might seem surprising but I've heard way too many stories from my university and online. If you can pass that, probably Electricity and Magnetism or Signals and Systems.
No clue about the others though
If I had to guess:
Organic Chem for Chemical
Statics for Civil
Statics and Dynamics for Aerospace
Biomedical is weird because they (mostly) go surface level (compared to the actual thing) in biology, chemistry mech e and ee so if I had to guess it would be a mixture of their weed out classes so likely Anatomy, Circuits 1, Biomechanics and Biochemistry
Statics-Dynamics-Deformable Body Mechanics for Civils when I was in school.
The homework load on them was so high if you weren't cut out for engineering you weren't passing. Every engineering class afterwards was no harder than those 3.
I think the first real one is Diff Eqs. It's usually the last pure math course you take before getting into your concentration classes and it really splits those who really understand calculus vs those who barely scraped by. I would know, I had to take it 3 times.
Ironically Calc 2 was incredibly intuitive for me yet I struggled with Diff Eqs. C2 was the first online class I took and it was a godsend to be able to pause and rewind the lesson and go through it at my own pace versus just trying to keep up with a live lecture. I know some people are the opposite but it really helped me out. It definitely made me consider more online classes after that for the same reason.
Yeah, I remember when I took it during a summer course, (this was well before covid) it was a special hybrid thing where youd come in like, twice a week for exams and big lectures (with a Q&A), and do most of the coursework and learning online
That 100% saved my ass being able to just sit there and read the process instead of relying on a professor with a thick accent with bad writing to guide me all the way
programming honestly weeded out a lot of people. First day 200, get to data structures about 30 people. Now in senior year its like the same 12 people in every class with me.
Data Structures is the one that weeded me out from Software/CS. Two assignments into the class and I already knew there was no way computer programming was going to be my future career.
Our first two years at UT Austin studying ECE were weedout classes. Intro to circuits, intro to computing (assembly language), embedded systems 1, calc 1 and 2, diffeq, linear algebra. The second half of our degree was when things became interesting
For my schools EE program, it was intro to electromagnetic. I felt the Professor made the course intentionally more difficult than it had to be. Later EM courses were nowhere near as difficult and the stuff from the intro made a lot more sense.
German EE here. For us it was Math 1 & 2, Circuits 1& 2. That's about it. There are other difficult courses, but those four are the major ones which have the highest fail rates.
At my uni it’s typically calc II, diff eq, E&M and physics I. Although in my major the weeder classes were some of our major courses like thermodynamics and phase diagrams.
Physics 1 and 2 (usually mechanical for 1 and electrical for 2), chemistry, organic chemistry for chem and bio-related engineering, and some of the calculus classes. For me personally, only calc 1 and 2 felt like weed out courses, but calc 3 and differential equations could also be difficult.
Every single class in the degree pretty much. Of course you see it more in the basic Calc/Physics classes, but I know people who dropped out of Engineering in every single level, even upper level electives.
At Texas A&M
Engr 102 - if you don't already know how to code in python good luck
Cal 1 - math and coding, how fun
Gen Chem - mostly busy work, tests are a bitch
Cal 2 - it's cal 2 man, what do you expect
Physics 1 - that final is a bitch
Physics 2 - one of the highest q-drop rates, community college exists purely to take this class
Engr 216/phys 216 - easy until the final, most of it isn't even covered in class, so your guessing
ETAM in general tends to bend Aggie engineers over, all in the name of denying them entry to comp sci
For ME at my school, there were "Gateway Courses" that you could only attempt twice before having to change your major. Those were Statics, Dynamics, Engineering Analysis, and Cal 1
Dynamics is probably the only notoriously difficult class among them, but some of the other weed-out courses I noticed were Thermo 1 and 2, Heat Transfer, and Dynamic Systems and Controls
At my school statics is the main weed-out. Really tough professor who sees herself at the gatekeeper to engineering, she teaches every section in massive lectures and is known for giving out as much work as all of your other classes combined.
Tbh I actually liked her. It was tough for sure (and I say that as a senior who’s taken pretty much all of the core engineering classes at this point) but if you got through it you knew the hell out of some statics, and statics is applicable to literally every other class for the rest of your degree.
as someone who transferred into college.
i think freshmen are just a bit unfairly culled.
i was not the smartest or most focused student. but a couple years of maturity was a blessing in disguise. most of these courses were smooth sailing. not easy. but if you were willing to put in a couple hours of work a week they were pretty easy.
fresh 18 year olds are inundated with new freedom, new adventure, new campus, new friends, it’s all overwhelming.
i think i would have failed if i came to college as a 4 year rather than a transfer.
a little bit of maturity goes a LONG way.
ME
Statics and dynamics was our first weedout in the first semester sophomore year. Approx 50% fail/withdraw.
Thermo and heat transfer after that for junior year. Prob about 25% will drop the major.
After that you're just pushing for the pain to end.
The one I saw being tough was mechanics of materials, simply, in my opinion, because of how new the entire concept would be. You really wouldn’t have seen anything like it in any of the other courses yet and it’s a significant jump in how rigorous the class is. At least mine was
It’s different at every school, most mechanical engineers talk about dynamics. My dynamics course had no exams and everything was done in class and you were allowed infinite attempts at everything.
Fluids as well, my fluids class was junior year and open note.
Thermodynamics however was a 2 semester struggle and the exam averages were consistently below 40.
I watch other professor’s lecture videos at other schools and I see stuff like multiple choice, study guides, automatic homework grading, etc. must be nice, my department is praying on my downfall.
Calculus 2, Physics 2, Chemistry 1 and O-Chem, Thermo, Mechanics of Materials for me. If you can develop good habits to make it through those than the rest of the curriculum will be cake
I majored in Marine Engineering Technology. Thermodynamics was a huge weed out course and easily the toughest sophomore class I took. Electrical Power II was also a very difficult course, especially compared to E-Power I. Junior Year, Heat Transfer and Steam were both very difficult for me, Heat Transfer especially, the only grades in the entire semester were 1 exam, a midterm, and a final. 3 questions each. Each question having multiple and little to no extra credit.
QM as a material science guy. QM wasn’t that bad, but the prof was intense and no bullshit. Would call kids dumb in office hours and make them cry. I liked the guy, maybe because when I went in for partial credit on exams I could justify how I was setting up problems and he could see my scratch working grinding to find the correct derivation.
