How do I deal with this

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

Ok so I’m a freshmen at VT with a bit of an interesting situation. I cam into college with a bunch of credits and took Differential equations (solid A), statics(had a solid A then lost focus and fell to a B in the final 2 weeks with the final), the intro to engineering course (A) and 2 liberal education classes(one of them was an A the other an A-). Anyway I came into college planning on majoring in aerospace engineering but have since changed my mind to no idea…I’m thinking mechanical because it “closes the least number of doors” career wise (a topic which I have no idea what I want to do and no idea of how to figure this out). For next semester I am signed up for Dynamics, Mechanics of Deformable bodies, Statistics, and another liberal education class which is a pretty light load credit number wise but has its own difficulties.

Now that you have that background here is my confusion. I was a pretty avid runner in high school and it was one of my favorite hobbies and have joined the club team in college. But I dont know how much I want to stay committed to this because while enjoyable I don’t know how it will help me in the future. The people on the team I would consider my only friends in college and I don’t know where I would meet a new group of friends but I also am one to not half-ass something and don’t know if I would rather focus on trying to figure out what i want to do career wise and also don’t know how I would go about doing this. I think I would like to try and get some sort of research position and do something academically enjoyable and not just doing problem sets and then something physically enjoyable like running. Sorry to have rambled on like that but here is what i want in the rest of my college experience:

  1. A close group of friends I can rely on and to eliminate the lonely feeling I have been having this first semester
  2. decent grades (I think I am aiming for a 3.5 in some form of engineering maybe mechanical)
  3. To have some sort of academic outside activity that I can use to find out what I enjoy and figure out what I want to do (internships,research, something else you guys might be able to suggest)

4.To still run because I do love the sport though I know I will probably just be running for fun and not to race competitively

So if you have any type of advice to any of these points and a way to find balance I would really appreciate it cause right now I am feeling more lost than ever.

2

How big a time commitment is the running club/team?

It does seem that you are able to do well in school (A, B, A, A, A-) while in the running club/team. Physical fitness is an additional benefit, of course. I do not see why you have to now consider leaving the running club/team. Many engineering students and engineers do athletic activity when not working on engineering.

If you do find academic extras like undergraduate research, (paid) internships during the school year, etc., then you can re-evaluate how much time you have and see whether you have enough time for all of your classes, running, and academic extras.

3

its like 2 hours a day on weekdays plus 4 times a semester an all day Saturday meet. The only reason Im considering trying something else is because recently i have been questioning my decisions cause I dont have any idea on what to do and need a way to decide. I know my academics arent going to get any easier but I will have a lot more time than my peers because I am a little over a semester ahead of my peers but I would like to get some type of academic activity that will benefit me

4

Wait until you actually do find an opportunity to participate in an academic extra before you worry about this. Then you can assess the time commitment to everything you do and decide whether you can handle all of it (and you can try it for a few weeks to test before deciding).

It looks like the time commitment to your running club/team is comparable to that of a part time job that many students take on to earn money to pay for some of their college costs. Such students take full course loads and seek academic extras as well. So it is not like your time commitment would be unique. Also, many other students are participating in other extracurriculars of comparable time commitment (e.g. fraternities and sororities, other clubs, student government/politics, etc.) while having time for their classes and academic extras.

5

You’ll really just have to figure out the balance for yourself. In your first year, it’s generally OK if you don’t do any internships or research or anything academic but classes, so you’d be fine there. You may just have to figure out what works for you in the longer term.

6

If you’re looking for other types of academic/social pursuits you could consider a club such as Formula SAE or CubeSat. You can use your evolving engineering skills, meet friends and come and go as your academic schedule allows. You can also continue to train even if you don’t commit to a spot on the team. Good luck.

7

I guess Im just feeling really overwhelmed with a bunch of stuff and coming in taking sophomore level classes is different from what most students go through. So I said that i wanted to go into mechanical engineering but dont really know for sure and Im supposed to decide by the end of the year so what advice would you guys give as to what I should major in and how to decide what I want to do.

8

Once again, that’s a highly personal decision. No one will fault you if you spend your first year exploring the majors without really knowing which one you want to choose - it’s encouraged, even. Same goes for extracurriculars.

9

Re: #6

Since you are ahead in the course progression, you could use the extra elective space to take introductory courses in other kinds of engineering or other subjects, so that you can get a better idea of what subjects you like before you have to decide your major.

10

Unless you are hell-bent on graduating early and your school actually allows and facilitates this, I think you should take advantage of your advanced standing by enhancing your experience, not dropping things in hopes of magically finding something better.

Finding say research activities on campus with your advanced standing and good grades should be doable, you need to figure out who to talk to, likely the mechanical engineering department has some advisers.

As said, take some extra classes in either other engineering fields or in some electives that you have interest in.

If you really have a nice group of friends in running, enjoy running, have successfully made it through 1st semester, don’t drop out, but maybe explore some other interests. Running is providing you fun, exercise, and stress relief as well as a place in a college community that might otherwise be overwhelming. Consider this a hobby with some competition to keep you motivated. If you achieve more, great, if not, at least you have a life-long hobby/sport (And most of us do). It does not have to be related to work, we do all get time off for good behavior after 8 hours on the job, and running is not illegal or unhealthy.

You are really successful so far - why are you worried about being half-ass ? Enjoy yourself, your friends, family and future employers will be impressed with you … .keep up the good work.

Figuring out your future will take time, maturity, exposure to different classes and projects in your field. You can’t rush the process, you can stay self-aware, but pushing yourself to do tons of introspection only leads to anxiety and worries.

You are way ahead of your 4 year plan … so you don’t have to fret …

As far as aero vs mechanical - you have a huge advantage … you can take classes in both areas since you will already be through most prerequisites and will have free time in your schedule for the next 3 years. Make sure you keep up with the prereqs for both majors … so you can take say wing aerodynamics as well as the core mechanical classes.

and by the way, this combo will be really impressive to high end employers doing say design work …