I'm so intimidated and nervous, and it bothers me.

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>My excitement has died down a bit and now I'm troubled. I will be attending Carnegie Mellon University in the fall and as an ECE major with a software concentration. (I want to go into software but don't want the CS route) </p>

<p>What's bothering me is that I feel like I only was accepted because of I'm African American. I talk to incoming students like myself going into ECE and I find so many have done outside programming and robotics and I barely have coded anything, and that was 3 years ago. </p>

<p>I can't have a conversation with anyone going for my major without it going to major related topics and I feel at a loss. I'm going to try and get some basics down over the summer, but these guys are on a whole other level than I am right now, and for once in a LONG time, I'm actually doubting my ability to compete with my peers....</p>

<p>I don't know. Wanted this off my chest. Anyone else ever felt this way? It sucks to feel overwhelmed about college before you even finish high school...</p>

2

<p>My brotha…</p>

<p>About 20+ years ago, yours truly, who…</p>

<ul>
<li>Only went as far in high-school math as a course called Analytic Geometry</li>
<li>Absolutely no AP credits of any kind (what’s that?)</li>
<li>Never programmed anything</li>
</ul>

<p>…attended Michigan State (ranked about 50 spots below CMU) and majored in Computational Mathematics (basically a hybrid math/CS major). I kept my “ears to the street” as far as in-demand software skills and picked all of the “hot CS” courses as electives (networks, databases, etc). </p>

<p>In college I learned, C, C++, Pascal (boy, am I dating myself), Lisp, Prolog and Ada. After college, learned PowerBuilder, Java, SQL (oracle and SQL Server), Unix/Linux (and the different flavors) and a bunch of others.</p>

<p>Did I mention…no previous programming before college and did not take Calculus I until freshman year in college.</p>

<p>My undergrad GPA was nothing to brag about but because it was software, I still snagged a job right out of college (actually Westinghouse in Pittsburgh PA). I learned while working (and even my last 2 years of college) that my COMPETITION was myself having the skillset that not many folks in the USA had…not my peers.</p>

<p>I have been in software engineering for 20 years and glad I went that route. Even during the economic decline, recruiters still call for opportunities.</p>

<p>I know at schools like CMU and others, it is a bunch of competition internally, but you have to not get too caught up into that stuff. The software engineering industry (and you are going to the place to sets the SoftE trends) is more about what do you do in PRACTICE than how you competed against some folks for just 4 years. Of course, get as high of grades as possible for you OWN reasons, but just do not get too wrapped up in all of this competition stuff.</p>

3

<p>If you want to, you can check out the introductory CS course materials from [MIT[/url</a>] and [url=&lt;a href=“http://www-inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs61a/sp11/]Berkeley[/url”&gt;CS 61A Home Page]Berkeley[/url</a>]. You can view and listen to the lectures on the web, read the books on the web, and do the problems using the [url=&lt;a href=“http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/projects/scheme/]MIT”&gt;The Scheme Programming Language]MIT</a> Scheme](<a href=“http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-001-structure-and-interpretation-of-computer-programs-spring-2005/]MIT[/url”>Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs | Electrical Engineering and Computer Science | MIT OpenCourseWare) interpreter installed on your computer. You can use these course materials over the summer to preview CS concepts.</p>

<p>CMU’s course catalog descriptions indicate that CMU’s introductory course uses C instead of Scheme, but if you preview CS concepts using Scheme, you will likely recognize them when you see them in C or any other computer language. (CMU does not appear to have course materials on the web for all to see.)</p>

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<p>What I should have added is…by just getting into CMU, you are obviously pretty bright (well light years ahead of me at 17/18), so you should be able to pick up on the CS concepts pretty quick.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

5

<p>ucb, that’s exactly what I was going to be doing this summer. I was going to start with the MIT lectures and go from there. Thank you so for much for letting me know about the MIT scheme interpreter. That’s pretty much what I’ve been looking for to supplement the lectures and stuff. And I will check out Berkeley as well. God I love the internet.</p>

