(16yo, and this post is not to be taken very seriously) Currently planning to study Mechanical Engineering, got most stuff as figured out as I can so... Just wondering, does it actually drain the life (and hair) out of you? I don't wanna go bald

It scaring me.

Hello, right now I’m a high school senior applying to colleges for either Electrical and Computer Engineering or Mechanical engineering for a Bachelor’s Degree.I enjoy engineering since middle school and I believe that I would genuinely enjoy working in the engineering and technology industry because it's exciting and fun.  Bc of cookies and trackers or whatever a lot of my feed is about colleges and engineering. A lot of the videos and posts whether on YouTube day in the life or skits or job application charts thingys on Reddit I feel so anxious about going into the major. Everyone says that engineering is so life draining, you cry after every exam, you don't have time for life, you switch to business after freshman year. I want to think that it's just 50% propaganda and 50% accurate, but I want to hear from engineering students about their honest opinions.

Does anyone feel like they don’t know how to really create or build anything even after 3 years of school

Hi all I’ve been machining brass on a lathe but I’ve been left with an awful finish. Can anyone help?

I study so much. I do practice problems, attend all classes, do active recall, study week before, and DO EVERYTHING. But I still don’t get good marks. Yet, my classmates talk about studying 2-3 days, enjoying their weekends, and they do so well. I don’t understand. I’m so mad, mad at myself for being dumb. What is wrong with me? No amount of effort is enough. What do they do that I don’t? What effort do they put in that I don’t? I don’t know what to do.

Senior EE student here graduating in the spring, had an internship at company A this past summer and I loved it, pay was great and I really enjoyed the people I worked with and the projects I worked on. During my exit interview they told me they would love to bring me back and to get in contact with them in February about getting a full time position. I went to my schools engineering career fair and had a brief conversation with company B who is their competitor and handed them my resume. They interviewed me the next day virtually and then scheduled a second round in person interview with me yesterday.

They verbally offered me the job in the interview and just sent me a formal offer letter. I have 2 weeks to make a decision. Is it appropriate to send an email to company A telling them I have an offer from company B and try and see if they’re willing to give me an offer quickly or should I just accept company B?

I'm in year 3 out if 5 in chemical engineering.

I am sick of lecture, lab exam, repeat over and over again. I haven't done an actual project outside of gen eds since freshman year. I haven't built anything but basic python scripts. I don't know when, if ever, we'll actually learn to DO anything.

I’m a freshmen who came from a rural school. The transition from high school to college is so hard. Especially for my math courses. I already have a diagnosis learning disability and try to work past it but I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I got to lecture, tutoring, study and do the homework but I don’t get it. It doesn’t make sense to me at all. I’m so sad to because I feel like calc shouldn’t be this challenging because I did well in the AB course. Anyone else like this? I know im going to withdraw and retake next semester and improve on my algebra skills but i hate feeling this stupid

Guys I’m so behind and so tired 😪 I want to just cheat and catch up but I truly want to be a good engineer and actually learn. Should I just try to pass? Or should I just keep trying to learn?

What should I do?

I’m so tired of my Starbucks job, what jobs do yall have while going to school. I’m in a Mechanical engineering program rn and I want a more chill job where I don’t have to deal with annoying ass customers all day… but also get like 24hrs weekend only? I’m gi bill student so I don’t need to work more than 21-24 hrs part time. I just can’t stand Starbucks anymore so please suggestion while grinding out this degree I’m a junior so shits getting real hard lol.

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Biomedicine Institute
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I apologize for the long post. I’m making this as a bit of a rant but also to ask for academic advice since I am struggling to stay hopeful continuing my freshman year.

I’m about 2/3 the way done with my first semester and, from how it’s looking, i’m about to start my second semester with a ~ 3.2-3.4 gpa. I’m pretty frustrated, since I’ve asked some older friends and they all have 3.9-4.0s even after taking the same classes as me.

