21 Years Old and I Feel Like I Have No Momentum/Direction

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>I've finally transferred to KU after three (long, miserably lonely) years of community college, and I'm on a pre-engineering track. I say pre-engineering because a) I have a transfer GPA of 2.3, where the minimum for entrance is 2.5, and a 3.0 to be competitive and b) I'm leaning towards architectural or civil engineering, but EE/CS look interesting as well. The only problem is that I guess I'd have to take electives to fluff up my GPA, which only further delays my graduation date. </p>

<p>On top of that I've been living in the scholarship halls, in which I share a dorm with 50 other guys, I feel elderly (relatively speaking), compared to most of the kids on my dorm, most of whom are 18-20 years old, and I guess what bothers me is that these kids have a more definite idea of what to study and strive for it after only a few semesters in college, and I still feel insecure about how motivated I am to carry on an engineering courseload.</p>

<p>I guess I'm trying to deal with my feelings via one of two ways 1) study Calculus for a few hours, and bury myself in my work, and 2) reward myself afterwards by going to the local bar and having a few beers (or shots). Even with the latter, I find it depressing because I've run into classmates that I haven't seen in a few years, and they're accounting/finance/business majors, and they talk about how thrilled they are to dive into a competitive job when they graduate next year, which only makes me feel like drinking more.</p>

<p>I'm only taking 10 credit-hours (Calc I, Intro to Engineering and Comp II), and I'm also debating whether or not increasing my workload (deadline for adding courses is Sept. 15th), would only make me more anxious or keep me occupied and motivated.</p>

<p>Anyway, I'm sorry to cloud up a forum on Engineering Majors with tangents on my personal problems, but I feel like I can't be academically successful unless I clear these inner problems.</p>

2

<p>With only 10 credit hours you are probably part time. If this is a necessity for financial or academic reasons, then you should not feel bad about being a couple of years older than other students. it is just your circumstances and it will take you a bit longer but in the long run it won’t make much difference.</p>

<p>More importantly, is whether you are motivated enough toward engineering to do what is necessary to succeed. There is a reason for the minimum GPA. Engineering is one of the more demanding majors and you have to be motivated to work through it. Take this semester to learn what being an engineering is like and then see if you have the desire to pursue one or another engineering options. If you need to be full time, just take a non-STEM course to give yourself a break. You are going to have a lot of work with the Calculus I and Computer Science classes.</p>

3

<p>Why did you only enroll in 10 hours in the first place? Why have you chosen engineering to major in? Is Comp II a computer science class? </p>