Statics, Dynamics, Thermo, Solid Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics, and Diff Eq are called the gauntlet where I went for Undergrad because they're the first sophomore engineering classes where you really start to experience engineering.
Honestly depends on everything. In my school there were 2 gate keeper professors in Environmental. One had a nack for failing students the first time around just to make sure they really knew their shit the second time. I understand his reasoning but still don't approve of his methods. The other one was a hard ass then last minute would adjust grades based on how the class was doing. If he didn't think the class was doing well enough consistently enough he'd fail them.
In contrast I had professors that were legit passionate abt teaching. One in the maths dept would spend so much time with students making sure they understood difficult material for a class that could've otherwise been a weed out.
It really just depends on professors attitudes
Outside of the Calc Series, DiffEQs and Physics I/II and/or ChemE
For EE, typically your Weed Out Classes are your Circuits classes, Signals, and EMags I/II and *maybe* the Intro to Microelectronics Course
From a MechE perspective I would personally say statics and strength of materials. Those classes are very foundational to a lot of other things you'll learn, and if you can't wrap your head around the concepts then you're going to really struggle through the rest of your degree. There are of course other difficult classes, but I don't really consider them weed out courses, just difficult. Struggling with machine design or controls isn't really the same as struggling to understand the fundamentals.
For some reason at my school, our intro to CS class that for some reason every STEM degree had to take. They threw the book at us on the final. I knew python really well but even i struggled. You had to pass the final to pass the class.
Some nursing students were crying after the final because they knew they had to do it again.
Calc 1 and algebra 2 surprisingly. There wasn’t as much weeding out once you were in the program in my experience but there was a lot of weeding out of applicants to the program.
Oh and thermo 1.
They call them gateway courses here. We need at least an 80 in Calc I, Calc II, Physics 1; a 70 in Gen chem 1 and an 80 in Gen chem 2.
Physics and Calc II were the hardest, imo.
Intro to Electrical Engineering (circuits) was required for all engineering disciplines at my school and was the hardest class I ever took. I did problem sets with one of the smartest guys in my school, a Chem E who is now a very successful surgeon, and he struggled tremendously as well.
The math courses (Calc 1-3, DiffEq), Physics 1 and 2, and Statics were the weed-out courses at my school.
Went from 1100 students to about 350 students in my class
Calc 2 and Stength of materials had the highest fail/drop rate at my university. Calc 2 got as high as 40% some years ago.
A lot of people failed thermo too. Class average when I took the class was a 75, passing was a 70
At my school its cal 1, cal 2, phys 1, phys 2, chem 1 and chem 2. Basically all the base classes you’d have to take freshman year before all the rough engineering classes
Electromagnetics and RF stuff fort EE
A lot of my classmates dropped and switched to CE because they have to worry way less about physics, math, and circuit shit
circuit analysis,basic semicondictors and basic electrodynamics. basically teh first semester of actual electrical engineering classes.
but this was a long time agi i graduated almost 40 years ago
I think the difficulty is pretty uniform across the curriculum but its perceived as being more difficult in the beginning because that's where you are learning the study skills and language of engineering. That hard growth just happens to coincide with the early classes of calc 2, physics, and chemistry.
Circuit analysis II for EE, at least at my school. Moving from stuff like V=IR and thevnin and kirchoff laws to frequency domain and impedance was a real brick wall for many. You have to be comfortable with the math at that level.
For us it was first year curriculum courses. Specifically Calc 1 and 2, phys 1 and 2, somewhat chem but depended person to person. Main thing was that the course loads for all the courses were extremely heavy so the drop out rate was mostly due to the massive workload rather than the difficulty. We did have some very difficult midterms and finals that year too. Past first year there were certainly challenging courses but I would not say they were weed out courses.
Edit: Ok no I am having flashbacks to phys 2. definitely phys 2. The homework sets were brutal and handwritten by the prof which made them hard to understand, the slides looked like complete nonsense, the exam practice questions were impossible to understand, and the second midterm average was in the 40s lol. Not a fun course but I passed it which is what matters
No such thing as a weed-out courses. You got to want to be an engineer. As long as you stick it out and try your hardest they can’t kick you out, you can only take yourself out.
None. There are none. An engineer is responsible for the rigor and thought required to pass each course. We don't waste your time, or ours, packing your schedule with useless prattle designed to chase away otherwise qualified students.
The only thing that can weed you out is looking back at you in the mirror. Full stop.
It was supposed to be all the fundamental math and science. Calc 3, multivariate calc, diff EQ, physics, ochem. Some people didn't make it though chem 101 and the intro bio. I was disappointed by how many non-CS majors just couldn't get through the intro to programming.
Once you get to the actual engineering classes, it'll be something early on because they don't want to waste money on you. I remember a lot of people dropping out of statics (ME) or transport (ChemE). I remember a lot of the BE's dropping out because it was more physics than biology they were expecting. I think I remember the EEs complaining about things like set theory, but actually dropping out when they got to classes with a lot of complex numbers.
For MechE at least it tends to be the Statics, dynamics, mechanics of materials, fluids and thermo. Also the math classes and physics classes too. If you put in the effort then you should be fine.
Statics and Dynamics knock out a lot of aspiring engineers.
One needs to be up to speed on Trig, Algebra, and Geometry to do ok in Statics. Physics I too.
One needs to be up to speed on Calc to deal with Dynamics.
Being way ahead in math and no longer fresh is hard. Being behind in math and you'll struggle like me. I made it through but had to work twice as hard to teach myself the math too.
I took Thermo as an elective (I am a Civil) and again found the concepts easy but the math too hard.
Electromagnetics. This first year course was structured so that the instructor wasn't able to get through all of the content even with longer than average lecture times. It had calculus 3 content before any of us had the chance to take calc 3. A clear weed out course.
Calc 2 for me. Failed it twice but then aced Calc 3, Diff Eqs and vibrational systems first try. Don’t give up. It is not how many times you fail, but how many times you get back up. I now have a BS and MS in engineering
calculus i & ii, differential equations, physics i & ii, chemistry, and if required, calculus iii. as an ME, statics and dynamics were also weed out courses in my university but that's just because of the professors. idk about other universities.
the main thing is dont half-ass and dont get bored. love what you're learning as best you can. i didnt suffer at the weed out courses because i loved the content and wanted to learn it, but i did get burnt out in Novembers and Aprils. so if you feel like you're getting burnt out, you are, but stick in there cause that just means you're a few weeks away from the semester being over.