I feel like I’ve lucked out because I worked ahead in high school. I’ve already taken calc 1-3, linear algebra, ode, statistics, probability, chemistry, physics 1-2, and every other foundational class you take your freshman year. I took these through my local community college and got what would translate to a 4.0 in every single one.

Im about 1.5 years ahead, so the classes i’m in are mostly sophomores or juniors who are struggling just as much as I am. These classes are only going to get harder, so I just feel a little upset I’ve lost what could’ve been a major boost to my gpa. I’ve been helping my peers with tutoring, so I can tell I would’ve done just as well taking them here, but it’s counterproductive to retake classes I already have credit for.

The worst part is the class i’m struggling the most is a harder variant of intro to programming. I made the mistake of joining the class a month late because my advisor recommended it and quickly discovered everyone in it already had been coding since birth. I missed the first 3 labs and several assignments (which I made up and got 100s on, but this stands as testament of how behind I was). I’ve caught up by now, but my grade in the class will likely end up as a B- after several months of hard work.

My question here really is just how bad of a starting gpa is this? I know it’s not terrible and I can get it up, but I am worried I’ll perform the same in future, more-difficult classes. I realize i’m being over dramatic here, but I am getting a little worried since grad school may be an option for me and I know they’re stingy about gpa.

I’m first year and I just bombed my first calc midterm, barely passing. I didn’t think it was going to be so hard, since I did good in high school calc 1 and went to all the lectures. I probably could have studied more like I did my other midterms (haven’t been graded yet), but also I feel like I barely have any time. I spend all day going to lectures and then spend the rest of the time doing assignments that I never feel like I can do any extra practice.

I feel like some lectures, notably my calc class, are a waste of time and it would be more efficient to spend my time doing practice problems. The only thing is that in class online participation questions are worth 5% but that’s barely anything and I feel like my exams might improve way more than that. From experience is this the better option or should I still go and time manage better?

Hey y'all I just turned 25 and have decided to go back to school for Mechanical Engineering. I'm at a community college working towards a transfer but still have a long way to go. I'm super excited to start working through school but I was wondering if I could get some advice on job hunting while I make this pivot. I was a mechanic for a few years and I've been an EMT for about a year now. I love what I do but feel it might be better to work in something that's more aligned with the field I'm studying. Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

Ello

I am a US Freshman EE student at small priv school (on full scholarship luckily). We only have FSAE but I got rejected sadly and now idk how I will get experience. Teaching myself CAD currently.

Since I got rejected from my schools only comp team FSAE I was wondering if I should start a competition team (either Lunar Rovers, Sub Challenge maybe Solar but it costs so much and I want to compete not js reach out to sponsors).

Thought my sister (who graduated college not same one tho) said it isnt a good idea as I am not the most social person nor do I have many friends who would join and I should just focus on studies.

Also if someone says "Focus on studying" I have too much time on my hands currently and want to learn real shit.

Anyways what do I do? I could try again for FSAE next yr (no guarantee I will get or start comp team or smth else). If I start team I wouldn't compete this yr as I would just make an MVP and prob try to get funding

If you are reading this pls comment so ik what yall think (it is free).

I didn't really know how to word the title, I feel like there's so much that I want to learn, but can't really put a lot of time into that because school and grade upkeep takes a lot of my time. For example, I really want to learn more about coding, electronics, or 3D printing just to name a few. Or more about how thermodynamics is applied to sustainability. I'm really interested in sustainability. I have endless questions. I want to read books about these concepts, and find the answers to my questions. I am trying to upkeep my grades and general health such as sleep, social life, and gym. The courses I'm taking really only touch on these topics at a surface level but I want to go deeper into learning about these. When it's only a 16 week format, there really isn't much time to go deeper especially if you are taking 4-5 classes. I feel like I am not getting enough out of my education because of this. School is going too fast in my opinion, but I know that you can't just have endless classes. I feel like school is currently about getting an A rather than actually learning the material. I see a lot of really cool things that people make online, and I want to do the same, but I wonder how they have the time to sit down and learn it all. Im a mechE major, but I want to learn everything. Biomedical, chemical, software, aerospace engineering. I can't choose one, they are all so interesting, even if it's surface level for some of these I still want to learn about it. It's funny because I want to learn all of this yet I am exhausted from studying so much at school.

