- #1
Shane Short
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Hey everyone, new to Physics Forums and happy I've found it.
To start, my name is Shane, I currently work for Applied Materials. We engineer, maintain, and support tools in the semiconductor industry. I'm 21 years old, and currently on the Global team. Meaning, I travel 90% of the time, supporting other teams that need help, and installs. Through work I have pretty great tuition reimbursement I would really like to take advantage of (8500.00/ yr.). I've been dying to get into Electrical Engineering... its genuinely something I've wanted to do for 3 years now, but due to finances, moving around constantly for work, etc. I've put it off, which I regret. And I was raised in a super anti-college, pro- trade family.
So long story short, end all, be all, I would like to have a BSEE and if not an MBA then a Bachelors of some sort in Business. (forgive me if I'm getting terminology here, I will humbly admit I know very little about the college system), but above all, a BSEE, with that being said... for the next 2 years I'm dedicated to traveling work, and after multitudes of applications, hours of researching schools, and programs that can work around my schedule and the fact that i'll be in Korea one month, Germany the next, Israel, etc. etc. etc. the ONLY school I can find that can work with me is ASU's online BSEE program. I understand the deficit of hands on experience I will have with this vs. University labs, but I'm just trying to find something that will work. So as far as labs, they send them via mail, in kits, now I'm not sure how that makes up for oscilloscopes, and other expensive tools that I obviously won't have on hand. But what I'm thinking is since the first 2 years seems to be mostly prerequisites anyways, would it really be that bad of an option to do my first 2 years online, then when I'm finished with my 2 years and have my remaining 2- 2.5, I would be back home in Portland working regularly there, where I can attend, and have been previously accepted to the Maseeh College of Engineering. Nothing about my online part of it would ever show up on my degree, it's not something that I'm worried about affecting my future careers/ career here. I just want to know if anyone has ever gone a route like this? What your opinions are. If it really seems like that bad of a route, etc. Also ASU has been ranked outstandingly by places like US News, etc, but the reviews from the actual students are so so mixed that I'm about ready to rip my hair out, especially because idk what their personality is, work ethic, and if the bad reviews were from lazy students, or what..
Another weird thing is, ASU's courses/ classes/ terms/ whatever, are every 7.5 weeks, not 15 like normal apparently? I saw some people freaking out about it online, I have no idea what the normal amount is.
*Extra Credit: What is your favorite type of engineering? And why? Which one would you rather have pursued if you're not happy where you are at? Which one do you think is the most financially stable? And which one do you think will be growing the most?
To start, my name is Shane, I currently work for Applied Materials. We engineer, maintain, and support tools in the semiconductor industry. I'm 21 years old, and currently on the Global team. Meaning, I travel 90% of the time, supporting other teams that need help, and installs. Through work I have pretty great tuition reimbursement I would really like to take advantage of (8500.00/ yr.). I've been dying to get into Electrical Engineering... its genuinely something I've wanted to do for 3 years now, but due to finances, moving around constantly for work, etc. I've put it off, which I regret. And I was raised in a super anti-college, pro- trade family.
So long story short, end all, be all, I would like to have a BSEE and if not an MBA then a Bachelors of some sort in Business. (forgive me if I'm getting terminology here, I will humbly admit I know very little about the college system), but above all, a BSEE, with that being said... for the next 2 years I'm dedicated to traveling work, and after multitudes of applications, hours of researching schools, and programs that can work around my schedule and the fact that i'll be in Korea one month, Germany the next, Israel, etc. etc. etc. the ONLY school I can find that can work with me is ASU's online BSEE program. I understand the deficit of hands on experience I will have with this vs. University labs, but I'm just trying to find something that will work. So as far as labs, they send them via mail, in kits, now I'm not sure how that makes up for oscilloscopes, and other expensive tools that I obviously won't have on hand. But what I'm thinking is since the first 2 years seems to be mostly prerequisites anyways, would it really be that bad of an option to do my first 2 years online, then when I'm finished with my 2 years and have my remaining 2- 2.5, I would be back home in Portland working regularly there, where I can attend, and have been previously accepted to the Maseeh College of Engineering. Nothing about my online part of it would ever show up on my degree, it's not something that I'm worried about affecting my future careers/ career here. I just want to know if anyone has ever gone a route like this? What your opinions are. If it really seems like that bad of a route, etc. Also ASU has been ranked outstandingly by places like US News, etc, but the reviews from the actual students are so so mixed that I'm about ready to rip my hair out, especially because idk what their personality is, work ethic, and if the bad reviews were from lazy students, or what..
Another weird thing is, ASU's courses/ classes/ terms/ whatever, are every 7.5 weeks, not 15 like normal apparently? I saw some people freaking out about it online, I have no idea what the normal amount is.
*Extra Credit: What is your favorite type of engineering? And why? Which one would you rather have pursued if you're not happy where you are at? Which one do you think is the most financially stable? And which one do you think will be growing the most?