[bigshoe]

how much trouble have you had in getting your degree?

I'm starting to have a tough time, but its mostly because I don't have the time to study. currently i'm only in the beginning, general chemistry(with lab) and calculus 1.

my chemistry teacher is hard to follow (foreign), i'm getting a high D
and calculus isnt that bad, I'm getting a low C
chemistry lab is a low A, but that was a pretty simple class.

my problem is i work 40 hrs during the week, and i have alot of travel time also. I have an interest in this stuff (not so much chemistry), but find it very hard to lose sleep to study.

anyways, i was able to move 24 of my work hours to the weekend for next semester, that should help greatly, I'll be taking calc 2, physics 1 (with lab), and c programming.

Ok guys, how bad do i have it???
I know i'm only in the beginnings of engineering here, and i'm not looking good, i really hope that will change next semester since i've made some changes for it.

what did you guys find tough or demanding when it came to engineering classes? I find it takes me absolutely forever to do my homework and focus on it, I blame being out of school for 5 years for that (although i know it could be alot worse).

Did you guys find the later engineering classes to be much more difficult than this earlier stuff?

btw, i'm a Mechanical engineering major, and if it matters, i've completed an associates in EET in 1999 from a tech school

[slowTA]

Hey, I'm still at home too. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

I see why you want to keep the job, but 3 technical classes a semester is still a lot!! Even with 28 hours of work a week, that’s about 1 day less than me right now and I can't imagine squeezing in another class. I would take 1 class less to try and hang on to what sanity you have left. Time in between classes is almost as wasteful as lurking on the web unless you have a good 2 hour block. Time before you get to school and after you get home are the most important for getting work done, I think. If I'm not at work I'm at my desk trying to do homework. The attention thing is usually shot by then, but I keep trying anyway.

I think my hardest classes were either electrical engineering or system dynamics. The system dynamics is the one where you use differential equations to solve mechanical problems as if they're electrical problems... like treating springs and dampers as if they are resistors and capacitors. I still don't know how that is supposed to work, but thanks to a curve I'm done with the class. The sad part is that I really want to know how Sam figures out how to revalve shocks and I think that was the class to do so. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)

The last time I asked myself if it was worth the time and sanity was just after I was laid off from my last job and had to decide if I wanted to go back to school or find another job. I decided to go back and I can't say that I regret it.

The key to getting through college is getting the right professors, have you looked at http://www.ratemyprofessors.com? Hopefully that will help you some.

I have to vote for study groups too, they really help with the attention problems and you will probably have to work as a group in some of the more advanced classes anyway.

Once I asked an engineering friend of mine if it was all worth it. His reply was something along the lines of... 'of course, especially when you boss tosses you the keys and tells you to go test the new clutch.'