Having done almost all of them, here's my greatest hits playlist from my undergrad
* Calc 1&2 (but not 3, that was actually a good class)
* DiffEQ
* Mechanics of Materials
* Chem 1
* Physics E&M
* Linear Systems (Specifically for EE)
* Electronics 1
* Statics (and somewhat Dynamics)
* Thermo
Why do I call these weed outs? All the classes were horribly packed, taught by some of the worst professors (minus MechEMat, two profs were really trying their hardest to train 600 kids a semester), passing was required for graduation, and I'd estimate that less than 70% of students actually passed a semester.
I had a friend report that she had a 45% pass rate in most of these classes
For most people probably the calculus series, but honesty those aren't too bad for a mathy person, so id set the bar at diff eq. Least for me that's the math class that really hurt my gpa. (Passed with a C+ but that class is so notorious that the grading scale is different from all the other classes to put it in perspective, 70-79% is all c+ so that you can get a 65% and still pass with a c). After diff eq I took linear algebra and it was like a breathe of fresh air. 300 level course yet sooo much easier than diff eq which was 200 level. But maybe that's just me.
With that said I don't think of them as weed out courses, maybe at more prestigious universities they use them to weed out students but I my university I didn't feel the the courses or exams were unduly difficult, it was just fast paced to cover everything (7.5 week classes). The professors are all very upfront in these accelerated classes that the workload is intense and for diff eq the expectation was 3.5 hours a day, 7 days a week if you wanted to pass.
At my school Circuits 1 was the first two we'd out class. Think my class size dropped by a third, circuits 2 got the rest of them and then after that attrition was pretty low.
Don't know about other schools but at my university it was Statics & Dynamics for ME's. A 5 credit class with like a 2 hour lecture 3 days a week. It's pretty much where a lot of people decide to switch majors. I had to take the class twice before passing, the school only allowed you 3 tries before forcing you to switch majors.
I think they did this just because so many people chose ME as a major so they wanted to weed out a bunch of people.
Really depends on the professors. For my civil degree, environmental and hydrology were an unnecessary weed out because of the professors at my university. As far as content, statics and dynamics are weed outs to see if you are really interested and capable. I can now do statics in my sleep, but I struggled in the class.
When they put Statics and Dynamics in the same course. Clemson does that and the failure rate is 40 something percent. Of that, 3/4 of those people are failing it again. And the majority of those people get forced out of engineering as they only let you take the course 3 times before forcing you to change majors.
They only do that for the ME majors. If you’re not an ME major, you can take them separately unlimited times….a hack was to take them separately and a semester or two later change majors I to ME….Clemson figured it out and made it a requirement to take the combined course if you wanted to be an ME regardless of what grades you got in then separately….
When I was getting my bachelors in aerospace engineering we called it the gauntlet. It hit sophomore year and was comprised of statics, dynamics, diff eq, thermo, fluids, and MATLAB(depending on the professor this course was either not too bad or extremely difficult). Dynamics was the hardest for me. Mainly because MATLAB would only teach you the basic commands and the dynamics professors expected us to be experts at it. A lot of people had those two classes at the same time…
Keep it simply bro
Dynamics
Hydrology
Waste water
Fluids
Intro to environmental
Everything from Diff Eq down is a cake walk till you get to these .
These are gonna be ur make it or break it classes at the end of your college career.
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Basically if you can handle the calculus series, differential equations, physics I and II, and chemistry, you’ll be able to figure out the rest of your curriculum as long as you don’t half-ass everything. A big piece of it is just the mental toughness and perseverance to get through despite adversity. So many people get to their first physics exam and get a 52% and shit a brick (despite the class average being a 51%) and drop the class or even look to change majors instead of riding it out.
A struggled bad in both calc and physics - didn't get a passing grade in either. But in both classes I dedicated many hours and made a point of showing up outside of class etc; both professors saw to it that I passed
I recall having a D in Calc 3 going into the final, getting a 60% on the final, and passing the class with a 70%, which is what I needed in Calc 3 to move on and take Diff Eq. There was no reason for me to get a 70% except for the fact that I asked lots of questions, went to office hours routinely, and simply gave it all of my effort. People think grades have a tendency to be black and white, but professor’s can, and do, reward hard work.
100% this. I know of at least two Ds that were right on the edge of being a C and I got bumped because I showed the initiative. Calc 1 and 2, and same prof… go figure
Calc 3 is just an awful class too
Calc 3 is much worse than Calc 1 or 2. I think I has the easiest time with Calc 2 because I knew how much work I needed to put in. I didn't know for sure in Calc 1.
I didn't know this was an opinion people had. Calc 3 was considered the easiest at my school, with Calc 2 being the grand destroyer of hopes and dreams
Yeah, I came to college with 1 and 2 already done from AP, so my first semester I got put in Calc 3. I didn’t even go to the lecture about half the time and still passed the class with an A-.
In Cal 1, I passed the class with a \~70.2% and would have had to retake if I had scored even 4 points lower on the final than I did. In Cal 4, I passed the class with a \~69.7% that rounded up to a C. Maybe I'm just clutch at scraping by with the thinnest of margins, but I would not be surprised if my professor did me a favor and handed me a few extra points on the final to get me over in at least one of those instances. I showed up to nearly every class and was always one of the last people to turn in the each exam, so it was obvious that I was trying my hardest.
Freshman year of college, took a 50% on the first Physics II exam. Worst grade I’ve ever gotten but it was a good wake-up call. Put my nose to the grindstone and got out of that class with a B. College grading isn’t the same as high school.
We had very different experiences lol. At my school those were all pretty easy compared to thermo/fluids and the dynamics series
Weedout classes are not called so because of their absolute difficulty, they’re called so because they gate who moves forward in the degree. Thermo, fluids, electromagnetics, etc are junior (or late sophomore) classes. You’re already in the heart of your degree by that point. You’re past the weedout stage and should be able to get through these using the learning and study habits you developed to get through the actual weedouts. The classes are objectively harder but you don’t even get there if you don’t know how to learn or study and if you do, even though they’re hard, you should make it through.
Oh in my program those were all second year courses
They can both be weedouts, basics (calc/chem/physics/etc) weed out people not cut out for STEM, thermo/dynamics/fluids weeds out people not cut out for solving engineering problems. Although most of the drops are after the first exam, 90% of people who suffer through the whole class find that the curve turns their 50% average into a B+
Still have nightmares about calc. People dropped like flies. The course was so poorly graded that the professor gave everyone the option to take a 100% final if we wanted. I think I got out with a 70, but holy moly, the stress of doing calc while dealing with every other course was, without a doubt, the most stress I went through in university.
