Academic Success
Thriving at the College Level
The Difference Between High School and College
At the university level, students are the owners of their education and their experience. With ownership, comes a great deal of responsibility. Your instructors will not always tell you everything that you need to do in order to succeed. Often times, one of the must fundamental challenges of a college course is discovering what the expectations for you really are.
Collaborative Study Required
Talking about the benefits of group study is easy. When you study with others, you reduce your chances of “getting stuck,” you reduce your chances of making mistakes, you get to see how other people solve problems, and you find out “where you stand” — how you are doing in the class compared to others.
Yes, talking about studying and working in groups is easy. Actually finding or forming a study group is not always so simple. But, even if you are a shy person, you should find a way to regularly meet with other students to discuss course material and work on problems.
Studying Engineering is a Full-time Job (with Overtime)
The amount of time required each week to thrive academically will not be the same for every student, nor will it be constant from quarter to quarter. But, in general, plan to spend 2-3 hours outside of class studying and doing homework for each hour spent in class each week. For a full-time student attending classes about 15 hours each week, this means 30-45 hours outside of class on school work. If we add all of that time together, the range is 45-60 hours per week dedicated to academics. The math is simple. And the result means that if you plan to perform well in your courses, you will need to organize your life around your studies.
Academic Support Programs (MSEP and WiSE)
Two student programs provide academic support for all students, with emphasis on encouraging minorities and women to pursue engineering studies and careers. Study Centers, course co-enrollment, learning facilitators, and academic Workshops & Seminars are open to all students. Additional support is available to members of MSEP and WiSE. See their pages for information about their programs. Again, anyone can join these programs:
Contact Us
Scott Pinkham,
Minority Scholars Engineering Program
(206) 543-1770
fax: (206) 616-8554
voice mail: (206) 221-7769
spinkham@uw.edu
UW College of Engineering
319 Loew Hall, Box 352180
Seattle, WA 98195-2180
current engr. students
future students, alumni, friends
engineering academic center
Academic Support through Learning Communities
The Engineering Academic Center is a place where students hone the skills they need to succeed in introductory math, physics or chemistry courses. Workshop participants, usually 10 to 20 students, meet twice a week in study groups and form learning communities.
Read more:
Engineering Academic Center
Center leader Dave Prince