<p>Hello all. I am new here. I am looking for some advice and or guidance about what to do for college. I am a 20 year old male soon to be 21. I was admitted to a well respected college for engineering in 2012. I chose to pursue engineering since I was intrigued by buildings and bridges. I was not stellar in mathematics or science in high school. I took honors courses and did reasonably well. Throughout my life I experienced anxiety and depression. When I entered college I had a hard time adjusting. I made it through my first year but struggled. I got really awful grades since I wouldnt put much effort into studying. I would commute for about 1 and 1/2 hours to school and about 1 hr and 30 min back home. When I got home I would be tired so I didnt study. I was put on academic probation my second semester and since I couldnt pull my grades up my third semester I was kicked out. I got many D's and F's in my classes. I found physics and chemistry very hard to grasp. When I would attempt to study it I wouldnt know where to start. So anyway, now I am in Community College with hopes of still pursuing an engineering degree after. My first semester didnt go so well here as well. I failed my chemistry and physics as well as calculus 2 courses while everyone else in my class basically passed with good grades. I feel like I havent given engineering a fair shot. I feel like I wasnt motivated enough to do the work. I definitely need to work on my study skills and time management skills. What do you guys think I should do? Were any of you in my position? Should I think of another major? Im tired of retaking the same classes over and over. My parents are wasting money and I thought after a semester off I would have everything figured out and would get excellent grades in CC but I didnt. Also in class I do not ask questions even when I really want to or participate/ chat with other students. I dont visit the professors office hours or go to tutoring. I just go to class. I have horrible Social anxiety so maybe thats the reason. Anyways maybe no one reads this maybe someone will but please leave some type of honest feedback. And if you read this whole thing THANK YOU I mean it. Cheers!</p>
<p>After 2 poor starts I’d try something else for now. Your parents shouldn’t be supporting you at this point. You are an adult and should act like one and take responsibility for your life. Find a job and work it for a while. </p>
<p>I’ve known some good engineers who started out poorly and worked various jobs for while. They all said that working hard for not so great wages gives one a certain perspective that, when they did return to college to study engineering, provided all the motivation they needed to stay on task and learn what they needed to succeed.</p>
<p>I agree with @HPuck35, you need to stop for a while and deal with your social anxiety. When you are ready to put the necessary time and effort into your engineering education, you can give it another try. </p>
<p>One of my kids tried engineering w/o success… twice, with a year of Walmart and a very successful summer session in between. I’ve come to realize that part of the challenge was lack of course choice/variety. Down the road things were OK with more maturity and a switch to Econ major.</p>
<p>I would take a break for a while as well. I don’t think changing your major is the right idea. HPLuck is right on the money, work at a job and if it sucks it could give you that boost you need.</p>
<p>Couple of quick thoughts
- Get an idea of how much money your parents have spent and be mindful and thankful. It could give you motivation to work hard because of how much money they are spending on YOU. My first motivation in college was to make my parents proud and to make sure they weren’t wasting their money. It then turned into self motivation.
- Sure you need to work on study skills and time management, but work ethic is the biggest thing. You’re tired when you get back home? Too bad, go study. You’re bored of the material? Too bad, go study. Learn! Improve!<br>
- Stop commuting man. Live on campus if possible. It’ll give you a support network, you’ll make friends and you won’t have to waste 3 hours of you life in your car everyday. Imagine if you had those 3 hours back to study, bet you would have passed.</p>
<p>You can be successful in whatever you want to do, I know you’ll choose the right path for yourself. I wish you the best of luck!</p>
<p>My brother’s story is quite similar. It wasn’t in engineering, but that’s a red herring here. When you’re in a funk like that, it’s all hard. He took a hiatus, came back and is now a CPA. </p>
<p>Going to school while your emotional brain is less than 90% whole (I’m a believer that VERY FEW of us are really 100% whole, 90% is a random number representing the typical well adjusted person who still has the few minor issues common to nearly all of us, bit of anxiety or depression over whatever) is like building a house on unstable soil. You can throw it up and hope for the best, but it will likely fall apart unless you do a lot of extra engineering on the foundation.</p>
<p>So, I’d concur, take time off. I’d also recommend you do 4 specific things for your foundation. </p>
<p>Exercise at least 40 minutes, 4 or 5 days per week. This has been shown to be equivalent to one psychiatric medication. </p>
<p>Learn mindfulness techniques and practice a few minutes daily. This has also been shown to be equivalent to one psychiatric medication. Lest you believe it’s all placebo hooey, many controlled studies have been done on both and vetted through confirmation by others. More impressively, both produce changes in fMRI scans of the frontal lobe.</p>
<p>Get a job. Flip burgers, pull weeds, paint fences, make pizza, buck hay, work as a lab tech (this is basically my HS/college resume 
). You’ll get some money in your pocket, learn the value of hard work and occupy your time so there’s little left to wallow (the natural state of the funk).</p>
<p>Lastly, reinvent your study and time management habits.</p>
<p>Feel free to PM me if you’d like. I’ve found a couple of books over the years that I think would be very useful for you.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>I agree with the above but it also isn’t clear you are cut out for engineering. There are other jobs that have to do with buidings besides engineering. Maybe look in to actual construction if are a hands on kind of guy. And yes, after 2 starts, you are wasting your parents money because you should have worked harder the second time. </p>
<p>Check out the craigslist and find work in an area you like and see where that leads you. </p>