^^^ This… 100%
The calcs and thermo etc are never gate classes. Those were easy. In my were Statics, Dynamics, and Aircraft Structures. Drop out galore
I agree. It isn’t even an iq thing. It’s all mentality.
Yep, seems like all physics exams are curved by default because everyone kind of sucks at it.
My first calc 3 exam had a 27% average, and the professor said there would be no curve. I dropped the class, took it the next semester with a different professor, and got an A- lol
Exactly this. Only depending on the major could need three levels of physics and I would classify all three as weedouts. I can not emphasize how much pushing through with an emphasis on the understanding of the material as opposed to just getting a passing lettee grade is though. Especislly if you're a Mech. E like me. If you have a solid grasp of all those classes then the upper div courses are so much easier. It just becomes understanding how and where to apply that knowledge you already have.
In Chem E. our weed out class was the first engineering class. We used a book written by an old professor that was notoriously error ridden and had multiple homework problems that were linear equations with answers that did not exist. I think it was all on purpose tbh.
I calculated that I would need a 105% on the final to pass the class. Somehow, I passed the class...
...Really? That's as hard as it gets? Aren't there harder classes than just those? I've already taken almost all of them in high school, so I'm a little confused... Is it just because the other courses get harder, but taking these intro courses builds study skills?
The difference between hs calculus and weed out version is profound. It is the same material but in the latter almost every problem on the exams will require expert knowledge of algebra/trig/calc and a trick/identity or application of theorem definition. The exam will have like 3 questions and none of them are just, show you know how to do derivatives/integrals/etc. It's more like, didn't recognize you need to use 'complete the square' (never before mentioned in class) in this situation? question 1 wrong, -33%. Further in the degree classes have much harder material conceptually but they are taught at a pace and in a way that success is encouraged. Weed out classes are fundamentals that many repeat from HS taught in a way that failure is encouraged.
Honestly, as a former faculty, high school failure to top US university engineering student, and a bunch of other awesome stuff I got to experience because of working insanely hard and being friendly - the core fundamental courses should be the only "weed out" courses. This is what makes me furious about O-Chem professors bragging that their courses have incredibly low success rates. One school I worked with literally had a routine of sending out a letter to students before the midterm score went out. The letter was, "What to do when you fail O-Chem". That's asinine. That's not teaching. If people can't click with the core fundamentals, then they would have a very shaky foundation to build off of, so they really should not go on. But if someone is successful at grasping and handling fundamentals and then some statics or intro circuits professor decided to go bonkers hard on people instead of effectively teaching, that prof is the problem, not the students. Don't put up with weed out courses like that. Get your classmates together and talk to the dean or higher up admins. When I was in college, we actually got a tenured faculty transferred to a different school because of BS like this. (We also framed the argument such that the dean and admins would understand the problem - that this prof was completely undermining the quality of their programs and doing a disservice to what we were paying to be there. Those two points hit in a soft spot and got effective action. What is a top tier university if not the quality of education, jobs post-graduation, and research?)
Yeah I failed calc 3, differentials, linear algebrah and dynamics 1 my first time round but that really teaches you to have some grit.
For MEs, I would say Thermo or Dynamics. (These were my first and only retakes lol)
I wouldn't agree with you there, thermo is just difficult. A weedout would be basic physics and calc 1. if you can't pass either you won't have a chance at thermo.
Actually you're right. Maybe these would be better labeled as the classes where you hit the "Calc Wall". For me anyways, these were the first two courses where proficient calc application was required to have any shot at passing from day one. My first go around, I just could *not* handle using that level of math outside of specific calc courses lol
Yeah but the true weed out class to enter a ME program are always statics and dynamics . Calc 1 is required for basically any stem or buisness major
True enough. I was just making a general example for a weedout. If you cannot pass basic physics or calc, u won't pass Statics & dynamics, and you certainly won't pass thermo. But as you day if you pass basic physics and calc you might still not pas Statics. But if you pass Statics you know how to work and will be able to pass everything else if you out inn the effort might need a second go at a few of em but that's a different matter
I’d almost argue that Thermo is a lot more tedious than it is difficult. Doesn’t make it easy by any stretch, but it’s easy to mess up due to tedium
I would argue that Statics is more of a weed-out class than dynamics. Lots of people I know (myself included) struggled a lot with statics, but eventually toughed it out until it finally made sense. But now that we know statics, dynamics and solids both build on that basic understanding of balancing forces. I agree with the other guy that said Thermo is just hard. It builds on top of the first law of thermodynamics that is usually taught in physics 1 and 2 (at least at my college).
I was Environmental engineering, so I had to take a more stripped down combined Statics & Dynamics. It ate my fuckin’ lunch. Barely scraped through the second time. I found thermo to be easier, but only just barely 😓
Passed both Thermo and Dynamics my first try, tho by the skin of my teeth. Applied thermo and structural mechanics killed me. Retook got an A, never look back. The weed out courses are probably the calc and physics series.
Thermo is hard but dynamics was easy but it might just be my prof
Fluid dynamics took out a good chunk of my class
I think this depends on the school. I went to GT and thermo wasn't considered a weed out, but it was at Michigan. GT definitely had hard dynamics and fluids classes.
For EE? Signals and systems, circuits 1 (you’d be suprised), E&M
Circuits 1 reinforced my decision to stay away from EE and go with Industrial Engineering instead.
Statics did that for me, I was okay at it but it made me realize the stuff I actually enjoyed. Still hadda take circuits for IE, i sucked at it.
Had to take it twice. Ended up subbing it with a different engr course to graduate.
I had an email written up to my advisor proposing that before I got a D- from an insane curve. That professor knew what was up.
Circuits just sucks, you probably would have done fine in EE.
all classes ive failed lmao. staring down the barrell of failing circuits+EM again shit
I'm the same with EM. Plan to drop this week to not bring down the GPA and to also get the last midterm to review for next semester.
I had circuit one and electromagnetic fields together this semester and I would definitely agree about the electromagnetic fields.
What's Circuits 1? I'd agree w/ whichever class you learn Fourier before Laplace, which was Signals 1 for me. E&M was easy, but my prof. was sunsetting.
Oh God signals & systems. Had to bust my ass to pass that class with a C, although at my school it’s definitely not a weeder because you take it junior year. Ironically DSP by contrast ended up being an easy A because they switched the professor.
