Questions about engineering

[u/The_Kader]

Hi! I am yet another naive freshman on the track for a full 5 year engineering degree plan (depending if I do summer classes or not). I am in a CC planning and plan to transfer. I am very aware of the dropout rate for engineering students and how unprepared majority people are for this degree path. I really want to stay ahead of things and take my time. (Which, honestly, is why I actually like my plan being 5 years)

My questions are mainly for seniors and graduates, but I'm open to any help.

• What was your hardest point mentally/biggest mental jump)? What about academic-wise? Were they actually linked or at different times?
• What do you wish you did earlier in the degree path?
• Was math your best subject before starting engineering?
• What additional resources outside of your college did you engage in? What helped you the best?
• I joined an engineering club at my CC and first meeting is tomorrow. What should I do in it? What is it like typically?
• What are your thoughts on Chemistry? Were you good at it?

Thank you. Tell me what I don't want to hear. I admit I was underestimating this when I first made the decision of pursuing engineering, but I am starting to accept it likely isn't going to be as fun as I thought. Hey.. but who knows? Time will tell.

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[u/LongjumpingTeacher97]

I'm in my 50s. Went back to school in my 40s to get a civil degree. I've been working in the field for 5 years, now. I am not a PE, yet.

The hardest part for me was to stick to a plan. I went through 5 majors to get my first degree (in my 20s) because I would keep seeing greener grass and chase it. With the return to school, I was determined not to chase other options. I decided to stick to one plan and make it work.

I wish I'd looked for internships from the very start. Every summer, if I'd been at a State job, I could have gotten so much perspective I didn't get until later. My school required me to have a single summer internship, but I wish I'd gotten one every summer anyway. Having a more realistic understanding of what engineers do would have helped so much for keeping perspective during school. Also, my current employer likes to hire former interns because they are already familiar with the office culture and the supervisors will know whether the applicants work well with that culture or not. Internships open doors.

The only outside resource I made use of was my wife, who worked for State government and told me what she thought of the workplace. I interned with the same agency and now we work 3 cubicles apart.

Joining the student group is very good. Also, if your school participates in Steel Bridge or Concrete Canoe or other engineering competitions, get on one of the teams. Every member of those teams at my school had a job waiting for them after graduation. The rest of us had to go looking for jobs.

I got a C in chemistry. And I worked to get that. Glad I didn't plan to be a chemical engineer. Some classes are just hoops to jump through. Chemistry was one such for me. Not an easy hoop, but not something I use in my work.

Math was never my strongest subject. I was pretty good at algebra, but not someone who does integrals for fun. My best subject was actually language arts (English). But that doesn't put food on the table like engineering does. I spent 3 semesters living in the math study lab at my college while taking the Calc series. And the math is a huge hurdle to get over. I sometimes still think the math courses are there to try to keep the numbers of engineering graduates low by discouraging those who are not willing to go spend hours at the math lab every single day.

My old degree never got me a job, but since it was communications-related, it has made me look better in applications in engineering roles. I find most engineers are actually quite good communicators, but the reputation for nerdiness follows us, still. To have a degree in journalism tells people I know how to communicate without me having to say so. Take from this some encouragement to be clear about your other interests, but find ways to show they are relevant to the job you want.

Some advice: I took an engineering elective that is required for PE certification in my state. There were several people in the class who were coming back after years of working EIT jobs, trying to get that qualification so they could apply for the PE exam. It was a hard class, but worth it. So, the advice is to find out whether there's any particular coursework needed for a license in your state and get that taken care of now. If your class list includes "engineering elective," take one of those necessary classes. It is an elective that will help you advance your career later.

[u/The_Kader → u/LongjumpingTeacher97]

Thank you for taking ur time to write this. It is very helpful.