I am currently a community college student in my sophomore year pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering. I have completed basically all of my general requirements, such as all of my social sciences, humanities, math courses, and electives. This semester is the last semester before I finish Engineering Physics 3 in which that will complete all the physics courses I will need for this major. At that point I will transfer to a 4 year college, but before I do that I need to know that obtaining an Electrical Engineering degree is truly worth it to me.
I have been in community college for a good while not really knowing what I wanted to do. I have taken well over the necessary credits for an Associate’s Degree. The only issue is I have an Associate’s Degree in Liberal Arts, nothing regarding Engineering. I have gotten all As in many courses that deal with Language arts, History, Psychology, Chemistry, Biology, etc. I used to want to become a Doctor until I realized how much schooling was involved and how much time would be involved once the job was obtained. I do not want my life to be about my career, I rather my career follow my life and give me the means I need to do so. I have always been very good at studying, focusing, and generally just reading until I understand a subject. I have been able to do this and have genuinely enjoyed many if not all of my courses of study. You can say I love to learn.
However, when it comes to math, I have never been really good at anything besides for algebra. I feel as though my high school education has really contributed to the fact that I am poor at math and physics. In High School I only took up to Algebra 2 and I have never taken a physics course before college. It has been very difficult, but I have managed to work my way through math and have become quite good at it, although I can’t really say that I did well enough to say I really understand it. I can solve problems by using mathematical processes (using rules and laws), but cannot solve word problems and do not really understand much of the concepts. I have managed to earn As and Bs in linear algebra, calc 2, calc 3, and differential equations. Anything regarding math always takes me an intensely long duration just to solve a few problems, which doesn’t seem practical to me If I am going to take many math courses at the same time in my future.
When it comes to physics, I have never done well. I took general physics and had to drop it my first time. In fact, it was the only course I was studying for and it caused me to receive a C during Calc 1, which is also a contribution to why I don’t understand math that well because my foundation Calc 1 course was not learnt to the fullest. Since then I have manage to take Engineering Physics 1 and passed that with a B+. However, the professor, who I still go to for help, is a really good Professor (A PhD genius that literally knows everything about everything) and knows how to explain the material well enough to even relate it. However, I took Engineering Physics 2 with a professor who only explains the concepts with math and I find it very hard to visualize anything that she said. Going to her lectures were absolutely pointless for me and there was so much work due in such a short time, I was forced to study by using the solutions manual and figuring out concepts based on how the questions were phrased and looking at the process. I would also review the sections of the book for terms I was unfamiliar with, look into the derivations of equations that appeared to have come from nowhere, and go to my Engineering Physics 1 professor for explanations. I still only passed her course with a C and I would spend countless hours ONLY doing problems. It seems as though it takes me about 30 minutes to an hour to understand only 1 problem. The difference with this and math is with math I am at least able to look online on every single step as to how they solved a problem and make sense out of the process in my head.
Now I am in Engineering Physics 3 with the same professor as my Engineering Physics 2 professor and it feels like I am doing the same thing as last semester to get through this. Many of the concepts are very difficult to understand and get down. I feel like I end up relying more on memorization, which I am really poor at doing, just to get through most of the problems. It seems like I understand things on a general level, but when the questions become really specific, it is difficult for me to figure out how to solve things. The worst part is, if you ask me what a particular subject, theory or even a question I did from last semester was, I couldn’t even tell you. I feel like I have retained and learned nothing.
I am also taking Circuits this semester, which is basically my first real EE course. I felt like I was learning in the beginning and I was understanding some of the concepts. However, that quickly changed as the course progressed. The concepts got harder, the circuits became more advanced and there is more homework than ever, but not enough time to do it all. I use the solutions manual to help me if I cannot solve a problem on my own, but I question the process of the solution’s manual due to not understanding where some of the math equations came from. I end up spending hours on 1 or 2 problems. I feel like I know the theories, but not well enough to show the professor on any of the quizzes or exams. He doesn’t grade any of the work, only the correct answers to the questions he breaks into parts.
The worst part is, I feel like everyone in my physics courses are actually getting it and understanding it on a theoretical level the way you are supposed to. I see this through people getting better grades than I do on the quizzes and in lab my partners know exactly what to do while I am forced to ask my lab members questions as they do it, since I do not know enough to contribute even though I definitely try.
And in my Circuits class, it seems as though I always get 0s on the quizzes that a lot of my classmates seem to understand and actually get right.
I feel as though I work most of my day, every day, which is taking up the majority of my life, just to barely pass these subjects, while everyone else doesn’t even study or goes out and parties and still obtains higher grades than mine.
So, my question is should I continue this major and see if things will get better? Perhaps it was just a bad teacher and the other courses in EE will be more enjoyable and easier to understand for me with a better professor? What if the professors are just as bad as this teacher now? Maybe my understanding in a more specific part of physics that doesn’t vary, rather than learning about a myriad of different topics thrown at you at once, will be easier to grasp and understand?
I am just nervous I will obtain a degree for classes I was barely able to survive in at the lowest of my classes and when I go for a job interview, I will literally not know how to do any of it. I do not want to be incompetent of doing what I set myself out to learn all these years. I don’t want to further waste my time.
I have applied to many internships, but it seems to be very tough to get an internship without more classes or a better resume under my belt. I really have no experience in Electrical Engineering and would really like some insight as if this is even worth the struggle or effort I put in if I am risking finishing my degree without gaining any real concrete knowledge in my field. Especially since engineering is a competitive market at this time, I am wondering if I can still obtain a position even though I am at the bottom of my classes.
Please suggest to me as to what I should do.