6

<p>No fair… you youngsters have the internet. </p>

<p>Boy, if that “net” was out during my undergrad days?. Man.</p>

<p>I sure used it in grad school though. Anytime I was stumped on something, there was some specialized user group that had the answers.</p>

7

<p>Bookmarked.</p>

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<p>Britt, I can definitely feel you on this one. I was telling one of my professors the other day about how I was a little nervous (although I was fibbing a little as I am actually quite a bit more nervous than I let on). I was able to easily dominate the CC I went to, getting a 3.95 GPA. Now I’m going to UT Austin and I’m suddenly going to be surrounded by a bunch of smart people and I have no idea if I’m going to be able to compete with them. These kids were all at the very top of their HS class and I didn’t even graduate HS. I’m also pursuing what is considered the most difficult major, mathematics, and I don’t even have a handling of calculus yet.</p>

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<p>@Inmotion12</p>

<p>i understand how you feel about going into a competitive academics from a CC. im a transfer student too and going to ucla as aerospace engineering. honestly, i dont think my CC has prepared me well for the school im going to attend although i never gotten under 98% in all my major classes except EM which i believe is not a physics but a math class. i too have no idea how im gonna survive there. first thing im going to do during the break is to review calculus and DE.</p>

10

<p>BlizzBlazer, I want to relay a similar situation my husband experienced going to the exec MBA program at Columbia. Everyone in the program was already an experienced finance, accounting or some type of business professional. They already knew statistics and advanced finance principles. He was very intimidated because his background was in Marketing with a photo degree.</p>

<p>He toughed it out, retaking stat twice since he couldn’t pass it the first time and finally had his chance when they had some type of group projects needing someone who could do the photo marketing side. Suddenly those uncreative bankers could see that there was another side to business that they didn’t have any idea how to do. Good luck!</p>

<p>You will shine in your strengths. You have some that the other students who seem so much more experienced have but you do have qualities they do not. Polish those while you gain a more solid base this summer in the areas you think you are weaker in.</p>

11

<p>BlizzBlazer: Don’t worry about it man. If you want a head start on programming there are good youtube videos out there that will make it easy to learn and by the time you’re taking your classes, they’ll be cake.</p>

<p>I recommend [TheNewBoston</a> – Free Educational Video Tutorials on Computer Programming and More!](<a href=“http://www.thenewboston.com/]TheNewBoston”>http://www.thenewboston.com/)</p>

<p>You can learn the basics of C++ and Java quickly. Learn C++ first before touching Java, very important.</p>

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<p>First, congratulation BlizzBlazer. We remember you! We do. Secondly, congratulation again, because you have the courage to ask for help!</p>

<p>I attend a public school called the City College of New York, CUNY. Not a powerhouse at all but we do have some very excellent programs here at CCNY. Our research expense (for engineering school) is right behind Yale’s. I guess this is pretty cool to say. </p>

<p>Is it okay to say that CUNY sucks because we are not like UC? I don’t know. But what I do know is that some of my peers are excellent and bright students. Some came from the most renowned public high school in the city, and some had exposed to various engineering programs prior to their college attendance. </p>

<p>Some of my friends are working on robots. They make robots at home. Some of my friends have years of programming experience. I feel sad because I am a lazy person.</p>

<p>Guess what? WHO CARES IF YOUR PEERS HAVE 10+ years of programming experience. Who care about them being Intel semi-finalists? You can look up to them, make friends with a couple of those smarty (u will, eventually). You will gain knwoledge from them by. You will learn, eventually.</p>

<p>I think confident is the tool that make you stand out. Some people are bright but they are afraid to compete. You can do it. </p>

<p>As far as programming … you can start with C++. I would start slowly. Take your time. Learn the basics. Look. Don’t worry about how to use STL, advance stuff. Writing 10 loops is not stupid. Everyone has gone through the beginner stage. Make a blog and write about your learning experience. </p>

<p>Caution; beginners are often rushing because they want to learn all the advance stuff, and be cool like everyone.</p>

<p>As far as robots - you can cheap chip out there. You can join the club later CMU is not just a robotics school. If you don’t like robots, don’t get into it. LOL</p>

