Considering dropping! Help please.

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Hello This may be a rant.
I am having a hard time staying motivated this quarter.
I am soooo stressed and I want the world to slow down for me.
I feel often that I want to quit and go home and sleep forever. Life shouldn't be this stressful!</p>

<p>The unpleasant feelings come from stress of classes but also being unsure about my major.</p>

<p>So I am declared for mechanical engineering, but I am taking Chemical engineering classes since I saw myself going towards the ChemE major.
But I kept the mechanical declaration in case I changed my mind.
I am taking these classes:
Fluid mechanics CENG 101A
Physical Chemistry CHEM131A
Intro to Chemical Processes CENG 100
Chem lab (basic/general)</p>

<p>These are kicking my butt.</p>

<p>Fluids is really cool and fun.
But i BOMBED the midterm.
I estimated a 10/30 or 15/30 including partial credit. And I was really confident going in.</p>

<p>For CENG100: This class is all processes, obviously. But it is dry and has made me very demotivated and pessimistic towards majoring in Chemical engineering. I don't want to work for chemical companies because I want to be PROUD of my company and products.
Now I am thinking "WHY the heck did I want to be a Chemical engineer?" The answer is because I thinking chemical processing sounds awesome and fun even though the products created are destroying the environment and so on. This is a huge issue for me - my career interests vs do not line up with my pride and values.</p>

<p>Second, Physical Chemistry is cool (I like the thermo) but veryyyy hard.
Its all partial derivatives. I am finally understanding more by reading the book material three times over to understand the derivations to connect changes in internal energy and enthalpy to specific heat constants with constant pressure, volume, etc.</p>

<p>Chem lab is also hard! Prelab reports and lab reports are difficult and boring! Its making me dislike chemistry. It makes me wonder what I every liked about chemistry.</p>

<p>From reading this, you may think that I am lazy or didn't expect to work hard for engineering.
I want to say that I have taken all my basic math, physics and chemistry including the first organic chem and I have a 3.83.</p>

<p>I am not lazy, but I am having trouble staying motivated.
I feel burnt out, unsure of my major, stressed, uninterested in chemical things.
I don't know if its the truth or just the stress.
Stress has made my college life far from pleasant these last few years. I feel like I ahve done nothing but schoolwork. My girlfriend says the same. I barely manage to play rugby.</p>

<p>I want to major in chemical engineering but also I dont'. The job description sounds cool, but I don't want to ever regret my job if I get stuck working for Big oil or Dow or making Windex for a living.
I also want to major in mechanical since I could just enjoy the well-rounded curriculum and then design thermal machinery or something useful for the world.</p>

<p>Any advice?
Every day feels like a struggle to juggle 5 assignments, on top of poor midterms, and falling behind in notes.
I have considered dropping school!</p>

2

<p>Are you working currently? If not. You may have to change your study habits as it seems as though you have a manageable course load. This includes but not limited to disabling all social media networks, video games, friends/girlfriends/ etc. Treat school like a full time job. If you have a genuine interest in science than the concepts should stick easier. If you kinda “fell into” your major and are not digging all the laborious work than consider reading some books by Neil Tyson for some inspiration. There are about 168 hours in a week. If you are not studying, showering, sleeping, or eating, you probably should not be doing it. Goodluck.</p>

3

<p>I used to really enjoy Neil deGrasse Tyson’s podcasts. He made physics and science very understandable.</p>

<p>Do you have any suggestions about handling such a large courseload?
I already have averages 6 hours of sleep for the past 2 weeks.
I think all this courseload just may be too much for me to handle.
but I have until Friday to drop classes, so I will do my best until then.</p>

4

<p>No advice, but my son is going through EXACTLY the same thing and as a mom it is FRUSTRATING to watch not knowing what to do.</p>

<p>Google “sophomore slump” which can also happen during the junior year…</p>

<p>Here is the beginning of the article at - [Avoiding</a> the Sophomore Slump | Education.com](<a href=“http://www.education.com/reference/article/avoiding-sophomore-slump/]Avoiding”>Articles | Education.com)</p>

