<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I am a CC student at College of the Canyons in Valencia hoping to transfer into CPP for some kind of engineering next year or 2016. My situation is a bit complicated. I am 21 with a 16 month old daughter and a 1 month old son. I work about 30 hours per week at Costco Wholesale.
From what I’ve read and been told, engineers have a lot better chance of finding employment after graduation if they have had internships/co-ops. I don’t think I can balance an internship, normal job, school, and family. So if I want to be get an internship I need to quit my job… If I quit my job, I won’t qualify for an apartment in Pomona area when I transfer (wife is stay at home mom). I also can’t really cant count on internship for year-round income. I can take loans, but I dont know if I can still qualify for an apartment. I don’t want to get my degree and not have a job, but I also dont want to risk quitting my job now… any ideas/advice?</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>Well, here’s my advice.</p>
<p>Work your butt off at school. You need to absolutely do well to land internships. You need internships to get a real job after college. I think my friend had a 3.2 when he got his first internship and he’s Mechanical. I think he gets paid about 25 bucks an hour and works about 30 hours a week too. It’s a year round gig. He was offered another one that was for the summer, but he declined it for the year around offer. The job he had before just wasn’t cutting it because he’s also got two kids. The guy was living on ramen before he got that internship. His quality of life is much better now and the work is more interesting too. </p>
<p>Honestly, you have to learn how to balance it. He tells me this that its super important for you to be able to do that. They do behavioral tests to weed people out of getting an internship to see if you can stay on top of everything because they don’t want someone who can’t do it all. You need to have your life in check. His girlfriend takes care of the kids during the week because she doesn’t do anything for a job. He works 30 hours a week, goes to classes as a full-time student, and studies his butt off all week, gets his projects done, gets projects at his work done, etc. The guy does procrastinate, but he’s not an idiot. Make a good group of friends because everyone in our current group is pretty smart. Much smarter than your average student here. Make friends that will be able to help you solve problems, not scratch their heads and not know how to do it. Everyone is on top of their game in my group at least. You have be to do well in junior/senior level courses. You’re going to be stressed but as long as you’ve got a good head on your shoulders, it’s only a matter of time before things improve significantly. </p>
<p>So if you’re not a good student, don’t go into engineering. You won’t be able to grab the great opportunities. Go into mechanical or electrical and I’d say avoid manufacturing or industrial. Your GPA should be pretty high if you’re transferring. It’s competitive.</p>