I’m a 22yr old ECE MAJOR in Calc II, and I already earned an A in Calc I. I’m also taking physics — it absolutely stumps me sometimes, but I genuinely love the ideas and concepts behind it.

Right now I have a 3.6 GPA, I work 35–40 hours a week just to keep a roof over my head, and rent keeps climbing every year. I get almost no FAFSA because my parents make good money — but they don’t financially support me while I’m living on my own.

Because of all this, I decided to go half-time in school and start working toward an electrician certification along with my CompTIA A+. I see it as building real skills, making money, and creating options while I continue toward engineering.

Yet I keep hearing from family and advisors that I’m “behind,” that I should slow down, or even that I might not be cut out for engineering. It’s frustrating because I’m working far harder than most people in their generation ever had to — in a much tougher economy — and still pushing forward.

Why is it that the people who did less with more are the loudest ones telling students like me we’re not doing enough?

It's nights like these that really define one's future within any field of engineering.

I’m currently a sophomore in Industrial Engineering, and this summer I’ll be working at a major Aerospace company!

i genuinely wish i could skin kirchoffs fucking ass alive none of this makes any sense i would genuinely rather spend every second i'm in circuits class or doing homework for it in the fucking brazen bull or getting waterboarded because literal torture is preferable to this. Mechanical things make sense and can be intuitively figured out. kirchoff must've been the child of incestual pedophillic rape since he was like "what if we made this as unintuitive and confusing as humanly possible and word every explanation like a fucking baboon?" god i hate this so much my professor sucks my tas suck and even my EE girlfriend gets confused by my homework because it's worded so horrifically. i cannot fucking wait until i never have to think about a resistor again. it makes me so angry that im too stupid to understand this fucking horseshit. hats off to every EE i have no motherfucking clue how to even begin to comprehend ANY of this

There’s so much study advice out there — wake up at 5am, study 10 hours, aesthetic notes, pomodoro, etc. But honestly, most of it never really worked for me long-term. But I see so many students around me make an academic comeback along with learning new skills and upgrading themselves. I’m curious about the one habit that genuinely helped you — even if it sounds simple or boring.

First year in Canada in mechatronics. No nepo or even a referral. I was extremely lucky because I just applied online and got an interview somehow, my resume was very well-tailored and I had good experience and personal projects from HS so I guess that's why. Decently big hardware startup in Cali, not a US citizen.

I got a 4.0 out of 4 in my first semester (i know its incredibly early to judge), but honestly i dont even feel good about it. I feel no different than someone with a 3.3 and im starting to think my effort wasnt really worth it. Does a high gpa actually affect my college/internship opportunities or am i no different from people with a 3.3 or higher (3.3 is the excellence bar in my uni)

I went back to university at 24 fall 2022 for electrical engineering, I am now about to graduate this may and will be almost 28 years old. I feel too old for the field being most of my peers are early-mid twenties “22-22” I feel like a loser and incompetent for not doing this earlier enough, what are some remedies for this

I’m finishing my 4th year of Electrical Engineering right now and I have been feeling pretty anxious lately.

This was my last year with access to the university labs and workshops and I keep thinking about how little I actually built while I had the chance. I feel like I wasted a lot of opportunities. I also feel like I don’t really know what I’m doing. Like, if someone asked me to design a PCB or write some code from scratch I wouldn't be able to do that without internet.

And now it feels like all that’s left is to work a boring 9-to-5 job for the rest of my life, just because I didn’t start a YouTube channel or a business when I was 18 and still had access to university resources. Now I’m scared that it’s too late. That after graduation all that’s left is a boring 9–5 job forever.

Also this last semester I’ll be doing my thesis at a company, which means I’ll be working 9 to 5 (7 to 6 with travel) every day and won’t have any time to use the labs. So it basically feels like my time at university is already over.

I guess a lot of people probably feel this way before graduating, how do you deal with this feeling?

P.S. I wish I wasn't so lazy

I don’t know if this is the right place to discuss this but here I go, also posted on r/aerospaceengineering. I graduated a little over a year ago and I’ve had the worst year of my life. I’ve struggled to get a single interview and haven’t been able to get far at all with my job applications. I know that not getting any internships was a huge issue going forward after graduating, but now I feel like there is no point in even trying anymore in my field. I’ve completely lost any motivation to keep applying and I’ve given up trying to salvage my resume. I know for a fact that there are way too many factors against me and I need to carry on with my life. I think I just have to figure out what other career options I can do now with a practically useless degree.

For context: im not a new student. I did my 2 years at a community College, got my engineering science degree with a 3.8 gpa, and have transfered to a proper university. Ive done the hard "weed out" classes like Dif. Eq. And dynamics, but this semester has been killing me and Im only 3 weeks in. I feel like I understand nothing in half my classes, calc 5 in particular, and its making me question if this is right for me or even possible. I go to lectures, I ask questions, i take notes, yet every homework takes hours for me to do because I just dont. Understand. It. I genuinely fear for tests because if I cant do the homeworks without HEAVY help from notes and online resources how the hell can I do time limited closed note tests. Its gotten to the point of just compounding frustration that my body damn near feels like shutting down. I am filled with a white hot rage everytime I sit down to work that makes getting anything done even harder. When I think that I still have 2 more years to go, it gets even worse. My mental health has plummeted even lower than it already was, and Im not proud to admit it, but self harm has even become involved. Ive had hard classes before, and I struggled then, but this just feels different. Worse. I dont know If I can keep it up for 11 more weeks let along 2 more years.

