advice on going back to college for EE degree

[roland]

Hi guys,

I am ready to go back to college to finish my EE degree. I am 33 and it has
been a long time since I was last in a classroom. Normally this probably would
not be too hard, but I really screwed up my grades my junior year in college
after getting married. It just went downhill from that until I dropped
out...well to be honest, flunked out.

I can do the work now. I believe I am much more mature. I have been practicing
electronics ever since college, and I even had a job for five years in my field.
It was more digital than anything (circuit board design, cpld, fpga,
microcontrollers, blah blah blah). I know the basics, op amp design, biasing
transistor amplifers, building power supplies, etc. etc. but I do not have the
confidence that I believe I would have if I got off my butt and finished my
degree. For example, I refrained from putting electrical engineer on my
business card...I had to make up something dorky like system integrator. I want
to be able to put electrical engineer on my business card and be proud of it.

I believe I will get more out of college this time around than most of the first
time students because I know what I want. I will talk with the professors,
avoid the frat parties. My big problem is the only affordable university that
has an EE major that is near me is the University of Washington (I live in
Seattle). I am worried that my latter grades will preclude me from getting
accepted as a transfer student. I am going on a transfer student advising
session next thursday, and I will bring my pitiful transcript (dean's list till
junior year and married...2.0 or worse after that).

Any advice? I don't think I would be happy at a community college or Devry
(there is not even one here). It doesn't have to be UW, but the next closest
college is Washington State. They are in eastern Washington, which would be a
four hour commute each way...not so good for making an 8am class. I am
fortunate to be in the position to have the money and the time to attend class
full time without distractions.

help...

Roland

 

[Fred Bloggs]

Hi guys,

I am ready to go back to college to finish my EE degree. I am 33 and it has
been a long time since I was last in a classroom. Normally this probably would
not be too hard, but I really screwed up my grades my junior year in college
after getting married. It just went downhill from that until I dropped
out...well to be honest, flunked out.

I can do the work now. I believe I am much more mature. I have been practicing
electronics ever since college, and I even had a job for five years in my field.
It was more digital than anything (circuit board design, cpld, fpga,
microcontrollers, blah blah blah). I know the basics, op amp design, biasing
transistor amplifers, building power supplies, etc. etc. but I do not have the
confidence that I believe I would have if I got off my butt and finished my
degree. For example, I refrained from putting electrical engineer on my
business card...I had to make up something dorky like system integrator. I want
to be able to put electrical engineer on my business card and be proud of it.

I believe I will get more out of college this time around than most of the first
time students because I know what I want. I will talk with the professors,
avoid the frat parties. My big problem is the only affordable university that
has an EE major that is near me is the University of Washington (I live in
Seattle). I am worried that my latter grades will preclude me from getting
accepted as a transfer student. I am going on a transfer student advising
session next thursday, and I will bring my pitiful transcript (dean's list till
junior year and married...2.0 or worse after that).

Any advice? I don't think I would be happy at a community college or Devry
(there is not even one here). It doesn't have to be UW, but the next closest
college is Washington State. They are in eastern Washington, which would be a
four hour commute each way...not so good for making an 8am class. I am
fortunate to be in the position to have the money and the time to attend class
full time without distractions.

help...

Roland

There was a time when the university would not give you credit for any
course work more than ten years old- so you may have to start from
scratch. Everything will depend on how competitive the admission is- I
do not see any Dean of Admissions overlooking your successful track
record with gainful employment in your chosen field- the past mishap
dims into insignificance by comparison.

 

[Jim Thompson]

Hi guys,

I am ready to go back to college to finish my EE degree. I am 33 and it has
been a long time since I was last in a classroom. Normally this probably would
not be too hard, but I really screwed up my grades my junior year in college
after getting married. It just went downhill from that until I dropped
out...well to be honest, flunked out. [snip]
I am going on a transfer student advising
session next thursday, and I will bring my pitiful transcript (dean's list till
junior year and married...2.0 or worse after that).

Marriage had just the opposite effect on me... I was doing 3.5 until I
married in the Spring of my sophomore year, went up to 4.5 (/5) after
that. Something to do with less carousing ?

Any advice? I don't think I would be happy at a community college or Devry
(there is not even one here). It doesn't have to be UW, but the next closest
college is Washington State. They are in eastern Washington, which would be a
four hour commute each way...not so good for making an 8am class. I am
fortunate to be in the position to have the money and the time to attend class
full time without distractions.

help...

Roland

I have a late bloomer son, finally got his mechanical engineering
degree at nearly age 32.

Best thing you can do is go talk to the deans of the colleges you are
considering and make your case.