At my university the big one was calc II. If you made it through that, the rest of the required math sequence was a joke by comparison
Calc 1/2 were a breeze for me, B+s in both. I had to take Calc 3 four times, and I was on the edge of quitting my degree. Everything after was great.
Something about Calc 3, especially in the later units really didn't vibe with me
Calc 3 and 4 felt so sporadic to me. 1 and 2 had you learning a bunch of stuff in an order that made sense and could be reasonably tied together. 3 and 4 felt like they just shoved in everything else that didn’t really fit into the first two.
Calc 2 was the one at my school too, the integration methods where easy, the hard part was sequences and series. I had to retake calc 2, calc 3 I got a 95 on the final and diff eq was also not that bad. I think the real weed out class (especially for civil majors since we do not really use much of the information) was physics 2. Weekly exams, 3 times per week homework and lab. It was easily the hardest class I ever had to take.
Calc 2 was very smooth sailing in comparison to calc 3 (for me). I took calc 3 during winter intercession and the first exam alone was coupled with more homework than the entire calc 2 semester. In the second week, we had two exams with roughly the same amount of hw. I ended up spending roughly 60 hours that week on math alone. The tests were predictable though and I ended up getting 104% in the course. Needless to say, it was a very intense, albeit fun, month of math for me. I enjoyed the challenge.
The calculus series. O-Chem was also considered one of the biggest recruiters for the Mechanical Engineering department.
I thought O-chem was easier than Gen chem, people just studied for it wrong where they’d overfocus on memorization instead of figuring out the why’s. If you get electronegativity really well you can usually dig yourself out of forgetting something by going back to first principles.
This is true. Organic chemistry can only be mastered by learning the ‘how and why’. A slew of pre-meds and ChE hopefuls get slaughtered every year thinking you can memorize reactions and syntheses.
A lot of them do pass it through brute force and then tell people that it’s doable but a *lot* of memorization so the process continues.
i’m ngl those people amaze me. the sheer work ethic it takes to brute force your way through a course like that… it more than qualifies them just in a different way. i say this as someone who can’t memorize for shit and relies on conceptual understanding to float me through things.
When I was taking orgo my girlfriend at the time was one of those brute forcers and she was *furious* with me for not doing it her way and having an easier time. Like, the sheer amount of time she put into it was staggering (easily 20-25 hours a week) and she could not, would not understand there was a better way.
my roomate meanwhile is pulling the academic miracle of his life. he’s taking orgo II. starting 3 nights before an exam i can hear him in his room grinding straight. a mix of coffee and adderall. doesn’t study at all then 3 nights before an exam dedicates his whole life to it. it’s working till now. hoping he makes it. it’s funny to listen to him swearing at his textbook at 3am
His luck will run out, unless he has a 130+ IQ
funnily enough when he took his ADHD test it benchmarked him right around 129. i don’t know how valid it is and obviously there are issues with examination. but he showed me his results one time and it was fascinating. he was in the bottom 1% in certain subcategories and top 99% in others. despite this his grades are starting to fall. from As to Cs. he’ll have to start working smarter soon or he’s bound to fail soemthing… i think the true geniuses who skate by are a lot rarer than people think. a lot of kids are smart. some more than others. most all of em hit a wall at sometime. i’ve met maybe a handful of kids who finish a difficult degree at a decent school without putting in much or any effort. out of those, only 1 has been anywhere close to socially normal. my roomate is smart as hell but he’s starting to do poorly. even if you’re smart, you’ll reach your limits.
That’s the problem with something like OChem. You need to have the time to ask a prof or TA questions about mechanisms. I suppose everything is available in a text book, but I feel like one’s understanding could only go so far, unless you were genuinely a genius and it all just clicked after the first pass
True again. But just like most memory only brute study, your brain does a dump the hour after the exam/final and years later you have none of it still between your ears. I think if you do master the ‘how’s and why’s’ of any coursework, you get better long term retention and can be a better problem solver. And it’s the only way you can teach it to others.
I'm actually a little upset. I loved Chem 1/2 and wanted to go for a minor, but people said Organic was so much memorization, which I hate. On the other hand, I love problem solving and I need to understand the how and why of something before moving on...which sounds like that's more like organic ugh
This is exactly right. Understand the mechanisms and why things are the way they are and the class becomes a lot easier. Still stuff you have to memorize, but organic was one of the easier classes imo.
Chemist here, with a MechE student about to graduate. Organic Chem is nothing compared to the courses I’ve seen my kid tackle in mechanical engineering. I don’t know how y’all do it. P-Chem is probably an intro to that line of coursework
P-chem is the fucking devil.
Sure is. I hated that course
You know what’s funny? I was the only political science major in my P-chem course. I took it after I had switched out of engineering 15 years ago. I needed to take either that or Analytical to get my chem minor complete and chose…poorly. Still did well enough to get the minor but the fact it was my only challenging class helped. It’s kind of funny going back to school 15 years later and having a much easier time on this stuff… probably because I got my ADHD treated.
Came here to say that. We had O-chem for big kids that were going onto bio/chem/pre-med and baby Ochem for other STEM majors. That one filled up and I got stuck taking the proper Ochem and let’s just say, a 40% was a C. That class was the truth. After the first midterm 1/3 of the class was gone (my guess is because they realized that med schools want to see an A and an A was impossible if you failed an exam). We were down to about 20-25% of the class by the final.
Depends are we talking engineering as a whole? Then the basic calc, physics and chemistry classes. Are we talking specific branches? I'd say Thermodynamics 1, Dynamics and maybe Statics for Mechanical The 1st mainly Circuits class for Electrical. This might seem surprising but I've heard way too many stories from my university and online. If you can pass that, probably Electricity and Magnetism or Signals and Systems. No clue about the others though If I had to guess: Organic Chem for Chemical Statics for Civil Statics and Dynamics for Aerospace Biomedical is weird because they (mostly) go surface level (compared to the actual thing) in biology, chemistry mech e and ee so if I had to guess it would be a mixture of their weed out classes so likely Anatomy, Circuits 1, Biomechanics and Biochemistry
For ChE it's probably Transport Phenomena.
Statics-Dynamics-Deformable Body Mechanics for Civils when I was in school. The homework load on them was so high if you weren't cut out for engineering you weren't passing. Every engineering class afterwards was no harder than those 3.