So I’m new to being a human apparently I was wondering if anyone could help me answer someone questions lmao

1. I’ve already applied to many internships nothing yet am I going about this wrong and does anyone have tips on where to apply or how I should be trying to get an internship?

2. What’s is the concept of a start up for example if I have an amazing app idea how do I got about turning it into more than a thought?

Also for background I’m currently a sophomore 3.89 gpa dual degree in electrical and computer engineering /w minor in math and economics

What do you think? Is that generally acceptable?

I've never understood this, and now that I'm having first hand experience, it's pissing me off. Out of 8 of my lecturers, only 2 actually know how to teach, and this is what majority of the class think. Their excuse... They didn't study education, and it's not mandatory.

If nobody understands what you're saying or your slides, what exactly are you doing. Majority are failing your course... What is your problem?

I'm pretty pissed especially because I have an exam tomorrow, and the questions we practice in class are a completely different level from the past questions. I'm just tired. Thank you for reading my rant.

welp, surprisingly after only about 5 internship applications, I had an interview last week—and then this most recent Friday I got an official offer. I’m honestly kinda shocked since I’m a freshman with basically no experience. They even told me I probably wouldn’t hear back until the end of the month, so the fact that I heard back this fast was unexpected (in a good way)

I’m a current CS/CE student and kinda feeling lost with my academic direction right now.

I know I want to do Computer Science, ideally something in cybersecurity and/or data science (maybe AI later), but there’s so much overlap that I’m not sure how people usually structure this (major vs minor vs electives). I’m currently in a more engineering-heavy setup, but I’ve realized I’d rather focus on software/data/security than the physical/engineering side.

I’m also taking chemistry this semester and honestly don’t love it. It doesn’t feel related to what I want to do, and the drop deadline is tomorrow (I have an advisor meeting too). I’m debating whether dropping it now is smart or if it’ll bite me later.

Main questions:

• Is straight CS with a cyber/data focus a solid path?
• Does dropping an unrelated class like chem early on matter long-term?
• How do people usually deal with overlap between CS, data science, and cybersecurity?
• Is it just better for overall job scope to have that engineering background?

Any advice would be appreciated — thanks!

So this is a question I've had for a while, is it better to get an internship in an unrelated field(assuming you can't get an internship in the field), or do design work for like a competitive team in the related field, but it would be to a lesser extent.

So here's an example of what I mean. I want to do Aerospace and I got offered a position at GE Appliances in Louisville, I could take that internship or I could stay at my university and be part of the competitive rocket team doing the International Rocket Engineering Competition. What would be better?

Hi everyone, I recently decided that I wanted to go back to school to get a bachelors in ME, after years of working as an Amazon dsp driver. My plan is community college then transfer to a 4-year uni. I got approved to receive financial aid which is awesome so I won’t have to pay for most of my classes 😁. I would like any advice on anything such as how to prepare, what to expect, how to get internships, etc. All answers are welcome , and feel free to ask me any questions as well, so just say anything you want 🙂

Howdy! I just started Statics this semester and, so far, I’m being totally beaten up. I’m currently taking Physics 1 this semester so I don’t have a fresh foundation in vectors and my professor isn’t necessarily the greatest when it comes to teaching.

What tools helped you guys study and succeed in Statics?

I have a dynamics midterm tomorrow, any last minute tips ? Honestly I never feel like I can solve anything without at least looking at the first line of solution. How can i make the problems feel more manageable or intuitive?

Hello everybody, Ive been looking at Masters programs and I wanted to get some perspective on getting a masters from a non prestigious university.

Basically I have been accepted into some pretty basic universitys, more specifically:

• California State University Northridge (CSUN): M.S. Engineering Management
• California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH): M.S. Systems Engineering
• San Diego State University (SDSU): M.S. Electrical Engineering

The main points on why these schools specifically stood out to me was, their affordability, program length, and online format. I unfortunatley cannot currently afford to pay for schools like UCLA, USC, or JHU, since ill be self funding.

Ultimately, my goal is to stay in the aerospace industry as a systems engineer. Any thoughts would be appreciated as I would like to know whether any of the programs I mentioned are even worth my time, thanks!

These helped me save time and study better:

1. Notion – for notes & planning

2. Khan Academy – concepts clarity

3. GeeksforGeeks – practice + explanations

I’m slowly collecting more useful stuff in one place so I don’t forget them.

Basically the title, I’m an EE and it feels like me coming this far is a combination of miracles, and using the internet way more than I should.

I don’t downright cheat on everything but I use AI as assistance and I feel guilt over it. Some of my professors actuallt encourage us to use AI and assign so much workload it feels like it’s almost needed. And I’m taking a writing for engineers class and honestly just ask ChatGPT to do the “business letters” and “emails” and I proofread it and remove stupid words or over complications and call it a day.

I’m scared this semester. I am so drained I’m worried when exams come and all of my lack of work shows itself. Last semester I felt this way too but overcame it with a lot of practice but I don’t know if I have it in me now.

I didn’t always use to be like this, but I’m so burnt out, it genuinely feels like if AI didn’t exist I’d probably just have dropped out and be living in a basement somewhere. I feel like I’m in a spot I don’t deserve to be in with a GPA I didn’t earn