<p>For many of you, by the time you reach sophomore year, the thrill of being “away” at college and the newness of the experience have faded, leaving in their place a sense of growing urgency about deciding on a major, choosing a career path, and finding a group of friends or a romantic interest. Sophomore year is often characterized by confusion, soul-searching, motivational problems, and, occasionally, flat-out rebellion against parents, professors, or friends. You may find yourself feeling depressed and alienated, and studying listlessly or skipping classes because you feel that your coursework has no meaning for you.</p>

<p>Welcome to the Sophomore Slump.</p>

<p>I’ve suggested to my S doing anything to change his routine - take a semester to study abroad, consider doing a co-op, anything to mix things up a bit, but so far he’s still struggling with decisions </p>

<p>Hope you find something that works for you!</p>

<p>(And BTW - my S did drop one of his current classes so he has a lighter courseload (now has 4 courses this semester), but the bigger struggle is he’s supposed to register for courses for next semester this week).</p>

5

<p>I don’t know what your daily habits are. As long as you go to class, sleep, and shower that leaves you about 10 -12 hours each day to study. Then you can say you gave it your all.</p>

6

<p>^^^</p>

<p>It’s difficult for students who are questioning their major or questioning what their future will be like after completing their major, to motivate themselves to sit and study for 10-12 hours a day what they are not even certain is relevant to their lives.</p>

<p>Like the OP, my S finished his freshman year with a 3.8 GPA (after having more than a 4.0 in HS), but suddenly is questioning if he’s on the right track and is having trouble motivating himself to study for required classes that he doesn’t believe are relevant.</p>

<p>It’s nice to say all you need to do is study all the time, but the issue is that for whatever reason they can’t motivate themselves to do that.</p>

<p>If my S was motivated to learn the material in his courses, he’d be able to excel studying far fewer than 10-12 hours per day. And it’s easy to say that maybe it’s just not the right major, maybe they need to change, and I’ve had that discussion with my S, but the response I get is that there is nothing else he is interested in either.</p>

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<p>Jrcsmom - Thanks for your reply.</p>

<p>It sounds like I am going through a period of stress just like your son. And the issue is motivation. I actually went through this last year and decided to try out ChemE and now I am back to the sense of doubt.</p>

<p>And you sound like my mother. She is frustrated about what I am going through. Moreover, she is concerned that I am depressed and not enjoying college. She supports me if I need to stay an extra quarter in school due to dropping a class or a major decision.</p>

<p>I enjoy my classes somewhat, usually when I understand what is going on. Until the understanding kicks in, I feel nothing but stress and a cloudy mind. This is when I wish I had known what I was doing when I went to college, so I could space out my general education classes and not get stuck with an overload of science/engineering classes.</p>

<p>After being interested in science and motivated to do well in school all my life, and after putting in so much effort so far, I can not see myself in any major but engineering.</p>

<p>Thanks Redeyjedi for your input.
I’m not sure if you ever struggled with anxiety or depression while handling a large courseload, but theres a sense of hopelessness that can be hard to shake. I give school my all each quarter, which is why my gpa is as good as it is. I want Motivation to be positive and excited for the future, not scared of the next two years of classes that people insist are designed to make life difficult.</p>

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<p>It appears that you are far too entrenched in your academics. </p>

<p>Get out and do some mountain biking, skiing/snowboarding, hiking. Join a model rocket club, go fishing… do something that isn’t related to engineering or your professional development. </p>

<p>You may also want to think about lowering your expectations a little. You don’t need a 4.0 GPA to become a successful engineer… Shoot for a 3.3-3.6 instead. </p>

<p>College should be enjoyable, not a seemingly endless grind full of misery and depression. If you are not enjoying your time, you are doing it wrong! Ease up on the work load and get out and enjoy life a little more.</p>