As the title says I don’t think I have an interest in being an engineer anymore, and I’m looking towards switching to the business department after next semester.

However, when I was set in being an engineer I applied to a lot of internships for practice and to put my foot into doors early. As a freshman I didn’t expect anything back or maybe I did hope for anything back is better said. I have prior 2 internships (pretty low effort I didn’t really do anything crazy imo) and a few significant engineering projects, so it wouldn’t be unheard of getting a freshman internship in my case.

I’ve already done 1 interview and just got scheduled for 2-3 more by different companies. Since I’m not sure of my career path should I be taking these internships in the case I get an offer? Should I be transparent about this to the companies?

I know getting a freshman internship is a big opportunity, so should I do it anyways?

TLDR: I lost my passion for engineering and wanna go into business (MIS, SCM, Marketing, etc. still deciding), but I got the potential opportunity engineering spring/summer internships. Should I take the internship anyways, or wait till I know what I want for my career?

I’m studying to become an EE and my college, as is the case with most EE curriculums as I understand, does not involve any proof based mathematics courses. So it would probably be interesting but overall pain with little gain to try and sneak in a proof based math course just to see it, right?

Hi all, I'm a final year BSc Computer Science student looking at the MSc(Eng) Mechatronics and Robotics at the University of Leeds for 2027 entry.

Has anyone done this course coming from a CS background? It covers a lot that a CS degree doesn't, like electronics, control systems and mechanical design, so I'd love to hear which topics you struggled with most and whether there's anything worth learning beforehand to prepare. I'm also curious how the job prospects were after and what kind of roles you or your coursemates ended up in.

Also, has anyone already applied or got an offer for 2027/28? Would be good to know how long it took to hear back and what your background was.

Any other experiences or advice are welcome too. Thanks!

Hi everyone, I'm a second year at a T20 engineering school studying Materials Science & Engineering. These past two summers, I've been interning at a materials research facility at NASA in my hometown. I was looking to move to a new internship but am having trouble letting go of the opportunity and prestige at NASA. My main goal is to get into applied research and graduate school.

I'll write some pros and cons of the GM internship.

Pros:
New experience and industry connections
More than 2x the pay + a housing stipend
Slightly more aligned with my current interests

Cons:
Paying for food; more in gas
Staying away from friends and family
Potentially losing connections at NASA and future publications

Any advice? I'm leaning toward taking it. I think I value the new experience and higher pay more than anything, but how detrimental is it to leave?

Other than Jeff Hanson or beer’s textbook, what are some good dynamics resources? Videos, worked examples, etc…

Hey everyone!

My team and I are working on our engineering capstone project, and we’re struggling to secure funding to get it off the ground.

For those of you who have been through this process, what are the best ways to get funding? Have you had success with grants, reaching out to companies, crowdfunding, or other methods?

I’d really appreciate any advice, resources, or personal experiences you could share. Thanks!

Short project description:

a water-quality monitoring system designed to detect abnormal environmental conditions and identify potential pollution risks in local waterways. We’re collaborating with Charlotte Water and engineering mentors

Hi everyone! I’m a Chemical Engineering graduate from Colombia, hoping to continue my studies and research in Germany. My dream is to use science to develop sustainable solutions that help farmers and improve agriculture.

I’m participating in a Global66 contest, and every vote would bring me a little closer to making this dream a reality. If you’d like to support me, I’d be truly grateful. ❤️

Thank you for believing in dreams!

Im a freshman in my first quarter am applying to clubs and waiting to hear back after being rejected in round 2 of the two i applied too.(Damn thats alot of twos) but i wanted to know how do you know what to do at what point in your academic year , i get that we all have academic advisers but when did you guys realize that this is what il be doing at this time this year etc...Simply put how do you know that what you are doing is going to be good enough for what you want in the future given that nothing is guaranteed? thank you