...Jim Thompson

 

[Tim Wescott]

Hi guys,

I am ready to go back to college to finish my EE degree. I am 33 and it has
been a long time since I was last in a classroom. Normally this probably would
not be too hard, but I really screwed up my grades my junior year in college
after getting married. It just went downhill from that until I dropped
out...well to be honest, flunked out.

I can do the work now. I believe I am much more mature. I have been practicing
electronics ever since college, and I even had a job for five years in my field.
It was more digital than anything (circuit board design, cpld, fpga,
microcontrollers, blah blah blah). I know the basics, op amp design, biasing
transistor amplifers, building power supplies, etc. etc. but I do not have the
confidence that I believe I would have if I got off my butt and finished my
degree. For example, I refrained from putting electrical engineer on my
business card...I had to make up something dorky like system integrator. I want
to be able to put electrical engineer on my business card and be proud of it.

I believe I will get more out of college this time around than most of the first
time students because I know what I want. I will talk with the professors,
avoid the frat parties. My big problem is the only affordable university that
has an EE major that is near me is the University of Washington (I live in
Seattle). I am worried that my latter grades will preclude me from getting
accepted as a transfer student. I am going on a transfer student advising
session next thursday, and I will bring my pitiful transcript (dean's list till
junior year and married...2.0 or worse after that).

Any advice? I don't think I would be happy at a community college or Devry
(there is not even one here). It doesn't have to be UW, but the next closest
college is Washington State. They are in eastern Washington, which would be a
four hour commute each way...not so good for making an 8am class. I am
fortunate to be in the position to have the money and the time to attend class
full time without distractions.

help...

Roland

UW is a good school -- its worth pursuing.

I'll make two suggestions:

First, as mentioned by the OP's, talk to some real people. Think about
the questions that _you_ would ask if someone with your transcript
wanted to get into _your_ highly-ranked school, and what would make you
want to accept them. I think that you have a very good case given that
you were getting very good grades then had a life-changing event that
happened and dragged you down. If you can show why it will no longer
affect you _now_, and if UW is staffed by humans you should do OK. It'd
probably help if you can state reasons for wanting to go to UW that are
more flattering than "The commute is shorter here". Try "University of
Washington has the kind of challenging, informative program that I want
to be included in" or something similar (and maybe better stated, for
that matter).

Second, you might consider auditing a course or two to get your sea legs
back, particularly if you are at all apprehensive. I took a year and a
half break in my BS degree program, got married and changed schools, and
bombed a class (well, got my one and only ever 'C' in a technical
course) in my first semester back -- this against a background of
otherwise getting a 4.0 (/4) at that school for BS _and_ MS. I was just
out of the rhythm of working hard on technical issues, and it bit me.

 

[Tim Wescott]

UW is a good school -- its worth pursuing.

I'll make two suggestions:

First, as mentioned by the OP's, talk to some real people. Think about
the questions that _you_ would ask if someone with your transcript
wanted to get into _your_ highly-ranked school, and what would make you
want to accept them. I think that you have a very good case given that
you were getting very good grades then had a life-changing event that
happened and dragged you down. If you can show why it will no longer
affect you _now_, and if UW is staffed by humans you should do OK. It'd
probably help if you can state reasons for wanting to go to UW that are
more flattering than "The commute is shorter here". Try "University of
Washington has the kind of challenging, informative program that I want
to be included in" or something similar (and maybe better stated, for
that matter).

Second, you might consider auditing a course or two to get your sea legs
back, particularly if you are at all apprehensive. I took a year and a
half break in my BS degree program, got married and changed schools, and
bombed a class (well, got my one and only ever 'C' in a technical
course) in my first semester back -- this against a background of
otherwise getting a 4.0 (/4) at that school for BS _and_ MS. I was just
out of the rhythm of working hard on technical issues, and it bit me.

One other suggestion:

Some schools will let you take a limited number of courses without being
admitted to the program. This is a good way not only to prepare
yourself, but to prove that you can do it and to make yourself known to
professors in the department who can put in a good word for you.

 

[Peter O. Brackett]

Roland:

[snip]

Marriage had just the opposite effect on me... I was doing 3.5 until I
married in the Spring of my sophomore year, went up to 4.5 (/5) after
that. Something to do with less carousing ?

[snip]

Same thing happened with me as with Jim... low grades until after I was
married with lots of responsibility!

I flunked out of high school... went into the service at 16, never did
complete high school...

I was "married with kids" when I studied EE at University, went all the
way...

BSEE (hons), MASc, and Ph.D... 4.0 all the way!

.

I had to personally visit with and "talk" the University President into
leting me into the programs...

But then...

I *knew* what I wanted... I never asked anybody whether I should, or how to
get in...