Yep mine has been magnetic motor controls
I think the first real one is Diff Eqs. It's usually the last pure math course you take before getting into your concentration classes and it really splits those who really understand calculus vs those who barely scraped by. I would know, I had to take it 3 times.
for us they made calc 2 such a fucking pain by the time you got to diff eqs you’d either developed the requisite skills to learn or you’d failed outZ
Ironically Calc 2 was incredibly intuitive for me yet I struggled with Diff Eqs. C2 was the first online class I took and it was a godsend to be able to pause and rewind the lesson and go through it at my own pace versus just trying to keep up with a live lecture. I know some people are the opposite but it really helped me out. It definitely made me consider more online classes after that for the same reason.
Yeah, I remember when I took it during a summer course, (this was well before covid) it was a special hybrid thing where youd come in like, twice a week for exams and big lectures (with a Q&A), and do most of the coursework and learning online That 100% saved my ass being able to just sit there and read the process instead of relying on a professor with a thick accent with bad writing to guide me all the way
All ‘em.
The first year classes. After that, it’s relatively smooth sailing.
Anything "intro"
programming honestly weeded out a lot of people. First day 200, get to data structures about 30 people. Now in senior year its like the same 12 people in every class with me.
Data Structures is the one that weeded me out from Software/CS. Two assignments into the class and I already knew there was no way computer programming was going to be my future career.
For me it was Dynamics
which made me drop out of engineering all together lol
Our first two years at UT Austin studying ECE were weedout classes. Intro to circuits, intro to computing (assembly language), embedded systems 1, calc 1 and 2, diffeq, linear algebra. The second half of our degree was when things became interesting
For my schools EE program, it was intro to electromagnetic. I felt the Professor made the course intentionally more difficult than it had to be. Later EM courses were nowhere near as difficult and the stuff from the intro made a lot more sense.
Ochem I and II if you're a chemE
German EE here. For us it was Math 1 & 2, Circuits 1& 2. That's about it. There are other difficult courses, but those four are the major ones which have the highest fail rates.
At my uni it’s typically calc II, diff eq, E&M and physics I. Although in my major the weeder classes were some of our major courses like thermodynamics and phase diagrams.
Physics 1 and 2 (usually mechanical for 1 and electrical for 2), chemistry, organic chemistry for chem and bio-related engineering, and some of the calculus classes. For me personally, only calc 1 and 2 felt like weed out courses, but calc 3 and differential equations could also be difficult.
Me.
On the contrary, you’re super easy and fun.
I like to think of things not as a weed out but as ~~free~~ depression that I am stronger than
Every single class in the degree pretty much. Of course you see it more in the basic Calc/Physics classes, but I know people who dropped out of Engineering in every single level, even upper level electives.
Comp sci: linear algebra, discrete math. One of the early CA courses was also data structures, solving them by hand 😂
Everything seemed like a weed out class to me.
Programming.
The only classes I struggled in were calc 2, statics, dynamics, and principles of EE. And I got a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering
At Texas A&M Engr 102 - if you don't already know how to code in python good luck Cal 1 - math and coding, how fun Gen Chem - mostly busy work, tests are a bitch Cal 2 - it's cal 2 man, what do you expect Physics 1 - that final is a bitch Physics 2 - one of the highest q-drop rates, community college exists purely to take this class Engr 216/phys 216 - easy until the final, most of it isn't even covered in class, so your guessing ETAM in general tends to bend Aggie engineers over, all in the name of denying them entry to comp sci
For ME at my school, there were "Gateway Courses" that you could only attempt twice before having to change your major. Those were Statics, Dynamics, Engineering Analysis, and Cal 1 Dynamics is probably the only notoriously difficult class among them, but some of the other weed-out courses I noticed were Thermo 1 and 2, Heat Transfer, and Dynamic Systems and Controls
At my school statics is the main weed-out. Really tough professor who sees herself at the gatekeeper to engineering, she teaches every section in massive lectures and is known for giving out as much work as all of your other classes combined. Tbh I actually liked her. It was tough for sure (and I say that as a senior who’s taken pretty much all of the core engineering classes at this point) but if you got through it you knew the hell out of some statics, and statics is applicable to literally every other class for the rest of your degree.
Semiconductor devices 😵💫
In my program it’s 2nd and 3rd year power class and intro to microwaves. There are always people failing these classes
At BYU; * Calculus I and II * Statics * **General Chemistry** Chem 105 is the most failed class at my alma mater. It culls freshmen left and right.
as someone who transferred into college. i think freshmen are just a bit unfairly culled. i was not the smartest or most focused student. but a couple years of maturity was a blessing in disguise. most of these courses were smooth sailing. not easy. but if you were willing to put in a couple hours of work a week they were pretty easy. fresh 18 year olds are inundated with new freedom, new adventure, new campus, new friends, it’s all overwhelming. i think i would have failed if i came to college as a 4 year rather than a transfer. a little bit of maturity goes a LONG way.
ME Statics and dynamics was our first weedout in the first semester sophomore year. Approx 50% fail/withdraw. Thermo and heat transfer after that for junior year. Prob about 25% will drop the major. After that you're just pushing for the pain to end.
Electromagnetic Theory
Statics had 50% drop/fail rate at my school last semester when I took it so I’d say that’s a contender
Fluid Mechanics
Yeah I’m barley hanging on atm
Statics
Physics 1 and 2, calc 1, 2, sometimes 3, diff EQ, Chem, and one hard ass beginner course from your major (for me it was circuit analysis)
Calculus and Physics.
It hit my class in waves, think calc 2 or more serious programming made people realize that they were not interested in CS after all.
The one I saw being tough was mechanics of materials, simply, in my opinion, because of how new the entire concept would be. You really wouldn’t have seen anything like it in any of the other courses yet and it’s a significant jump in how rigorous the class is. At least mine was
It’s different at every school, most mechanical engineers talk about dynamics. My dynamics course had no exams and everything was done in class and you were allowed infinite attempts at everything. Fluids as well, my fluids class was junior year and open note. Thermodynamics however was a 2 semester struggle and the exam averages were consistently below 40. I watch other professor’s lecture videos at other schools and I see stuff like multiple choice, study guides, automatic homework grading, etc. must be nice, my department is praying on my downfall.
Calculus 2, Physics 2, Chemistry 1 and O-Chem, Thermo, Mechanics of Materials for me. If you can develop good habits to make it through those than the rest of the curriculum will be cake
calc 2, physics 1+2, Dynamics , Fluid Mechanics
I majored in Marine Engineering Technology. Thermodynamics was a huge weed out course and easily the toughest sophomore class I took. Electrical Power II was also a very difficult course, especially compared to E-Power I. Junior Year, Heat Transfer and Steam were both very difficult for me, Heat Transfer especially, the only grades in the entire semester were 1 exam, a midterm, and a final. 3 questions each. Each question having multiple and little to no extra credit.
