Hi,
This is JVN.
It is now 2:30AM, I’m halfway done with my Mechanics of Machine Elements project, the week before finals… and I’d like to take this opportunity to let everyone know:
Being a Mechanical Engineering major is hard.
Yes, it’s true.
No one really told me before I started college, I’m telling you now to save you the shock. I mean… I knew it would be hard… but this is HARD. Really.
Can I be honest, John? (of course, when have I ever not been honest with you :p)
…College is hard. End of story.
You’re just biased towards MechE because that’s what you’re doing. If you’d rather be writing a paper on the correlation between bid-ask spreads of a variety of stocks in the NYSE versus their respective volume, hey, let me know.
thermodynamics, and introduction to oscillatory motion. exam tommorrow.
i said it before, and i’ll say it again:
i really don’t like thermodynamics…can’t we just ignore them, and hope they go away?..
Edit:
did i mention that there’s a party next door/acroos the hall?
No feakin joke. It didn’t really set in to me until I had to stay up until 3:00 AM doing Vector Calculus homework and then get up at 6:00 AM to study for my statics class.
John is not joking here people. It is very hard. If you really enjoy your free time, sleep and sanity, please, get an English degree.
Dave if you do that…wow…I could never major in physics (definitely not a fan of that stuff). Now Mechanical Engineering has not been too much of a pain quite yet (now at the end of my sophomore year). But looking at my classes for this upcoming fall semester, I think it’s a long road ahead :rolleyes: .
Yes it is, but it is well worth it. I still remember those days in school, I graduated from RPI '81.
As I look back though I would do it all over. My strongest memory was one day in Materials when the mid-term exam was returned and 60% of the class failed. The professor said he would not curve the test and said, “You are not here to learn this, any secretary can do this. You are here to learn to think!”
Stretching your mind, that is what it is about. Keep your chins up!
John and everyone else are right. Not only Mechy, but other engineering fields are hard… The programs are very intensive, demanding, challenging, and sometimes humbling. Engineering is also rewarding. Anything that you have to work this hard at and is this challenging brings the best out of us. That is why we choose to study hard things, and why we choose to engage projects like FIRST. Rising up to these challenges and taking on tasks that you think you may not be able to are what make our successes the sweetest thing.
I am a senior about to graduate with degrees in Mechanical Engineering and German. I spent last year in Germany studying and working at a german company that makes catalytic converters. This year I took all of the classes that my peers scoffed at as the “hardest” ones. I missed alot of time for FIRST and had to make it up during my normal “sleep time”. I chose to do all of these things because the challenges of learning the art of engineering have taught me that I can solve any task or problem that I focus on. Any of you can as well. If you choose to study engineering, you will be sacraficing some college experiences that others take for granted, but you will also have a unique college experience that many others can’t understand.
There is a reason that the engineers and mentors on your team studying engineering should be considered role models and heroes to the high school students. It is because they have learned it through lots of hard work and dedication on their own part.
Good luck studying whatever field you choose, just put everythign you have into it and you will get so much more than you ever imagined out of it!
Back 10 billion years ago when I was still deciding on a college (it feels like an eternity ago), I went and toured RPI. As we were walking along, someone shouted from a dorm window:
“If you want something easy, take business!”
True story.
edit:
My lawyer informs me that I’m being a moron. Feel free to disregard any random business bashing. Sorry, it’s an engineering school thing… I’ll refrain because Business majors are people too.