So right now I am a senior in college and will graduate in the fall with a B.S. in Natural Resources. After 4 years of coursework dedicated to forestry and environmental management, I’ve realized that this is not what I want to do. I’ve learned nothing from my degree and have no idea what I’m going to do once I graduate.
Right now I’m thinking about working for a year or two and then going back and getting a second Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering. However, I’ve looked online and others have just gone and got a Master’s degree without an engineering undergrad.
I haven’t taken any physics or engineering classes. My highest math in college has been College Algebra and I’ve only taken Intro to General Chemistry and a 200 level Intro to Statistics class. I took physics and precalculus in high school so I’m not too worried about taking math and physics classes. I just need to refresh a little.
Any thoughts?
You will need a whole lot of undergrad classes to learn engineering as it sounds like you realize. Engineering coursework requires calculus thru differential equations. Check some college catalogs to see the engineering classes for a specific major. Grad schools will require all those classes before they will admit you.
Some colleges will grant second bachelor degrees while many will not. Either way, you’ve got a lot of work to becoming an engineer but it is quite possible.
“I’ve learned nothing from my degree and have no idea what I’m going to do once I graduate.”
I would suggest you investigate why this is the case. It may not be what you want to do, but if you didn’t learn anything, that work ethic will haunt you in any new endeavor.
Ok, I was kind of exaggerating. But when I started college 4 years ago I loved my degree. But my university has been declining since then and we have lost tons of staff and over 5,000 students in 4 years. I have a 3.72 GPA and barely have to do anything to get A’s in my classes. Originally, my major dealt with the science and management of natural resources but now it’s all about things like making sure we don’t hurt other people’s feelings. I want to be a problem solver not someone’s therapist. The professors don’t care to teach because they just expect to be fired. It’s bad here. Everyone I’ve talked to who is in my major hates it and says the same things I’m saying. Most figure on going to grad school because our major is too broad and worthless.
@K1n65t0n - I think the first part of your plan is great - get out of school and work for a bit. Once you are working you can enroll in a community college for a Calculus class. Depending on how much you love that and what your loans look like you can rethink your next steps. Getting an Engineering BS will be 4 full more years of school. Getting a masters in Engineering will require a lot of preliminary coursework. If you’ve only made it through college algebra and high school pre-calculus you are years of coursework behind the expectations for an applicant for any ME masters. I’m not saying that to discourage you just to make you understand that it’s not your lack of an engineering degree that will matter for grad school - it’s your lack of preparation/education.