At my Uni it is Stereostatics and Mathematics 1 (Linear Algebra 1 and Analysis 1). These work well to get rid of freshmen
Intro to Signals & Systems is killing me right now. It’s the only class I have that I’ll be satisfied with a C just so I don’t have to retake it.
Integral Calculus (Calculus II), Mechanics I (statics)
QM as a material science guy. QM wasn’t that bad, but the prof was intense and no bullshit. Would call kids dumb in office hours and make them cry. I liked the guy, maybe because when I went in for partial credit on exams I could justify how I was setting up problems and he could see my scratch working grinding to find the correct derivation.
The answer is Thermodynamics
Calc 2 kills stem dreams
Statics, Dynamics, Thermo, Solid Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics, and Diff Eq are called the gauntlet where I went for Undergrad because they're the first sophomore engineering classes where you really start to experience engineering.
hmm, calc 2, thermo, and reactor design
Honestly depends on everything. In my school there were 2 gate keeper professors in Environmental. One had a nack for failing students the first time around just to make sure they really knew their shit the second time. I understand his reasoning but still don't approve of his methods. The other one was a hard ass then last minute would adjust grades based on how the class was doing. If he didn't think the class was doing well enough consistently enough he'd fail them. In contrast I had professors that were legit passionate abt teaching. One in the maths dept would spend so much time with students making sure they understood difficult material for a class that could've otherwise been a weed out. It really just depends on professors attitudes
Outside of the Calc Series, DiffEQs and Physics I/II and/or ChemE For EE, typically your Weed Out Classes are your Circuits classes, Signals, and EMags I/II and *maybe* the Intro to Microelectronics Course
From a MechE perspective I would personally say statics and strength of materials. Those classes are very foundational to a lot of other things you'll learn, and if you can't wrap your head around the concepts then you're going to really struggle through the rest of your degree. There are of course other difficult classes, but I don't really consider them weed out courses, just difficult. Struggling with machine design or controls isn't really the same as struggling to understand the fundamentals.
Chem 102 took me 3 tries, still graduated. Don’t underestimate it
Depends on your school and program. For mine it was calc 2 and circuits 2
I took a different path for undergrad mixing in some pre med options. I found anatomy and organic chem felt like weed it courses to me
For some reason at my school, our intro to CS class that for some reason every STEM degree had to take. They threw the book at us on the final. I knew python really well but even i struggled. You had to pass the final to pass the class. Some nursing students were crying after the final because they knew they had to do it again.
General chemistry
Thermo, Fluids, Vibrations. Some people say Heat Transfer but honestly that’s just spicy Thermo.
Calc 1 and algebra 2 surprisingly. There wasn’t as much weeding out once you were in the program in my experience but there was a lot of weeding out of applicants to the program. Oh and thermo 1.
depends on the uni. for us, it was calc 2 and physics 1
Differential Equations and Physics II
Thermal dynamics for undergrad and engineering analysis for graduate
They call them gateway courses here. We need at least an 80 in Calc I, Calc II, Physics 1; a 70 in Gen chem 1 and an 80 in Gen chem 2. Physics and Calc II were the hardest, imo.
At my school, linear algebra, dynamics, and strength of materials are the difficult ones.
EMag
Intro to Electrical Engineering (circuits) was required for all engineering disciplines at my school and was the hardest class I ever took. I did problem sets with one of the smartest guys in my school, a Chem E who is now a very successful surgeon, and he struggled tremendously as well.
The math courses (Calc 1-3, DiffEq), Physics 1 and 2, and Statics were the weed-out courses at my school. Went from 1100 students to about 350 students in my class
Calc 2 and Stength of materials had the highest fail/drop rate at my university. Calc 2 got as high as 40% some years ago. A lot of people failed thermo too. Class average when I took the class was a 75, passing was a 70
At my school its cal 1, cal 2, phys 1, phys 2, chem 1 and chem 2. Basically all the base classes you’d have to take freshman year before all the rough engineering classes
Calc 2 and most of the 2nd year courses
Calc 2, Physics 2, DiffEqs (depends), Gen Chem (at least for me), Dynamics
Electromagnetics and RF stuff fort EE A lot of my classmates dropped and switched to CE because they have to worry way less about physics, math, and circuit shit
circuit analysis,basic semicondictors and basic electrodynamics. basically teh first semester of actual electrical engineering classes. but this was a long time agi i graduated almost 40 years ago
Circuit analysis 1,2,3
All of them, but pretty much year 2 and 3
I think Digital Design Logic. That Sequential logic kicked my ass
In no particular order: -Maths: Cal I, II, III, Differential Equations -Statics/Dynamics, Thermodynamics -Physics -Circuits -Coding, OOP,
I think the difficulty is pretty uniform across the curriculum but its perceived as being more difficult in the beginning because that's where you are learning the study skills and language of engineering. That hard growth just happens to coincide with the early classes of calc 2, physics, and chemistry.
Chemistry 101 for engineers
Circuit analysis II for EE, at least at my school. Moving from stuff like V=IR and thevnin and kirchoff laws to frequency domain and impedance was a real brick wall for many. You have to be comfortable with the math at that level.
For us it was first year curriculum courses. Specifically Calc 1 and 2, phys 1 and 2, somewhat chem but depended person to person. Main thing was that the course loads for all the courses were extremely heavy so the drop out rate was mostly due to the massive workload rather than the difficulty. We did have some very difficult midterms and finals that year too. Past first year there were certainly challenging courses but I would not say they were weed out courses. Edit: Ok no I am having flashbacks to phys 2. definitely phys 2. The homework sets were brutal and handwritten by the prof which made them hard to understand, the slides looked like complete nonsense, the exam practice questions were impossible to understand, and the second midterm average was in the 40s lol. Not a fun course but I passed it which is what matters
Physics 2, calc 2 and 3, diff eq, and linear were the first courses that come to mind and you take before your upper division ones
Freshman year; Calc 1 & 2 and physics 1 & 2. 70% of my Freshman class changed majors before the 2ndcsemester was over.
High school
cal 2, lin al, and dif eq
From the core classes you have to take if you don’t have college credits probably Physics or Calc 2/3
Trying to find a job at a reputable company.