Man, if you feel it, "Just do it!"

 

[Nico Coesel]

Hi guys,

I am ready to go back to college to finish my EE degree. I am 33 and it has
been a long time since I was last in a classroom. Normally this probably would
not be too hard, but I really screwed up my grades my junior year in college
after getting married. It just went downhill from that until I dropped
out...well to be honest, flunked out.

Any advice? I don't think I would be happy at a community college or Devry
(there is not even one here). It doesn't have to be UW, but the next closest
college is Washington State. They are in eastern Washington, which would be a
four hour commute each way...not so good for making an 8am class. I am
fortunate to be in the position to have the money and the time to attend class
full time without distractions.

Aren't there any evening courses? Over here a lot of people like you
go to (fully certified) evening courses and get a degree in about 4 or
7 years. In that case you can keep a daytime job (or sleep late) and
in the evening you'll be in class with adults who a keen on actually
learning something.
I already felt old at 21 being in the same class with 17 year old
students (I wasn't late or a drop out, I just took the long & safe way
to get an EE degree).

 

[Kevin Aylward]

Tim Wescott wrote:
It'd probably help if you can state reasons

for wanting to go to UW that are more flattering than "The commute is
shorter here".

Not in my view. This is as solid reason as any to make such a choice.
University proffs, and administrators, know the score just as much as
all the rest of us.

Try "University of Washington has the kind of
challenging, informative program that I want to be included in" or
something similar (and maybe better stated, for that matter).

This is the type of bullshit, canned answer, that no one with any sense
believes. Think about it. People aren't that stupid. They see right
through this sort of stuff. Honesty is usually the best policy.


Kevin Aylward
[email protected]
http://www.anasoft.co.uk
SuperSpice, a very affordable Mixed-Mode
Windows Simulator with Schematic Capture,
Waveform Display, FFT's and Filter Design.

 

[Harry Dellamano]

Hi Roland,

I did a similar thing - went to uni at 17, did drugs, alcohol and a C grade
point average for a year, then went and worked for 3 years, as an
electronics technician/"designer" (designed lots of simple little circuits,
some of which worked, many of which only worked on the bench). After honing
my skills (and attitude) repairing smps & monitors, I went back to uni aged
21, and found it a breeze - I knwe why I was there, and developed some
simple techniques to help me succeed:

1) actually show up to lectures

2) sit up front, paying close attention and asking questions whenever I did
not understand (I'm paying for it, I'll get the maximum bang for my buck,
thanks)

3) write notes that were sufficiently lucid I could read & understand them 9
months later. For a couple of my papers, I wrote notes in duplicate -
frantic scrawls in class, followed by transcription/elucidation at night (I
had a physics prof. whol loved the word "clearly" and used it to hide sneaky
tricks like truncated binomial expansions to "simplify" equations. Most
people flunked the class, I got an A+ grade & won a scholarship).

4) do the assignments as soon as they are handed out

5)buy the next years books at the end of the current year, and read ALL of
them over the summer break. I didnt necessarily do any problems, but it
familiarised me with the terminology etc, so in class I at least had some
idea of what was going on, and could concentrate on furthering my
understanding

6) develop good exam technique. This is what I did: every course has a
course-work component, which you know before the exam. Figure out how many
marks you need in the exam to get a pass grade (usually 50%). Work out how
many points you can get for a question you know how to answer - I use 75% if
I know what to do. Answer the questions you know how to do first, and keep
a running total of your score. When you hit the magic 50% mark, stop, relax
& think to yourself "I have passed this paper," and feel the stress drain
away (I would typically down tools & glasses, and meditate for 5-10
minutes). Return to your exam, which you CANT flunk now, with renewed
vigour. Once you have answered all the questions you know how to do, answer
those you think you can do. After that, rather than attempting questions you
know you cant do, go back and check your answers to the others - make sure
you havent made any silly mistakes (eg transposed digits etc). Only then,
spend whatever time is left answering questions you "cant" do.

7) revise for exams: I would typically sit the last 3-5 years worth of exams
for a paper, doing what I can and checking afterwards. Any questions I cant
answer, I study carefully.

Actually, I found the whole bachelors degree rather trivial using the
aforementioned approach, as I already had a good basic understanding of
electronics, and found myself saying things like "Oh, THATS how you
analyse/design such-and-such" and would spend hours at home practicing my
laplace transforms, building opamp filters etc. I found the electronics so
much fun I abandoned my pursuit of programming (I used to know int21 calls
off by heart) and became a dedicated analogue designer.