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<p>Certainly, there are a lot of ECE majors at CMU who come in with a lot of previous experience, and to be honest, it is quite a competitive program. However, there are also plenty of people like you who may have not had as much experience, and that’s perfectly okay! There will be other ECEs in the intro programming class, 15-110, which is taught in Python (so if you’re going to try to do any programming stuff over the summer, you might want to start playing around with Python). </p>

<p>CMU also has a plethora of tutoring services, study groups, TAs who hold office hours, etc. to help you if you do end up feeling like you’re a little bit behind. However, don’t make assumptions like that until you get here! As others said, they wouldn’t have admitted you if they weren’t confident you could handle the work. Congrats again, and get excited for the fall - you will be fine :)</p>

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<p>If you want to learn Python, the following books are free on the web:</p>

<p>[url=&lt;a href=“http://diveintopython.org/]Dive”&gt;http://diveintopython.org/]Dive</a> Into Python<a href=“covers%20Python%20version%202”>/url</a>
[url=&lt;a href=“http://diveintopython3.org/]Dive”&gt;http://diveintopython3.org/]Dive</a> Into Python 3<a href=“covers%20Python%20version%203”>/url</a></p>

<p>The Python interpreter can be downloaded and installed on your computer for practice.</p>

15

<p>Hey there. I’m a girl attending CMU for CS in the fall.</p>

<p>Sometimes I think I was accepted just because I was a girl. So we’re in somewhat similar situations here.</p>

<p>The thing is, I’ve been involved in a club for most of high school trying to get greater female involvement in STEM (science/technology/engineering/mathematics) fields, and I research negative stereotypes of minorities in these fields, and I know the numbers for Hispanics/African Americans/girls in CS off the top of my head, and I’ve had several very polite and civil debates on the utility of affirmative action and whether people who benefit from it are somehow “subpar” and given an unfair advantage.</p>

<p>First off, please believe that those kids who have three years of experience on you or better extracurriculars or more involvement in ECE aren’t any more intelligent than you are. They just had the opportunity to explore their interest. Not everyone goes to a school that lets them dabble in engineering…that doesn’t mean they can’t be as good as or better than people who have had long-term exposure to it.</p>

<p>And I think people really underestimate the crippling effect of being one of two girls in a CS classroom, or the only black guy in a CS classroom, and so on…or not being in an environment where kids you know are going into CS, and AP CS is considered a “standard” class to take like stat or French, and you know people who don’t look like insane genius kids, people who are your friends, and they’re doing fine in the class and enjoying it…negative stereotypes do affect people and affect whether or not they fully pursue a burgeoning interest. (Sorry, that was a bit of a tangent.)</p>

<p>Intriguingly enough, there was a study where minority subjects were given a test that they were told measured intelligence, but one group was told of negative stereotypes about their race/gender. It turns out being aware of these negative stereotypes might influence you to do worse (nerves? fear? something).</p>

<p>It also turns out that if you’re aware of this stereotype effect, then it’s neutralized—you’ll do fine at CMU, really. They don’t admit people who can’t take the heat. No college will. And consider that it’s one of the top engineering schools in the nation, and they can and do pick and choose among African-American applicants.</p>

<p>You were admitted. Consider yourself the equal of your peers.</p>

16

<p>And after your college days, all that “AP talk” and “I took 25 credits this semester” and “I interned here/there” will not mean very much in software working world. It has been pretty much proven on this board and I can at least attest as a working engineer that software engineering is one area where one can close any gaps in the comfort of their own home.</p>

<p>Need to practice on some linux?..Just set up your desktop and slap on some Red Hat.</p>

<p>Want to get a step on the competition on the new Oracle version. Get the advanced copy (usually called some code name) and spend a couple of weekends at home and practice the new features. Update that resume and go ask for more money.</p>

<p>Like someone posted, who cares what your peers are doing/have done…supply/demand and in-demand skills trumps all of that.</p>

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<p>Did you happen to visit during the COD weekend?
I’m feeling a bit anxious myself…</p>