- #1
Waldonaut
- 4
- 0
I have recently transferred to UCSD from a community college, but I am not sure if I should continue my degree. Before I ask what I really want to know, let me explain my where I am at in school and life right now. I hope you enjoy reading :) but if you are willing, I am very interested in hearing your response.
Since I don't plan on working in the field for the next 25 years, I am thinking that maybe quitting school and starting some work in real estate may be a good idea. The benefits of being an engineer are still pretty obvious, however. The job is stable, and a decent salary is basically guaranteed. Engineering and business/real estate are just so different, however, that if I don't think that it is possible to be great at both at the same time. I am wondering whether it is a good plan to work as an engineer for a bit then switch, or whether it is best to change my plan now.
Even if I decide to do engineering, I think that a break from school may do some good at this point. If I continue with low motivation/somewhat depressed my grades will probably suffer, and since I know that I am capable of doing well, I don't want that to happen. I am thinking that if I take a break and decide to come back to school, it will be because I want to be here and so i will start doing my best work again. I wouldn't want to be the engineer that just barely got the job.
I know that it is difficult to give advice about something like this, so I would like to know about your experience. If you have ever changed your major, made a career change, took time off from school or work to do something else or faced any of the other things that I wrote about, please let me know what you did, and what happened. If you have any advice about what I should do, or any advice in general, I am all ears. I will appreciate any and all responses. If you don't know what to say, or want to know something that I didn't write about, feel free to ask me a question.
I started pursuing the degree at a community college and I was there for 3 years. I did very well during my time there, mostly A's and a few B's. Since I did very well, I picked up a job working as a math and physics tutor on campus. I was also active in the engineering club we had and ended up becoming VP of the club. I didn't know where I wanted to transfer to, so I took some classes that fulfilled UC requirements, and some that fulfilled requirements for state schools. After applying to 4 year colleges, I got into UCLA, UCSD and some other schools, but decided that I should pick between UCLA and UCSD. After talking to people and doing research and found that UCSD had a better ME program, and so I went there.
Even though I have done well at my community college, my performance has decreased a bit toward the end of my time at community college since my motivation has been decreasing. During my first quarter here at UCSD, my motivation has picked up either even though it is a great school, and is at a great place. One reason that my motivation has gone down is that I will have to be at UCSD for 3-3.5 years to finish the degree, since transfer students come in as sophomores. Another reason is that I am tired of sitting in classrooms. I am not the kind of person that want's to be a student forever, even though I like learning.
The main reason that I have lost my motivation is that I don't know if I actually want to work as an engineer. I have looked into what engineers actually do at work and it just doesn't seem very exciting. I do like making things, learning about technology, etc, but I know that many, if not most, engineers mostly sit at a computer and do paperwork and the job is not very hands on.
What I want to do is become self employed and own a small business, and work on making it a large business. The business I would want to focus on is real estate. I like learning about how to structure real estate deals, how the law applies to the business, and how to run a business effectively.
The reason that I went for engineering is because I like technology, it pays well, and the path to become an engineer is pretty well laid out. I was planning to use my income as an engineer to start investing in real estate, and then stop working as an engineer soon as I could.
Even though I have done well at my community college, my performance has decreased a bit toward the end of my time at community college since my motivation has been decreasing. During my first quarter here at UCSD, my motivation has picked up either even though it is a great school, and is at a great place. One reason that my motivation has gone down is that I will have to be at UCSD for 3-3.5 years to finish the degree, since transfer students come in as sophomores. Another reason is that I am tired of sitting in classrooms. I am not the kind of person that want's to be a student forever, even though I like learning.
The main reason that I have lost my motivation is that I don't know if I actually want to work as an engineer. I have looked into what engineers actually do at work and it just doesn't seem very exciting. I do like making things, learning about technology, etc, but I know that many, if not most, engineers mostly sit at a computer and do paperwork and the job is not very hands on.
What I want to do is become self employed and own a small business, and work on making it a large business. The business I would want to focus on is real estate. I like learning about how to structure real estate deals, how the law applies to the business, and how to run a business effectively.
The reason that I went for engineering is because I like technology, it pays well, and the path to become an engineer is pretty well laid out. I was planning to use my income as an engineer to start investing in real estate, and then stop working as an engineer soon as I could.
Since I don't plan on working in the field for the next 25 years, I am thinking that maybe quitting school and starting some work in real estate may be a good idea. The benefits of being an engineer are still pretty obvious, however. The job is stable, and a decent salary is basically guaranteed. Engineering and business/real estate are just so different, however, that if I don't think that it is possible to be great at both at the same time. I am wondering whether it is a good plan to work as an engineer for a bit then switch, or whether it is best to change my plan now.
Even if I decide to do engineering, I think that a break from school may do some good at this point. If I continue with low motivation/somewhat depressed my grades will probably suffer, and since I know that I am capable of doing well, I don't want that to happen. I am thinking that if I take a break and decide to come back to school, it will be because I want to be here and so i will start doing my best work again. I wouldn't want to be the engineer that just barely got the job.
I know that it is difficult to give advice about something like this, so I would like to know about your experience. If you have ever changed your major, made a career change, took time off from school or work to do something else or faced any of the other things that I wrote about, please let me know what you did, and what happened. If you have any advice about what I should do, or any advice in general, I am all ears. I will appreciate any and all responses. If you don't know what to say, or want to know something that I didn't write about, feel free to ask me a question.