Do it. Life is full of choices. Don't be a slacker, that's a choice, choose not to live that way.

You say you're terrible at studying. For me, I tried, but it wasn't effective. I was doing it wrong. I'd wait till two days before the test to study, study 10, 20 minutes tops, then say meh, I'll study tomorrow. Then day before I stay up 1/2 the night studying, sleep a few hours, take the test, and I'm tired falling asleep trying to remember what I read today (early this morning) when I studied. It's a wonder I passed anything doing this.

I also wouldn't study with others, ever. If I couldn't figure something out, I'd read and read and look online and in books, but I'd never actually ask a classmate for help. This was stupid, but it's what I did for a while. Don't cheat, but ask for help when you need help.

You gotta want it to make it. Leafy's post said one thing very well, I will repeat it in case you missed it. You get out what you put in. This is true for so many things in life, and school is one of them. I am where I am today because I worked for it.

As for Z31Maniac's post, it's true that my success isn't "normal", but I can assure you I didn't get where I am today by being lucky. Luck and hope are not tools. Hard work is and determination is. I worked, and studied, and worked, and still work, to get and be where I am. Hard work and sacrifice is not luck, it's a choice I made and continue to make. Even now I'm saving money for a future business I am going to start when I'd LOVE to be spending it on cars, or the miata, or about 10 other things.

 

Yeah well you can always switch back! But yeah I recommend doing something you like, but also something that pays well. Gotta find that balance to be happy. Honestly, if you read what I wrote about my job, it probably looks great, but this job sucks for the most part. I get 2 weeks paid vacation, every other day I'm on call 24/7 with no set schedule. Some days I work 20hrs straight, sleep 3 hrs, then work 12hrs. That happens, sometimes it's worse. It's high stress. It's not for everyone, that's why it pays well. People quit this job making 120k/year all the time cause it's not worth it! I took this job because I wanted to make bank right out of college, any young guy with a ME degree, who isn't afraid to put their life on hold and trade their time for money can get this job. But it's not for everyone, 80% of the people we hire quit in first 6 months to put it into perspective.

 

As someone who is successful and makes more than 95% of my peers, luck is always a factor. I work hard and I do what I do well, but if I denied that luck was not an important part of my success I would be a ******* liar. You need to be smart enough to see the opportunities presented to you and capitalize on them, but to deny luck is a factor is disingenuous.

 

Truth. I think I got more from hanging around the FSAE garage than anything else. That was fun. When I started in there I used fricken channel locks on an AN fitting. Much was learned and in a hurry.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a talented student. The only panic attack I have ever experienced was during a Calc I exam. Near passed out. I got a 73 on it. I thought I had failed. I'm actually damned proud of that 73. I studied weeks for that exam at the expense of several others that were merely difficult as opposed to terrifying. Overall I was just squeaking by. I had to take some remedial courses along with Calc initially because my math was so bad. I only got the A in Thermo because at that point I had one foot out the door and did not have near the course load I had taken on the previous 3 semesters. Chem was a bitch for me and of all things Dynamics gave me trouble. I think I had like a 2.3GPA by the time I switched to bullshit I mean business.

Looking at going back, man I had it cheap back them. 5-10 times more expensive to go to school now vs. in the early 2000s

 

Truth spoken hear for any Engineering student with an automotive passion and a good FSAE team at yout school. The experience is invaluable. If you have any interest then make the effort to join the team and bust your *** in it. I've had 4 summer internships at various aerospace engineering companies and worked 20+ hours a week throughout my entire senior year. But at every job interview I had I found myself talking about FSAE much more than any engineering internship experience. It puts you in another league than applicants with similar resumes with that type of on hands experience in design, manufacturing and testing. If I could do it again I would have spent all 4 years in FSAE rather than just my last 2. I can say I landed most of my offers thanks to the FSAE team and it's networking as well.