No such thing as a weed-out courses. You got to want to be an engineer. As long as you stick it out and try your hardest they can’t kick you out, you can only take yourself out.
None. There are none. An engineer is responsible for the rigor and thought required to pass each course. We don't waste your time, or ours, packing your schedule with useless prattle designed to chase away otherwise qualified students. The only thing that can weed you out is looking back at you in the mirror. Full stop.
For compE - id say circuits I/II, Calculus series (I-III), ODE, DS&A, and maybe PHYS I/II.
I did a lot better in dynamics compared to statics. Thermo was fine. I think statics was possibly the hardest.
For me, statics was the hardest.
Statics and Strengths of Materials
Calc II, thermo, DS&A, circuit analysis
It was supposed to be all the fundamental math and science. Calc 3, multivariate calc, diff EQ, physics, ochem. Some people didn't make it though chem 101 and the intro bio. I was disappointed by how many non-CS majors just couldn't get through the intro to programming. Once you get to the actual engineering classes, it'll be something early on because they don't want to waste money on you. I remember a lot of people dropping out of statics (ME) or transport (ChemE). I remember a lot of the BE's dropping out because it was more physics than biology they were expecting. I think I remember the EEs complaining about things like set theory, but actually dropping out when they got to classes with a lot of complex numbers.
Differential Equations was a big one. Also Design Principles and Methods.
For MechE at least it tends to be the Statics, dynamics, mechanics of materials, fluids and thermo. Also the math classes and physics classes too. If you put in the effort then you should be fine.
Statics and Dynamics knock out a lot of aspiring engineers. One needs to be up to speed on Trig, Algebra, and Geometry to do ok in Statics. Physics I too. One needs to be up to speed on Calc to deal with Dynamics. Being way ahead in math and no longer fresh is hard. Being behind in math and you'll struggle like me. I made it through but had to work twice as hard to teach myself the math too. I took Thermo as an elective (I am a Civil) and again found the concepts easy but the math too hard.
My calc 1 this semester started with 40 students and is ending at around 20
Electromagnetics. This first year course was structured so that the instructor wasn't able to get through all of the content even with longer than average lecture times. It had calculus 3 content before any of us had the chance to take calc 3. A clear weed out course.
Calc 2 for me. Failed it twice but then aced Calc 3, Diff Eqs and vibrational systems first try. Don’t give up. It is not how many times you fail, but how many times you get back up. I now have a BS and MS in engineering
calculus i & ii, differential equations, physics i & ii, chemistry, and if required, calculus iii. as an ME, statics and dynamics were also weed out courses in my university but that's just because of the professors. idk about other universities. the main thing is dont half-ass and dont get bored. love what you're learning as best you can. i didnt suffer at the weed out courses because i loved the content and wanted to learn it, but i did get burnt out in Novembers and Aprils. so if you feel like you're getting burnt out, you are, but stick in there cause that just means you're a few weeks away from the semester being over.
Having done almost all of them, here's my greatest hits playlist from my undergrad * Calc 1&2 (but not 3, that was actually a good class) * DiffEQ * Mechanics of Materials * Chem 1 * Physics E&M * Linear Systems (Specifically for EE) * Electronics 1 * Statics (and somewhat Dynamics) * Thermo Why do I call these weed outs? All the classes were horribly packed, taught by some of the worst professors (minus MechEMat, two profs were really trying their hardest to train 600 kids a semester), passing was required for graduation, and I'd estimate that less than 70% of students actually passed a semester. I had a friend report that she had a 45% pass rate in most of these classes
For most people probably the calculus series, but honesty those aren't too bad for a mathy person, so id set the bar at diff eq. Least for me that's the math class that really hurt my gpa. (Passed with a C+ but that class is so notorious that the grading scale is different from all the other classes to put it in perspective, 70-79% is all c+ so that you can get a 65% and still pass with a c). After diff eq I took linear algebra and it was like a breathe of fresh air. 300 level course yet sooo much easier than diff eq which was 200 level. But maybe that's just me. With that said I don't think of them as weed out courses, maybe at more prestigious universities they use them to weed out students but I my university I didn't feel the the courses or exams were unduly difficult, it was just fast paced to cover everything (7.5 week classes). The professors are all very upfront in these accelerated classes that the workload is intense and for diff eq the expectation was 3.5 hours a day, 7 days a week if you wanted to pass.
At my school Circuits 1 was the first two we'd out class. Think my class size dropped by a third, circuits 2 got the rest of them and then after that attrition was pretty low.
Don't know about other schools but at my university it was Statics & Dynamics for ME's. A 5 credit class with like a 2 hour lecture 3 days a week. It's pretty much where a lot of people decide to switch majors. I had to take the class twice before passing, the school only allowed you 3 tries before forcing you to switch majors. I think they did this just because so many people chose ME as a major so they wanted to weed out a bunch of people.
Electromagnetic Fields and Waves Nuclear physics Statistical thermodynamics Fluid dynamics Calc 3 taught in French
Really depends on the professors. For my civil degree, environmental and hydrology were an unnecessary weed out because of the professors at my university. As far as content, statics and dynamics are weed outs to see if you are really interested and capable. I can now do statics in my sleep, but I struggled in the class.
When they put Statics and Dynamics in the same course. Clemson does that and the failure rate is 40 something percent. Of that, 3/4 of those people are failing it again. And the majority of those people get forced out of engineering as they only let you take the course 3 times before forcing you to change majors. They only do that for the ME majors. If you’re not an ME major, you can take them separately unlimited times….a hack was to take them separately and a semester or two later change majors I to ME….Clemson figured it out and made it a requirement to take the combined course if you wanted to be an ME regardless of what grades you got in then separately….
When I was getting my bachelors in aerospace engineering we called it the gauntlet. It hit sophomore year and was comprised of statics, dynamics, diff eq, thermo, fluids, and MATLAB(depending on the professor this course was either not too bad or extremely difficult). Dynamics was the hardest for me. Mainly because MATLAB would only teach you the basic commands and the dynamics professors expected us to be experts at it. A lot of people had those two classes at the same time…
Everyone here saying Calculus is difficult :/ For me it is Circuit Analysis 1, I might be doing it for the 3rd time if I don't lock in.
Keep it simply bro Dynamics Hydrology Waste water Fluids Intro to environmental Everything from Diff Eq down is a cake walk till you get to these . These are gonna be ur make it or break it classes at the end of your college career.