[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

[CrashTestDummy]

Heck, getting just about ANY degree is difficult. I worked about 1.5 jobs all while finishing my undergrad and graduate degrees in Geology. I did take it slowly, especially for my MS, but that was to allow more time for studying. Two classes a semister, on top of my thesis project was about it.

To put it bluntly, you have to stop doing all the extra carricular activities, sadly, like this forum. When I was working on my BS, I built a CP car, and autocrossed it, and a couple of other cars, as well as restored and showed a 72 4 speed Trans Am. The last two years of my MS degree program, I realized I wasn't going to get anything done school-wise unless I started spending more time doing schoolwork. By then the cars had been in the garage, under covers for some time. I basically dropped out of circulation to get the school stuff done. No going out on weekends, no calling on friends, etc. I would take about 20 minutes every couple of days to go ride my bike, but otherwise, was either working, or doing school work.

Interestingly, the month after I defended my thesis, I got RIFfed from the oil company I was working at and went into the IT industry. I DO have my degrees, though, and have the satisfaction of a job well done. They can take my job from me, but not my degree. :-)

Good luck on your chase.

Gene Beaird