 

Has anyone here done anything meaningful with a degree in Kinesiology? I have a well-paying job at a power plant currently, but I am sick of the shift work and I have never earned a BS in anything. I am 26, I have never enjoyed school, but I realize I need to get a degree and the only thing that makes me want to go back is Kinesiology.

 

Isn't that the current euphemism for physical therapy? If it is, then it commonly involves helping grandma stretch out her hip after replacement surgery or massaging the hamstrings of minor league football player after the big game, to my understanding. Neither is my cup of tea.

 

Mostly PT involves increasing/maintaining mobility in people that have had surgery. I had to go once to learn the exercises after back surgery.

I will agree that it's mostly old & fat people, at least according to my observations.

 

My good friend did his undergrad in Kinesiology and is now at a chiropractor grad school. He will make good money and have nice hours once he finishes but it's 7+ years of schooling to get there.

 

I've heard fields such as kinesiology pay well once you get your time in and start your own practice. It's nit a field that most take on for the money, but rather the giVing back to society.

 

That is the impression I have gotten. Every school that I go and talk to, the professors can't seem to give me a timeline or decent range of money to be made. At my current job, I can save up enough money to pay for one year of school, but then I would be completely dependent on scholarships and grants after that. How much is the good amount of money your buddy expects to make? By the end of the year at my current job, I will be knocking on six-figures gross.

 

I have a master's in ee and 8 years work exp. To be honest if you're mainly interested in making money, engineering is a ship that has already sailed. My field (semiconductors/analog microelectronics) has been beyond outsourced. If you choose this path avoid the big companies and their si valley sites like the plague; terrible pay(starting sub six fig in San Jose with a master's), bad hours, compete against a worldwide labor market. It's bad bad bad. 15 years ago it was a different story. ..

However the work can be really interesting if you can find a small shop working on cool stuff. You won't get rich but you'll make an honest living and have a great quality of life. I went from xilinx to Intel before I found my good current job.
If you're interested in money do something in the medical field. A pharmacy degree is about the same if not less effort than an engineering masters.

 

I'm in the health care field and it's beyond saturated. And don't get me started on the loans. This ship has also sailed ~20 years ago.

 

No idea. But a quick google search with a random website link yields a median of $130k.

Chiropractor Salary | Salary.com

 

I reccomend being an entreprenuer or a career in sales. If you like talking to people and like the idea of getting out of a job what you put in, it rocks. I worked all kinds of crappy jobs in high school and some really cool ones, but none of them payed very well. I have a degree in fine art, so I was a bit limited if I wanted to make much money. However I will say that after being in sales for 8 years now I wouldn't ever want to do anything else.

I reccomend business to business outside sales of damn near any kind.

Its certainly not for everyone, but if you can do it, it's very satisfying and your life / work balance will likely be fantastic.

 

That's what I do. And aim big. The commission on eight dozen nuts and bolts does not equal the commission on a $330k or, even better, a $2.3 million dollar machine.

A buddy of mine opened a used tire store in the poor part of Macon, GA and sold $20 tires to the impoverished all day long. One of my other buddies bought a used roll-off dumpster truck and a few used cans and started doing B2B contract trash hauling. In a few years the fellow with the tire store unceremoniously closed up. The guy with the roll-off dumpster business ended up with 12 trucks, hundreds of roll-off cans (with regular dumping contracts) and sold his business for $4mil after about 4 or 5 years. The moral to the story is sell more expensive goods and/or services to businesses instead of individuals because their budget is higher.

 

Learn a "rare" language like Pushtu, and get a job as a civilian liaison officer in Afghanistan. You'll be pocketing 180K/year+full medical+housing+food+vacation allowance twice a year.
I passed up on that back in 2007. They wanted a 3 year commitment.

 

Sixshooter, been thinking along those lines. I'm fairly successful in the car business but I'd much rather deal with businesses I think.

Hakan, I'd have to make more than 180k/year to live full time in Afghanistan. Oi.

 

Kinda like a "slope job" if you know what I mean.

 

What are track days like in Afghanistan?

Oh, yeah.