Attn: Present & Future College Students, Think carefully before you mentor

[aaronm_k]

Originally Posted by Mikell Taylor

::waves:: I started my own team. Then again, I'm in the first ever class at a brand new school -- we had to start *everything*. I did wait until my sophomore year, so I had a good sense of my limits, time management, and so forth. Time management is an important skill to learn. I didn't do many other clubs or organizations, but I did have time for FIRST. And I have a halfway decent GPA!

You know what you're capable of. The above post is right: think before you act. But taking risks is sometimes a good thing.

I'm guessing Olin College encouraged you to mentor a FIRST team, rather than worrying about how it would affect your grades. With their vision, you will learn a lot from experience that you can't learn in a classroom. My team's leader, an engineer who became a teacher, even says being on a FIRST team will teach you more about engineering than you will ever learn in college.

[Beth Sweet]

Originally Posted by aaronm_k

I'm guessing Olin College encouraged you to mentor a FIRST team, rather than worrying about how it would affect your grades. With their vision, you will learn a lot from experience that you can't learn in a classroom. My team's leader, an engineer who became a teacher, even says being on a FIRST team will teach you more about engineering than you will ever learn in college.

While what you've said is true, there is one fact that continues to ring true throughout this entire thread. College/university will get you a degree, FIRST will not

[Deetman]

For the most part I completely agree with the sentiment being expressed in this thread. I can't speak from personal experience of being a college mentor, but I can definitely say that becoming a college mentor is a big decision. I was extremely close to joining Purdue's FIRST program, I had gone through everything required to become a member and the decision was down to me. After looking at what my course load for the second semester would be (19 hours) and other commitments I already had, I made the difficult decision to pass on joining as a college mentor. Looking back at my first year I do not regret this decision one bit. I never would have been able to get the excellent GPA I have, enjoy the social aspect of college, and make the commitments to the student organization I am in had I joined the FIRST program at Purdue. I am not trying to discourage anyone from doing this, I just want to enforce what has already been said about thinking carefully before you act. There are times where I did miss FIRST, especially towards the end of the second semester where I had a strong urge to build something, but just did not have the time to do anything about that.

Above all that, here is what I feel the important part of my message is. There are other things besides FIRST out there. Stepping out of your shell and trying new things is part of what college is. Purdue, like many other schools, has an extremely large number of student organizations on campus (700+). These can range from engineering related clubs such as Solar Racing, Formula and Baja SAE, all the way to things that are a bit more out of the ordinary like an impromptu comedy club or a wine appreciation society (for those of you of age). When you get to whatever college or university you are attending there will be TONS of callouts. Find a few that interest you besides FIRST and go to the callout. Who knows, you might find something you can be just as, if not more, passionate about.

Kevin Dieterle
Purdue University class of 2009.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by aaronm_k

My team's leader, an engineer who became a teacher, even says being on a FIRST team will teach you more about engineering than you will ever learn in college.

Now that doesn't say good things about the education system does it? I would put a but since I am a college student currently, I'll stick with the

Long live FIRST

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Now that doesn't say good things about the education system does it? I would put a but since I am a college student currently, I'll stick with the

Working as an engineer for a couple of years after you finish your undergraduate degree will also teach you more about engineering than you ever learned in college. College is mostly about teaching you to learn independently. The most efficient way to do that is through challenges with deadlines attached. Any of several challenging extracurricular projects you can get involved with while still in college will accomplish that, too; based on some of your posts here, you seem to be taking good advantage of such opportunities now, sanddrag.

FIRST is an even better way to learn how to learn independently, because FIRSTers start younger.

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Long live FIRST

Roger that.

[KenWittlief]

quote]Originally Posted by aaronm_k
My team's leader, an engineer who became a teacher, even says being on a FIRST team will teach you more about engineering than you will ever learn in college.[\quote]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Now that doesn't say good things about the education system does it? I would put a but since I am a college student currently, I'll stick with the

Long live FIRST

you learn different things on a FIRST team than you do in college. FIRST is not an engineering crash course, its an engineering exposure experience.

If you attend a college with a 5 year coop program then you will also get the practical hands-on, real project (schedule, budget, tradeoffs, resources....) experience that only comes from being on a real project.

When you graduate from a 4 or 5 year engineering university in most cases you would start working for a corporation as a junior engineer, and they would not expect you to function 100% independantly on a major project.

Engineering is a career of continuous learning, acquiring new skills, and growth.

[Sgraff_SRHS06]

That's definitely true, but to really get anywhere in some instances, you probably need to scrape up the money to get your Master's or your Ph.D. (I don't know what the situation for Bioengineering majors will be.)

I have not posted anything recently, but I will post about this. My alma mater team has offered me a mentorship position. The advisor is probably asking me the same thing. But I have to tell him and those who want me to mentor--I'm in college right now. I don't know when or if I'll come back because my academics take full priority. I don't know my current transcript, but based on my assignments so far, I think I'm doing pretty well.

I'm ironically on an engineering project with another FIRST alum (from Team 007) and we both are taking our experiences to the project. But it seems like everyone else is on our page (which means either other FIRST alumni or people who are just that way). Apparently all the squabbling and disorganization that typified my team's activities seem to be gone (but we aren't at the storming phase yet.)

I am at a college that has been supportive of FIRST for a number of years. It once sponsored Team 53 before it collapsed (for any oldtimers, 53 was once a dominant team from nearby Greenbelt that suddenly seemed to fold last year.) I think the team was eventually switched from UM's MechE to a Gemstone team with not a lot of money to deal with.

I am not about to drive that hour drive right now to the team. I would see the regional on webcast and keep touch on the boards and give some advice, but Engineering takes so much time.

If you do mentor in college, do it somehow discreetly so that you can still do well and have a social life. If not, you should still stay in touch to pull the team through.

Steve Graff, University of Maryland c/o 2010

[Erin Rapacki]

I'll try to keep this short & sweet:
(on my fifth and final year of undergraduate engineering now )

-Before doing FIRST during college; ask yourself "how will FIRST help me accomplish my career/life goals?"
-Pick the ONE aspect of FIRST that will MOST help you gain a competitive edge in your career/life goals (mentoring, design, machining, writing, project management, procurement, fund raising, leadership, etc...)
-Make sure that ONE aspect is a lot less involved than what you think you could handle.
-Do that one aspect well.

You may change that one aspect from year to year, according to how your career/life goals change, but what I found out in college is:

FIRST can help you advance your skills & knowledge base.
FIRST can help you discover your own interests & expertise.
FIRST can lead you to job offers.
FIRST can make you stressed out beyond belief and distract you from classes!

So basically, if you must do FIRST (and I do recommend staying involved), do one small thing, do it WELL (people will notice that), and spend the rest of your time concentrating on classes.


The ONLY reason I did so much with FIRST during my undergraduate career is because I was working at internships between the months of January-June for 2004, 2005, & 2006. Had I been involved with classes during the winter months I would have accomplished far less.

All in all... if you're obsessed with FIRST, do an internship during build season .