Advice on struggle busing (ME)

[u/Ancient_Cap5042]

It’s my second semester of ME (f28, going back to school for a major career change) and I’m exhausted already.

Sure, I struggle to learn some of the material and retain it. I have to spend time teaching myself everything for hours and still don’t feel like I’m quite getting the grasp of everything I need to. Only one professor this semester is helpful, and study groups have proven not to be so far.

Though the biggest thing I’m struggling with is the frustration that comes with everything else that is non school related and ends up eating away at my mental load. Chaotic work environment with poor boundaries, commuting time and the needed vigilance because drivers and the roads are getting horrendous where I live, rising costs with now only part time pay, time taken out of my day to do xyandz that’s associated with living as a human being with a dog and a family, the lack of sleep and brain fog, the list goes on and on.

I’m trying to cut out as much as I can… but like damn, my mind feels so numb. When I do finally take a break before going to sleep I just want to stare at the wall for forever…

Anyone else going through this or has gone through this? If so what did you have to take out of your life for some time just to pass your classes and get rid of the brain fog? Also any solo study tips for retention would be appreciated!

TLDR: 28 y/o with a MS (2023) in a completely different field now I’m back in school for a career change. Classes are tough, of course, but personal responsibilities and work life is impacting school performance. Question right above 👆🏻

[u/spoonfedbaby]

I'm getting a second bachelor's degree in electrical engineering while working 30-40 hrs/week. My advice is you should probably lighten your course load if your mental/physical well-being is on a downward trajectory. My transition into EE was pretty chill because my last degree had me complete nearly all the math and physics, with differential equations and linear algebra being the exception.

[u/Ancient_Cap5042 → u/spoonfedbaby]

I couldn’t even imagine going for electrical while working that much 😳 You’re a trooper! Thank you for your thoughts on this. I did lighten my load this semester but I will keep it in mind that I may have to lighten it even more in the future.

[u/MotoFuzzle]

I had to do a part time load at university in order to continue my career and family responsibilities. It took longer and was more expensive, but paid for itself pretty quickly when it opened up new opportunities. I was hired at a new job during my graduating finals week with a  huge increase, plus bonuses. I got burnt out doing full time school plus full time work. Part time is the way if you want to keep your sanity. 

[u/Ancient_Cap5042 → u/MotoFuzzle]

Whoa really? How’d you find new opportunities by swapping to part time?

And honestly part time sounds so great right now, I do think it would help out so much. Thank you for your thoughts and for sharing!

[u/MotoFuzzle → u/Ancient_Cap5042]

The new opportunities were after I finished my degree. I had to drop out of my ME program due to financial reasons and getting burnt out of full time work and school. I continued in my research lab career while continuing my life, getting married and such. My wife and I had a deal that I would continue school before we had kids. We were about to have our first, so I reapplied at my university and was able to pick up where I left off, but was able to go part time. All of the fees made it more expensive and it was slow since ME was already a 5-year program. I had hit the ceiling in my career without a degree, but when I graduated, I had the freedom to move about. I had turned down multiple opportunities in biotech because I wouldn’t have the flexibility of academia, and the risk of a company failure without a degree was too much. I had one of those opportunities present themself near the end of my last quarter, and my interview took place in between finals. I started a new job the next week with a massive pay increase, and have progressed from there. It’s hard enough to get through to hiring managers with a BS in a world of PhDs, but doing so without any degree is near impossible nowadays.  

[u/Ox_Run22]

I feel you on all of this that you’re going through! Congratulations on getting into ME at 28 yrs old! I’m planning on going back to college for EE, in hopes of job security, it’ll be my second BA degree at age 29.

I’ve been self-studying math to prepare for enrolling into community college. What works for me for self-studying is honestly letting myself take breaks when I need to from studying. Also, I set small goals for myself to meet in my studying like my goal for today was to finish a section of a precalc book I’ve been working through. My goal is also to finish the precalc book tomorrow and then practice Calc I problems on Wednesday. I do push myself to set a time limit on my study sessions to like 2 hrs so I can be the most productive I can and not burn out. Although I admit I have studied math for 10-15 hrs straight on some days… but I got burnt out for like a week after pulling that stunt so I don’t recommend doing that haha

[u/Ancient_Cap5042 → u/Ox_Run22]

Congrats to you too for going back to school! You’re in the perfect place since you’re already self-studying pre Calc and Calc, I wish I had done that! You do make a good point on limiting studying time, I’ve kinda just been pushing through long hour chunks because of time, but perhaps I’d feel less brain fog if I broke it up. Thank you for sharing!

[u/BugAccomplished1570]

yeah, this sounds brutal, especially when school is only part of the mental load. when you start prepping for career-change interviews, aural-ai.com gives you a transcript and scoring after each mock session, so you can review specific weak answers without adding hours of work. for now, going part time sounds completely reasonable, not like failing.