The subtle disadvantages of being a FIRST Alumni
 

Let me start off by stating that my life will be forever better after doing (4 years) of FRC. I made life long friends (looking at you, yash), and it exposed me to things I may have never known existed.

But there is a somewhat darker side to it. It makes students too hard ahead. We have all seen it. The brightest kid in middle school wash out and become a c average student in high school.

The statistics on my team don't lie. Yeah, nearly every senior goes off to an engineering school, which is great, don't get me wrong, but how many finish it out? There are a surprising number of our alumni who had to hit the restart button on life after high school. I'm sure this isn't the case everywhere, and it probably has never been discussed.

Allow me to introduce myself, I am a freshman at MST, it is THE engineering school in Missouri. I learned how to program my sophomore year under a boeing engineer, for whom I am forever grateful for, and I didn't stop learning there. I published two papers in the field of computer vision and placed third at the international science fair. Where am I now? Bored out of my mind academically at a supposedly amazing school. I am too far ahead of my peers. I am working in a graduate level lab doing computer vision and I am seeing what the grad students are doing wrong.

What I'm trying to get at is sometimes what seems like an advantage can be a (minor) disadvantage. Keep that in mind.

Re: The subtle disadvantages of being a FIRST Alumni
 

This doesn't sound like a disadvantage to me. It sounds like an opportunity that you are letting slip away.

Re: The subtle disadvantages of being a FIRST Alumni
 

So, you're bored? Are you involved in clubs? Idk MST but I'd be willing to bet they have a handful of great programs for students (Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition was big in Michigan).

Have you approached any faculty about research they're doing? Maybe you could get involved there.

Heck, get a group of friends together and prep for next year's Sparkfun AVC.


If you're bored in college it's your own $@#$@#$@#$@# fault. It's not a disadvantage of being an alumni, it's just a reality of not having every minute of your life scheduled and having to be responsible for your own life. Sounds like your team/school is doing a pretty mediocre job of preparing folks for this reality.

Re: The subtle disadvantages of being a FIRST Alumni
 

Try taking some non engineering classes in an area you know nothing about. I actually look forward to those the most.

Re: The subtle disadvantages of being a FIRST Alumni
 

If you are incapable of finding activities to be involved in, and other ways to continue your own education on your own (separate from class) you simply will never be successful.

Companies don't want engineers that are unable to be self starters. If you don't want to work for a company, your personal business won't be successful for the same reasons.

Re: The subtle disadvantages of being a FIRST Alumni
 

If you are "too far ahead of your peers" then it is time to find different peers (at least academically). There is ALWAYS someone out there who knows something you don't in your area of expertise.

Re: The subtle disadvantages of being a FIRST Alumni
 

Pick up a second major if you are that far ahead. My roommate in college was "suffering" from this exact scenario and was set to graduate from one of the top physics programs in the world by his second year. His solution was to pick up computer engineering as a second degree and he finished that in his fourth year. He liked it so much he stopped pursuing his (original) dream of getting a PHD in physics and became a successful software engineer.

Re: The subtle disadvantages of being a FIRST Alumni
 

You could always take your spare time and create a project which becomes a startup.

Oh to have had this problem ...

Re: The subtle disadvantages of being a FIRST Alumni
 

There are 24 hours in a day. Sleep for at least 6 of them, and find something worth doing for the other 18. What the heck is free time? What's up with being bored? There are over 7 billion people on this rock and I guarantee you that there's someone out there who has achieved more than you and is continuing to achieve more than you.

That's not an insult. That's a fact. You have so much time out of class? Get a job scrubbing floors! Go to the gym! Get an unpaid internship! Volunteer your skills and time to something! Teach yourself something! Use more exclamation points!!!!!

Growing up is about finding a life where you can actively and successfully engage yourself in the world around you with other people in greater experiences than ones you could have alone or at a younger age. Go out there and do it.

Re: The subtle disadvantages of being a FIRST Alumni
 

I think you are missing a step in my guide to success as an FRC Alum:

1. Join a team
2. Enjoy being on a team
3. Do robot things with your friends
4. Do better in school
5. Get into a great college
6. Go to said college
7. Profit.
8. Give back to what got you there.

From my analysis, you are somewhere between step 6 & 7. We all like to do well at robots and try our best to win. In real life, there are lots of ways to win and way more design constraints than just R26 or the rest of the Manual. Know what you can do, talk to some other people, create a product, launch a business and grow the world's economy. Clearly there are skills learned in FIRST that people can make at least a few bucks off of. Heck, you might even solve a few problems that Dean hasn't gotten around to yet.

