Dropping a course and failing it are two different things. The dropped data here is based those completed before the deadline. It's also based on percentage, so 50 drops in a class of 600 isn't going to hit the same as 20 drops in a class of 90
Most "Dropped" Courses in F24
- Thread starter nfrine
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ECON 302 was the only class I ever considered dropping. I had a TA who was foreign and hard, but not impossible, to understand. This was only an issue because each class was him with his back to the room lecturing on the whiteboard with no pauses or any sort of acknowledgement of understanding. Class periods were worthless. I went to the overseeing professor and told him this basically just asking for the guy to give some sort of a chance for questions and was basically told to deal with it. I told him that I just wouldn't go to class anymore and spend that time going through the book as the class was mapped out and scheduled because I was having to go do that anyway. That turned out much better.
I was definitely before on-line classes. I always wonder how I would have done, but I feel fortunate that I never had to test that theory.
I knew several that struggled mightily with 150 but coasted with 151. My wife bombed 150 the first time and got an A with a different professor the next time she took it. The Rate My Professor thing would have been a godsend. It was all word of mouth back in the day.
Math 267 was diffy-Q. Had an awesome prof, was also my math 365 prof. Both were among the easiest maths I took, he was a part of that.
Had no troubles with physics 227 either, profs were costa soukoulis and Laurent hodges.
Chem 167 with Dr. Miller first semester was great too. Got lucky I guess
I forgot that 227 was 5 credits until my kids found my transcript.
Talking with a coworker about that a couple weeks ago apparently the ME advisors told his kid to take Physics in the summer at Iowa Western. Apparently those engineering physics aren't the weed out classes anymore they just do it really half assed because there aren't enough physics majors to justify having good professors. He said the weed out (at least for ME) classes were Calc2 still and statics.
I took a summer stat class at Wayne State (Nebraska) and transfered in the credits, that class was a complete joke.
A fun story from a weed out class, which was Physics 1...
We had our mid-term on the Thursday night before spring break. I had no classes on that Friday. So, I took that exam and then got very, very drunk.
The exam was long-form problems but multiple choice. The prof gave you a form where you could record your answers and take with you. 2 hours after the exam was over, he would post the answer key. That allowed you to see how you did very quickly while you waited for him to post your official grade several days later.
Well, by the time he posted the answer key, I was drunk as a skunk. I stumble to my computer and "grade" my test. I got a 50%. I proceed to get more drunk so I can forget about the fact I just failed the mid-term.
I wake up the next morning and remember all of this. I think to myself "I'm sure I was just so drunk I didn't do that properly. I bet I did better than I think."
Nope. While sober me was bad at physics, drunk me was a very good grader.
We had our mid-term on the Thursday night before spring break. I had no classes on that Friday. So, I took that exam and then got very, very drunk.
The exam was long-form problems but multiple choice. The prof gave you a form where you could record your answers and take with you. 2 hours after the exam was over, he would post the answer key. That allowed you to see how you did very quickly while you waited for him to post your official grade several days later.
Well, by the time he posted the answer key, I was drunk as a skunk. I stumble to my computer and "grade" my test. I got a 50%. I proceed to get more drunk so I can forget about the fact I just failed the mid-term.
I wake up the next morning and remember all of this. I think to myself "I'm sure I was just so drunk I didn't do that properly. I bet I did better than I think."
Nope. While sober me was bad at physics, drunk me was a very good grader.
This story reminds me of one of the most surreal incidents of my life.
My high school chemistry and physics teacher (at Boone, mind you, not one of the better high schools in the state) was a young guy right out of college. I am not going to reveal his name because it is fairly unique and he is still teaching elsewhere in Iowa and this story is kind of... well, rather bizarre.
He was not a popular teacher because (1.) he was inexperienced... he tried hard but was new at the job and only human in that way... and (2.) he tried to teach chemistry and physics in a rigorous, mathematical way, the same way one would encounter in freshman or sophomore science classes at ISU.
One day I was sitting in the "nerd lounge" (what amounted to an old closet converted into a computer lab for the talented and gifted program over the old middle school gym... complete with basketballs pounding against the wall and the floor during the day) when said teacher came around the corner and saw me. He was absolutely furious. His face was red, he was hunched over, and his hands were balled up in fists. He looked like a gorilla looking for somebody to fight (as much as one can at 5'10" and maybe 150 with glasses).
He walks up to me. Leans over in my face. He's scowling and breathing heavy. Growls at me from about six inches away, "PLEASE TELL ME YOU LIKE TO BE INTELLECTUALLY CHALLENGED?!?!??" I'm thoroughly confused and a little scared and all I can offer is a meek "yes" before he turns around and storms off.
Later on I hear through the grapevine the other chemistry section (there were two, mine was in the morning and this one was in the afternoon) staged a "student rebellion" against him just before he walked by the computer lab and saw me. Their complaint was his class was too difficult, and they collectively refused to work on any of the material and accused him of abusive conduct for trying to teach material at a level completely inappropriate for high school students. They were done with him, and he was understandably done with them.
The funny thing was after that incident our relationship improved significantly. I think he found me pretentious until he saw that was a good problem to have in a student. Then I became his favorite after he was our chaperone to the Ames Science Bowl and we finished second with me more-or-less playing solo. Stupid Ames nabbed us in the finals. He even said at one point that he was "proud" to be my teacher in the Paul Rhoads style.
I appreciate the teachers I had in high school who drilled me on such material because (1.) it prepared me for difficult classes or (2.) it made it so I never needed to take them at all while at Iowa State because of AP credits or transfer credits from DMACC. The people in the morning class generally all went off to college and graduated. The rebels in the afternoon section, well, very few did from what I've gathered.
When I took the first mid-term, I sat next to an exchange student.
I asked her, "Are you nervous?" and she said, "If I don't do well, they will send me back." We both chuckled at her comment.
Halfway through the test, I heard a weird snorting sound coming from her direction. I looked over, anticipating to whisper if she could be mindful of her noises. She was sobbing and only on the second page.
I never saw her again.
In Chem 177 they had some extra exam you had to take. I can't remember what it was for, but it was not part of the course. It was almost like a standardized test or something.
We took it in Mole Bio. It must've been toward the end of the fall semester because I remember there was snow on the ground. Well, when I got to Mole Bio for the exam, there were cop cars and an ambulance. A pedestrian had been hit by a car crossing the street.
As I was standing in line to hand in my test, I said to the girl next to me "Did you see someone got hit by a car on the way in? That's crazy."
She said "Yeah, it was me."
Didn't drop 151, but same situation I couldn't understand the TA and really struggled with 151 after flying through 150.
One other small problem, I turned 19 that spring semester. I bet there is a strong correlation between # of beers drank on weekday nights and poor grades.
Prior to my Freshman year we took a math entrance exam during the summer. I must have done well because I was placed in a 400 level math course. I went the first week, a small town boy at ISU and knew immediately I was out of place. The course was a small group of foreign students and geeky Americans with slide rules and pocket protectors. I thought this was the way college was supposed to be. Luckily the second week an older student that I lived with said this is not how it should be and said I should drop that class and add a 100 level course. Thus began my ISU experience with five credits of A instead of a who knows what!! I do not know how this got by my advisor but it did.
Stat 227 was a common take-again class for business majors when I was in school (late 90s). Luckily it clicked for me and I pretty much coasted to an A. Pissed my friend off / particularly ones on their second round.
Freshman engineering physics on the other hand killed me. Reason I switched from engineering to MIS.
It’s always interesting how some people find some courses so easy and others so difficult. Even within the same subject matter. Like I did okay with the C++ programming but could not learn COBOL for the life of me.
