<p>I am a third year college student working on finishing my transfer degree this quarter. I was initially accepted to transfer to my first choice university in the fall. However, my admission was withdrawn after I sent in my final transcripts. </p>
<p>Going into college, I had no idea what to major in. Therefore, I took a variety of classes in the humanities (Japanese, philosophy, and music), social sciences (psychology, sociology, and economics), math, and science. Ive talked with to the counselor a couple of times after reassessing my interests. After some heavy thought and reflection, Ive decided I want to go into engineering or something medically related. </p>
<p>Ive decided to retake the classes I failed and start my engineering physics series. I received a D in Calculus 3 (parametric, polar, conics, series, taylor/maclauren), an F in Differential Equations, and an F in General Chemistry 3.
When I apply to the university again, the only thing that will change on my transcript is this current fall quarter. I am working extremely hard to do well in these classes. Even after getting past admissions, I still have to apply to the majors. Even if I do well this quarter, the major admissions will only see my failures and current quarter. Maybe I should wait another year before applying? </p>
<p>Right now, I have a 2.4 GPA. I am not feeling too good about my prospects. It feels like even after I improve my study habits, do well this quarter, and find motivation to do well academically, my past grades will hold me back from pursuing a Bachelors degree in an engineering discipline. Also, I dont have any research or internship experience for my major. How am I supposed to compete with people that are ahead of me in GPA and experience? I messed up pretty badly.</p>
<p>If you can get a strong major GPA, your past deficiencies can easily be forgiven. Just market the highest GPA of the bunch.
But the biggest problem here is the reason you failed in the past. You say you will improve your study habits so that you get a better GPA, but to me this seems like an empty promise. I’ve said that I would do that to myself plenty of times, knowing all too well that it was an empty promise. I certainly am better at studying than I used to be, but better habits are not something that just come instantly. You just have to gradually improve. If you’re lying to yourself when you say you’ll get better, you’ve basically already failed again.
The second concern is actually figuring out what you want to do. I’d suggest just figuring out what you actually want to do in the future then choose a major based on that decision. If you’re spending many hours a week on education, you certainly have to know that it’s worth the effort.
Finally, you have to realize that despite popular belief, employment is NOT a competition, nor is education. The grades your peers receive in classes have no bearing on your grades. Same with job prospects and even jobs themselves. As an aggregate, hiring is flexible. Companies hire engineers who add value more than they hire to fill a specific opening. If you add value, you will be hired, and vice versa. If your peer gets a job, that almost never means that one potential job opportunity is now closed to you.</p>
<p>My friend don’t give up. I tell you my story i am a drilling engineer at shell. my first year of college at university of houston i made an f in my calculus 1 a D in my general chem class and my first semester gpa was a 1.84 I felt i was dumb,there was no way i could make it through.now on my way to the UH main campus centre to change my major i met my calculus professor the guy that gave me an f, he told me that i am smart he told me that i scored a 77 on my finals which is usually the test that most students scored the lowest he told me that my problem was that I never took the class serious until it is too. I went to africa for summer holidays to take my stress I was going through off my mind I came back I felt disrespected I was like I love engineering I am going to get my engineering degree thank god I stepped up my game and graduated with a 3.21gpa see getting an engineering degree is not about how smart you are is about how willing you are to burst your butt. look if you have an avarege intelligence and you put the effort you will make it. it is not going to be easy there are going to be alot of time when you will feel like giving up but stick to it. I always tell students the ones that makes it through are a mixture of the smartest ones and hardest working ones, the one that don,t make through are the ones that gives up easily or the smartest ones that didn’t put in the effort.</p>
<p>Those classes (Calc, etc.) are obstacles to those that give up easily. Get extra tutoring and spend more time solving problems and you will get there. Chemistry is a one-and-done assuming your not trying to go for Chem E. What engineering area are you looking at?</p>
<p>Well, Xmaine, if it helps, a friend of mine failed out of engineering college twice. The first time with a 0.5, the second with a 1.75. He ended up switching out of EE to Manufacturing Eng, graduated #1 from his MS program and is Director of Engineering for a well-known company.</p>
<p>Engineers, personality wise, generally divide into 3 groups: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Driven to succeed and get things done, social, leadership potential - best suited for management track.</p></li>
<li><p>Organized, efficient, effective people - best suited for project management track.</p></li>
<li><p>Technical experts, delve into the inner workings of the technology, science and math nerd type.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I find most of the students attack the problem from the wrong end. You need take a couple of hours to look at where you will most likely be 15 years from now, then plan backwards from there. Find your motivation, exploit your strengths, and work like hell on your weaknesses. Make that switch in focus if necessary (like my friend did from EE to MfgE). Average intelligence with a good work ethic make up a large portion of the engineers I know. All of us had our ups and downs, fought our doubts, considered switching to something easier, but stuck with it and are designing the future.</p>