Embarrassed about my MS

Graduate School
1

<p>Hey, guys</p>

<p>So I'm a second-year MS student in Electrical Engineering and I'm in kind of a life-changing dilemma. I did my BS in EE, as well, graduated in 2009, floundered around a bit for a year or so, applied to some grad schools, got in, and I've been in my MS program since 2011. The thing is, the whole time I've been in grad school, I've been realizing more and more that I just. do. not. care. about engineering. I struggled to get B's the whole time, I couldn't find anything that generated enough interest for me to do a thesis, and I basically just kind of...survived to get as far as I have now.</p>

<p>The thing is, I never really honestly admitted this to myself until very recently, but the truth is that I just don't care about anything that I'm studying, and I never did. Even when I was applying to undergrad schools, I applied to engineering for what I now realize are all the wrong reasons:</p>

<ul>
<li>I thought I would suck less at it than I would at anything else.</li>
<li>I thought that it was what I was "supposed" to do.</li>
<li>I was afraid of what others would think of me if I didn't go into engineering.</li>
<li>Money</li>
</ul>

<p>So basically, my entire post-high school educational career has been a lie!</p>

<p>I'm now working with a group for a thesis, but I'm embarassed that it's going to be quite short. Basically, we're modifying some Android apps to be more power-efficient and we're going to try to quantify the improvement in power-efficiency. But is that really good enough for a Master's thesis? How am I supposed to write a thesis on that? I'm basically just modifying some code in some existing Android apps. How many pages am I supposed to get out of that?</p>

<p>I've been considering dropping out, but I've already spent something like $30,000 on the program, not to mention rent and living expenses. What should I do? I'm thinking of talking to some career counselors and maybe switching to a different field entirely.</p>

<p>Any advice?</p>

2

<p>well, if you write “i just modified some code in a computer program”, then no.</p>

<p>if you, however, expand, and explain everything in minute detail, draw some graphs, and explain the broader implications of your findings, you might come out with something decent. length requirements in the sciences, i hear, aren’t as rigid as in the humanities, so you might just pull through if you write your thesis well.</p>

<p>i’d say, stick it out since you’ve at least got an idea for a thesis and you’ve already paid - but i know that it’s a question only you can answer. the degree might not be worth it to you if you’ve decided not to pursue engineering ever again, but employers/adcoms/parents/whatever might wonder what you’ve been doing for the past 2 years</p>