I’ve looked into community college and trade school, but honestly my parents are even more upset by the idea of me going to a “low tier” type of college than if I didn’t go at all (provided I did something like military, police/fire academy, apprenticeship). They’re convinced my high school didn’t give me a good education and I deserve better because I’m so smart or whatever.
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Oh yeah, I’m sure there’s something in the field of engineering for me. It’s the schooling it would take to get there that I’m not looking forward to. Interesting that you mention EE though, two of my uncles and my cousin are electrical engineers, and they’ve told me it’s the most theoretical discipline.
So try it! That is why if you were determinedly set against college, i suggested electrician.
You don’t have to major in engineering you know.
I get the sense that you are not happy with the idea of what you intend to major in and that you have no real ideas about what really interests you. That is normal, and you’re not alone. The only job that seems to give you satisfaction is your seasonal job, which is ending. What is related to that job which makes you like it? Maybe you could major in something relevant to that.
I personally think you should go to college and maybe learn a trade or do casual jobs in the summers. You mention trade school, but you don’t know what in. I worked with two students who learned trades in the summer and went to college the rest of the year. They earned money during the summer and had useful skills to fall back on if they weren’t able to get a full time job right away. I don’t know of their outcomes now, but it’s never a bad idea to have a skill. And you are young. You can gain skills for a long time to come, but if you delay going to college, or decide now is not the time, it will get harder and harder to pursue that route.
The problem is that once you get invested in your trade and/or go to trade school (if you can figure out what you like), college seems like an uphill climb with no immediate award. You’re a teenager now. Take advantage of opportunities that are easier to come by as a teen. Is it that you really don’t want to go to college, or you really aren’t sure about your potential major?
I’m still going by what you said in your first post about liking acceptance students day and being “happy enough” about your choice. Give your college a chance. Trade school, if you can decide on a trade, isn’t going anywhere.
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I think it is. Lots of the EEs spend a lot of time with simulations, etc. But there are a group of them, who are totally golden, who actually make boards, spend time working with customers and their design issues, etc. who are super hands on.
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So did you go? I hope so then.
A thought… Maybe talk to your advisor and/or professors about ways to get involved. At my alma mater, I get magazines that talk about all of the cool trips engineers (and other students) do on their summer/winter breaks. They actually build and do stuff that help communities, not just tour Europe.
Also, my niece (an ME) has been heavily involved with her Baja SAE team all 4 years. She loves that. And in case you haven’t heard of it - “Baja SAE is an automotive design competition organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers. Teams are challenged to design a single seat off-road vehicle to conquer any terrain pushing the vehicle to its limits. The teams present their vehicle from an engineering design, cost and marketability perspective, before testing on track.” (copied from their website)
So there may be similar opportunities at your school. You’ll have to look for them. And don’t be afraid to ask.
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So did you go?
Yep, I’m here.
They have summer break trips at my school, in particular I’ve heard of one to Germany for mechanical engineers where you spend time around the automotive industry, but I honestly haven’t been considering that kind of thing too much, I’ve basically figured I can’t afford it.
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There may be study abroad scholarship funds available. Ask your advisor!
Good luck this year. I hope it far exceeds expectations!
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A lot of time there are scholarships and grants for these types of activities. You can ask your advisor about that.
Good luck!! We are all rooting for you.
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Yay! I am glad to hear there are summer programs that interest you!
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Think of it this way. College is a place to gain marketable job skills where you can support yourself and a family down the road. It’s supposed to suck. Just embrace it. Even if you have your foot in the door in a particular industry, a business degree, for instance, can enhance your skills that so you don’t get stuck in a dead-end. It can only help you. There’s no panaceas in life. The suck is inescapable, but the rewards are worth it.
Wow, I hope not - some are spending up to $400K 
I get your point though - it is a door opener and statistics show, as a whole, one is much better off in life with college than without - exceptions do exist, of course.
So, about two weeks in and I’m not exactly loving it, but not for a reason I would’ve expected.
So far, all my classes are painfully slow and… basic, I guess? I feel like I’ve gone back to 10th grade or something, and I don’t know why that is. My chemistry class (which is the one that I spend the most time in, including the attached lab and “workshop”) hasn’t advanced beyond learning how to convert units and that atoms have protons, neutrons, and electrons. My history class, which is full of upperclassmen, is covering stuff like “the Soviet Union included Russia and some other countries” and “immigration is a hot topic in politics”.
Is it normal to start super light, and I should anticipate my classes becoming more like what you’d expect from college? Or is this something I should be worried about? Some reassurance would be nice, since I’m kinda bored out of my mind.
Get great grades this term, and consider yourself lucky.
If things are THAT easy (which you really won’t know until after the first tests), it should give you time to do some clubs or other activities on your college campus.
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Sometimes the first day is a bit slow, but by the second week, classes should be at the correct pace/depth for you. If you are bored in all of your classes, can you go to your advisor (ASAP) and ask about placement into different classes? Some colleges will allow that, some won’t. Or ask if there are placement tests you can take to place out of the intro courses?
Are there any more advanced classes that you can audit (officially) or just sit in on (unofficially, but for large classes, no one will notice) to see if they are at a better level for you?
Or if that doesn’t work, then make sure you get really good grades this semester and if the more advanced classes don’t seem good, then perhaps try to transfer to a more rigorous college.
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This alarms me. My reaction when I started at an Ivy was that things were moving SO fast. I felt as if we had covered everything I had learned in high school chem in the very first lecture, and then it was off to the races!
Work your ass off, get straight A’s, and you’ll possibly have transfer options.
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I think my daughter found the first semester of her engineering curriculum easy. She had credit for English and calc and found chem very easy. But there were several semesters where she had some major meltdowns due to the amount and difficulty of the work.
Be glad for the chance to ace your first semester or so, because that’ll help keep your gpa at a level where you’ll be competitive for internships.
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Everything I’m taking, except history, is a required class that everyone in my major takes. My parents mentioned placing out, but I don’t think it’s possible- Chemistry 2 isn’t part of my degree pathway, Calc 1 is the highest you can place on the test and I don’t have AP credits (and I’ve never taken calc anyway so it wouldn’t make sense to level up), and the others don’t really have upper-level equivalents that I’m aware of.
I’ve spoken to my advisor and the other freshman engineering advisor (mine was busy) each once (though not about this), and they weren’t the most helpful. In particular, my advisor actually told me not to skip College Writing 1, even though I’d placed out of it.
Transferring has come up, but there isn’t really another college I want to go to, and I don’t know how I’d go about finding out how rigorous any others would actually be.
My son had many APs and faced sheer rigor from
day one. Engineering is highly math intensive.
It seems odd. Perhaps you can look into the Honors College ? I have to think it’s going to get tougher given the major.
Yes don’t skip writing. It’s a highly important skill.
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So yeah - sort-of at least. Remember when you used to go from one grade to the next they would spend the first couple of weeks of the next grade going over “Review” type stuff. They need to make sure all the kids coming from different school systems and backgrounds are starting from the same place. Look at the syllabus and see what the rest of the semester looks like for chapters/topics you’ll be covering. Can you do/know it all? Then there are usually tests they will allow you to take to waive out of a course. This is usually taking some variation of the final exam that will be given in the class.
Challenge for you is that if you waived out of the class I’m sure you’re past the point where you could add something different.
Get good grades, join a club or two, make some new friends. Look ahead to Spring semester and what those classes look like and how you might test out of any of those if reasonable.
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