Re: The subtle disadvantages of being a FIRST Alumni
 

Be really careful about feeling that you are bored out of your mind in your freshman year in college. Be mindful that the university needs to teach to a common denominator, and you are currently ahead of it. That won't always be the case.

Your situation sounds a lot like mine 14 or so years ago. I was on a FRC team, learned a lot of cool stuff. I was in the top 10 of my high school class at a blue ribbon school in New Jersey. All through high school I really wanted to go to Duke. I even took a summer session there. But, alas, Duke didn't accept me for college. I ended up "settling" for the University of Virginia. That's right, I felt I "settled" for the then #1 and current #2 public university in the country.

So, when I got to Charlottesville, I was a really cocky and arrogant son of a you know what. Practically slept through my first semester, when my schedule was basically a re-take of a bunch of stuff I took in high school. I left for Christmas with a 3.6 GPA. College was going to be easy.

But then I got kicked in the shins. I didn't take my introductory circuits course seriously. I mean, given enough effort, I can do circuit analysis. Who cares about this Node-Voltage and Mesh-Current stuff anyway? All I ever needed to know about circuits I learned in High School. Right? Well, I thought so then. At the same time, I didn't take multivariate calculus seriously, because I'll never have to worry about things more complicated than a circuit.

Next thing I know, I'm simultaneously failing three courses in my second year: E&M Physics, Electronics I (transistors), and DiffEq. Why? Because I didn't know how to do a two dimensional closed surface integral over an inverse square force field in spherical space. And, I didn't know how to do N-V and M-C for small signal transistor models. Oh, and dear God I didn't know how to find a determinant so now I can't solve differential equations using Cramer's Rule.

Yes, I can understand the boredom. I was there. But, a question to ask yourself: Can you explain how the fact that the divergence of a 4 dimensional anti-symmetric rank 2 tensor equals zero means that there is light? Can you explain why a square pulse in the time domain equals something like sin(w)/w in the frequency domain? Can you explain why a single pendulum is well governed by algebra, but a double pendulum is chaotic? Can you explain why a curve ball curves, in a mathematical sense?

There's a lot to be learned. If you want to be an engineer, then find some healthy distractions until you hit the challenging stuff. I wish I had taken up billiards my first year in college, that would have probably helped. Instead, I found myself teaching myself vector calculus, field calculus, and differential equations during Christmas break 2001. I'm really glad I did, that re-commitment to myself meant I graduated. That meant that I went to on grad school and earned a Ph.D., and that in turn gives me the career I have today.

So, stick with it, and use this opportunity to find those good rounding passions that make us human.

Re: The subtle disadvantages of being a FIRST Alumni
 

I don't entirely disagree with the message, but is this really a constructive way of putting it?

Re: The subtle disadvantages of being a FIRST Alumni
 

Some people need the 2x4.

Re: The subtle disadvantages of being a FIRST Alumni
 

As a freshman myself at Notre Dame, I'm jealous, I wish I was ahead of the class all the time. But more importantly, you should branch out and do something new! I'm in the Notre Dame Marching Band. We have more engineers than any other major (>30%) and we do zero engineering at band, we just play music, have a good time, and do something that a lot of people enjoy.

Obviously band isn't for everyone, but try something completely out of your comfort zone or out of your usual skillset. I'm glad I did, it's a fantastic break from what is usually a day full of quite difficult classes and it's the single coolest thing I've been a part of in my life. All I'm saying is, there is always an opportunity to fall in love with something new, you just have to go for it. (And by it, I mean something not directly related to robotics or at the very least you're particular strongsuit in robotics)

Re: The subtle disadvantages of being a FIRST Alumni
 

Also, I'll go out on a limb and suggest NOT doing robotics in college. Branch out and find something new for a while like Formula SAE (if your school has it), Ribe Goldberg, or even non-STEM organizations. College is a time where you can really grow as a person. You finally have an opportunity to be out on your own without supervision. Looking back after being out of college for a few years now, I really wish I made better use of my time in college...as in making more friends, getting into a bit more trouble (but not too much of course), etc. You will likely never be surrounded with such a variety of types of people again, so take advantage of it. I currently work in an office full of introverted engineers. I sure miss the variety of people.