What did you struggle with the most in College?

[AnthroMecha]

I'm about half way through my ME degree and just about to get to the technical ME classes. I've been taking the basics at my local community college to get all the easy stuff out of the way while tuition is cheap. This semester I'm taking Physics I, Cal II, Eng graphics (Pro E), and Gov. Out of these classes I'm struggling a bit with Physics. It's pretty hard, and the professor is a real ball buster. I'm confident I'll pass the class, but it has not been an easy go.

What were the classes you struggled with most?

 

[boneh3ad]

Circuits, and it wasn't even close.

 

[xxChrisxx]

Mechatronics.

 

[jeffziggy]

Electricity

 

[Bandit127]

Solving 2nd order DEs.

Fourier analysis has been the most useful thing I learned at college. (My line is precision/optical manufacturing).

I left school understanding calculus (like most Engineers I have a set of neurons that differentiate and integrate for me). College just taught me how to write it down.

The most valuable thing for my work life I learned outside college is stats. Every engineer, journalist, teacher, politician, social worker and company director should have a good understanding of basic stats and what is statistically normal.

 

[hotvette]

Electricity and Fluid Mechanics.

 

[Curl]

I tend to struggle with most classes because they seem like a waste of time and waste of money. I have a hard time constantly reminding myself that I'm paying for the paper in the end and not for the education.

Also, I had a hard time with system dynamics because there are zero proofs/derivations in the book/lectures. If you want to understand anything in that class you must look elsewhere for such information, which is tedious and ends up eating a lot of time. I recommend keeping a good list of books/sources to reference, and make sure they are mostly physics texts because they are most likely to have the information you need.

 

[Travis_King]

I tend to struggle with most classes because they seem like a waste of time and waste of money. I have a hard time constantly reminding myself that I'm paying for the paper in the end and not for the education.

Also, I had a hard time with system dynamics because there are zero proofs/derivations in the book/lectures. If you want to understand anything in that class you must look elsewhere for such information, which is tedious and ends up eating a lot of time. I recommend keeping a good list of books/sources to reference, and make sure they are mostly physics texts because they are most likely to have the information you need.

Sheesh man. You really don't get what school is about...

Also, the point of dynamics is to demonstrate how to use a systems approach to kinematics and physics in systems with moving reference frames. Understanding where the derivations comes from is somewhat on your shoulders...

The last suggestion is a very good one though. I kept most of my textbooks for reference later, and I've used many of the several times since.

 

[Curl]

Also, the point of dynamics is to demonstrate how to use a systems approach to kinematics and physics in systems with moving reference frames. Understanding where the derivations comes from is somewhat on your shoulders...

...hence the "struggle" adjective.