<p>So, I've browsed these forums quite a bit. I've read countless threads and I feel like my questions haven't entirely been put to rest. I went ahead and made an account and hopefully I can get a little more insight concerning my situation.</p>
<p>I'm 25 years old and I'm currently active duty US Navy. I have 2 years left on my enlistment in September, so I'll be lucky enough to start school directly out of the Navy. In 2006-07 I went to school for a year, did terribly (1.0 GPA, 11 credits out of 30) and bummed around for a few years before joining the service. </p>
<p>That being my background, I wasn't enthused to be in college at all straight out of high school. Of course, life has a way of straightening you out over time and I'm fairly positive I have a much higher drive to succeed and I'm really setting my sights high for a difficult degree that will pay off right away. So, Electrical Engineering sounds great right now. I'd love to hear some more opinions of what actually goes on with a degree like that and what I can expect to do after graduation.</p>
<p>I have two years until I can go back full time but I do have the time and means to start taking a class here and there. What would be the best subjects to start getting back into to shake the rust off now? My goal is to be able to hit the ground running without taking any remedial courses. </p>
<p>Calculus and physics are the two most important. If you can understand those, everything else will be manageable.
Both are easy to work on because there are many, many resources to help with them. Khanacademy, MIT OCW, endless selections of books and online notes to help you.</p>
<p>Grimmetal, thank you for your service to our country and stay safe. </p>
<p>Here is a link to the U of Minnesota’s sample plan of what 4 years of EE coursework would look like. Some colleges require a math placement test before going into the calculus courses</p>
<p>Some states have connections between their community colleges and their state colleges/universities so if certain criteria is met then the university will accept the course as transfer credit. Contact BOTH your community college and your state school to make sure they are on the same page. Good Luck!</p>
<p>I’m a Navy vet and going to school currently full time for electrical engineering. </p>
<p>Hit up the Navy college office. If you are shore duty or don’t have to deploy soon, there are schools that offer classes on base. I would see if they have math classes to get you up to speed. You want to know how do do Algebra concepts at the minimum and just go from there. Take a placement exam and figure out which class to start with. TA will pay for it. Take English and Math first to get them out of the way (you have to know how to write effectively). </p>
<p>Also take advantage of CLEP tests to get your GE’s out of the way. They have copies of CLEP subject books in the Navy college office you can use to study on your own and then take the exam for credit. There is a program called DANTES that pays the exam fee so all you have to do is pay for registration (20-30 bucks) per exam. There are ways to take classes and exams onboard ship when you are deployed too. </p>
<p>Once you have a good math background and get to Calculus 1 get ready to take a calculus based physics course. </p>
<p>Thanks for the info. It’s hard to get to Navy college office as it’s on a different base, but very sound advice. I’ve been hearing it’s harder to get assistance since this sequestration thing came into effect.</p>
<p>It’d be easy for you to download some textbooks and do the exercises in them. I’d say to start with College Algebra and make sure you can do everything, then do Pre-Calculus and Trigonometry, then on to Calculus. Physics, of course, and you could even read up on some engineering books too before you go back to school. Also find solution manuals so you can check your work.</p>
<p>Supplement with Khan Academy (for easier subjects) and MIT (for advanced subjects) as recommended above. They are excellent, and free, resources.</p>
<p>Wolframalpha is another good resource that can do problems for you and show step-by-step solutions, helping you to do the problem yourself. Also, get yourself a TI-83 or 84 if you don’t have one, that’s an essential.</p>
<p>The typical engineering degree program starts with calculus. To start without needing remedial course work, you need a good knowledge of high school math – algebra, geometry, trigonometry.</p>
<p>Here is an advisory math placement exam:
[Calculus</a> Diagnostic Placement Exam | Department of Mathematics at University of California Berkeley](<a href=“http://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/placement-exam]Calculus”>http://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/placement-exam)
Students ready for calculus should be able to answer all types of questions given on it. If you have difficulty with some types of questions, you know what you need to study to be ready for calculus.</p>
<p>Engineering degree programs also have calculus-based physics, which usually starts in second semester (after a semester of calculus) and may list high school physics as a prerequisite.</p>
<p>Note that this is the case whether you start at a four year university or take the first two years at a community college. Because you already have attended college, you will not be eligible to enter as a freshman at most universities, so going to community college and then transferring into a university as a junior is likely your simplest route. It is actually a fairly common route between community college and state university, and many state universities have pre-made articulation agreements with same-state community colleges that list what community college course is equivalent to what state university course.</p>