[Guardsman]

For those of you that may have done this, what's the best way to approach this? I want to do an Electrical Engineering program, but it will be while I am working full time, my job will be 1+ hours each way from home, and I'm in the Air National Guard.

The only schools around me that have BSEE programs are Berkeley, which is about 80 miles away, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which is about 250 miles away. I'd prefer Cal Poly, because they have a blended BS+MS program, where you can work toward your BS and MS at the same time.

However, the distance is going to be the biggest problem, as the vast majority of the courses are in-residence only.

I will be able to test out of a bunch of the lower-level electronics/electrical courses, as I have been an electronics tech for eleven years, so that should somewhat shorten my total time required.

So, what am I looking at here to do this?

Second question on this subject, is what am I looking at in terms of all the math calsses I will need to take? I know that I will need statistics and calc, but what will I need to take to get there, i.e., algebra, geometry, trig, etc.?

I found out that Cal Poly San Luis Obispo's continuing Ed has online math, from basic to Algebra 2, so I'm going to do those to get my textbook math skills up to where I can test into higher-level math courses.

Thanks again guys.

John

[sgarnett]

That's how I did it. It took a while, but I survived. Luckily my commute was shorter, but I was working a LOT of overtime.

You definitely need a strong background in algebra, geometry, and trig. Statistics will come in handy later too, but it won't really help you prepare for calculus.

Speaking of calculus, you'll probably have 4 or more semesters of it, and a lot of other courses will depend on it. Allow plenty of study time (don't overload your schedule) and learn it WELL.

In other words, focus on building a strong foundation.