Athletes and Engineering
Can you be a Michigan athlete and be an engineer? In the Purdue game they mentioned that Jordan Morgan had already graduated with a degree in Industrial Engineering. When Da'Shawn Hand was vacillating between schools, he supposedly was discouraged from majoring in engineering at Michigan because it was too hard for anyone to be a Michigan Football player and an engineer. One of the reasons he choose Alabama (a lower tier school) was because he wanted to be a civil engineer.
Malik McDowell says academics are important, and posters say he should come to Michigan if that is the case. Can you take the academically rigorous courses at UofM if you are an athlete? If not, are we really the better school academically for athletes? (BTW I knew a lot of Michigan athletes who took the hard courses.)
February 1st, 2014 at 5:04 PM ^
February 1st, 2014 at 2:45 PM ^
I know I wouldn't be able to handle such an enormous dedication to two enormous endeavors simultaneously. U of M is a world-class school, for good reason. I don't know if Da'Shawn would/wouldn't be able to handle that load, but I do understand his decision, however.
I also respect the coaches for being honest.
February 1st, 2014 at 2:50 PM ^
February 1st, 2014 at 2:52 PM ^
February 1st, 2014 at 2:58 PM ^
in Bio-Med Engineering, and I think he was an academic AA as well.
February 1st, 2014 at 4:24 PM ^
February 1st, 2014 at 5:28 PM ^
February 1st, 2014 at 3:08 PM ^
Punter, graduated with a Masters of Biomedical Engineering.
February 1st, 2014 at 3:15 PM ^
Any curriculum is difficult if you do not have:
A) The natural apptitude towards the subject matter (i.e. not sucking at math while trying to be physicist).
B) Gumption to make the effort necessary to make sure you succeed.
Course scheduling and time requirements aside, if the first two criteria aren't met, it doesn't matter what your extra-curricular activities are - whether you spend some of your time playing football, toking ganja, or being pwning at Madden on PS4.
Real life example - Right now I'm trying to teach an IU grad with a degree in Marketing how to write C#/Java programs - for 16 months straight this has been his primary work responsibility - to learn how to do this. He's smart and a good guy, but he's a "right brain" guy. He still can't do simple I/O processing and has no clue how to debug his code. It is not be because he lacks the time, he lacks mostly A and a little B. And don't blame, the teacher, I've taught 8th grade science, tutored a UM Football All-American to pass his SAT, taught college Physics labs and served several years tutoring HS and College kids in a variety of subjects. Sometimes, the dog just can't hunt... Can ya tell I'm frustrated lol...
But back on point, I went to college on 1/2 football, 1/2 Physics scholarship. So, yes its possible for athletes to major in "tough" subjects (tough be relative to the student). It is rare though because its defintely not easy for anyone no matter how gifted athletically or intellectually.
February 1st, 2014 at 4:36 PM ^
I doubt the engineering school would have ever let Hand in. For some reason I remember him posting his grades and they were good but not great.
https://twitter.com/TheHand54/status/344883827925217280/photo/1
I mean, a B in Calculus and Civil Engineering in your junior year won't get you in and I doubt the engineering school would lower their standards for a football player. If another program has lower standards historically then they aren't really lowering their standards for athletes.
February 1st, 2014 at 8:10 PM ^
Um, taking AP Calc is a junior in HS along with the rest of his courses is certainly impressive enough. I graduated from the engineering college (Comp Eng. years ago), and while this board likes to talk up the school as being filled with geniuses, that isn't really the case. If you can show you can handle the grind associated with the coursework and have some natural affinity, you can do it.
Academics are rarely the major reason a big-time recruit picks a school, but Hand certainly doesn't seem like a slouch in that department if those are his real grades.
February 1st, 2014 at 9:09 PM ^
So you think you can get admitted to the engineering school with B's in math and science classes in high school? It's almost impossible not to get a B in a high school class if you put any effort into it.
February 2nd, 2014 at 12:21 AM ^
February 2nd, 2014 at 8:36 AM ^
i have to dispute this. AP Calc isn't that hard and certainly isn't more difficult than calc 115 at Michigan
February 2nd, 2014 at 10:48 AM ^
The B in AP Calculus is a little concerning, but not the end of the world. In my experience, my AP Calculus classes allowed me to snooze throgh Calc I and II my freshman year (no AP credits allowed at my school). Calc III started to get some new material, but it was pretty much a snooze fest (no homework or studying) to maintain a B average at least.
Now, if someone thinks Calc AP or College Calc I,II,III is hard they are in for a huge shock when they hit Linear Alegrba, Differential Equations and god forbid Euclidian/Diffential Geometry. To be honest, anyone considering a major in Physics, Mathematics, Engineering and to a certain extent Computer Science better not struggle with Calculus. I'm not saying it can't be done, but the deck is severely stack against them.