After the bachelors degree, I started working as a "real" engineer, with
some very smart people, designing high-power motor controllers and smps. I
learned MUCH more in 3 months of work than 4 years of uni, BUT I could not
have done so without the analytical skills learned at uni. I started an ME
in power electronics whilst working, but after finishing the papers and
beginning the thesis (A+ average so far), somebody offered to double my
salary, and that was the end of that.....in a year or 2, I'll be in a
position to quit work and go back to do a PhD, as its more fun than working.

Good luck with your endeavour

Terry

PhD, Post hole Digger? They use vinyl posts now with powered hole diggers!
Great stuff Terry. My final taking technique was to disrupt the rest of the
class to lower their scores and make mine appear better. It was fun and had
it's rewards. No studying necessary. On a ten question exam, start on
question #5 and ask comprehensive questions on the test makeup as you go
thru to question ten. Then, take a break, leave for the men's room, knowing
the rest of the class thinks you have finished and gone home. When you
return note the red necks on your fellow casemates and you are totally
refreshed. By then, any questions on problems one thru five have been asked
and answered.
I also had pre electronic experience and could finish some 3 hour tests in
30 minutes. Also began designing power electronics but had to learn most of
the basic theory all over again. Thank god for SPICE coming along because
Laplace transforms interfered with my pool shooting and drinking time. But
there were some circuits I would explain to the class after the prof made it
sound impossible to understand.
Still amazed me how difficult electronics was to some teachers. They
should work in a good electronics lab, study, redesign and test every
circuit they see. When they can operate the scope without taking their eyes
off the screen and explain each wiggle on the waveform they are ready to
teach.
Regards
Harry

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Sun, 16 May 2004 15:48:15 -0700, "Terry Given"

[snip]

Hi Roland,

I did a similar thing - went to uni at 17, did drugs, alcohol and a C grade
point average for a year, then went and worked for 3 years, as an
electronics technician/"designer" (designed lots of simple little circuits,
some of which worked, many of which only worked on the bench). After honing
my skills (and attitude) repairing smps & monitors, I went back to uni aged
21, and found it a breeze - I knwe why I was there, and developed some
simple techniques to help me succeed:

[snip]

"I knew why I was there"... the MOST important part of deriving
usefulness from training!

...Jim Thompson

 

[Active8]

Tim Wescott wrote:
It'd probably help if you can state reasons

Not in my view. This is as solid reason as any to make such a choice.
University proffs, and administrators, know the score just as much as
all the rest of us.


This is the type of bullshit, canned answer, that no one with any sense
believes. Think about it. People aren't that stupid. They see right
through this sort of stuff. Honesty is usually the best policy.

It did souund like something a Miss Corn Pone (sp?) semi-finalist
would say, didn't it? He did say, "... maybe better stated",
though.

I'd probably add (if this is the case) that it's ABET accredited (a
redundancy, IMO) or at least recognised by employers as a good
engineering school.

 

[Tim Wescott]

Tim Wescott wrote:
It'd probably help if you can state reasons



Not in my view. This is as solid reason as any to make such a choice.
University proffs, and administrators, know the score just as much as
all the rest of us.




This is the type of bullshit, canned answer, that no one with any sense
believes. Think about it. People aren't that stupid. They see right
through this sort of stuff. Honesty is usually the best policy.


Kevin Aylward
[email protected]
http://www.anasoft.co.uk
SuperSpice, a very affordable Mixed-Mode
Windows Simulator with Schematic Capture,
Waveform Display, FFT's and Filter Design.

I'm not saying he should lie, just that if his 2nd reason for going is
more flattering than the first he should lead out on that foot. UW will
have people coming from all over the world, with letters of introduction
telling the UW staff that UW is their _first choice_ of _all_ the
Universities in the _world_. Even knowing that each applicant has sent
out 10 identically worded letters to 10 other universities, the staff
will want to pick one of them over someone who says "the commute's
convenient, but other than that you're as good as podunk state".

Look at it this way: If you're in the bar at closing time and you tell
the woman "you're the only one left and they're about to kick us out"
are you more or less likely to get a date than if you say "you're
absolutely the single most beautiful woman here"?

Or alternatively "Brand X -- cheaper than Heinz and almost as good" vs.
"Brand X -- everyone loves our ketchup".

 

[Terry Given]

Hi guys,

I am ready to go back to college to finish my EE degree. I am 33 and it has
been a long time since I was last in a classroom. Normally this probably would
not be too hard, but I really screwed up my grades my junior year in college
after getting married. It just went downhill from that until I dropped
out...well to be honest, flunked out.

I can do the work now. I believe I am much more mature. I have been practicing
electronics ever since college, and I even had a job for five years in my field.
It was more digital than anything (circuit board design, cpld, fpga,
microcontrollers, blah blah blah). I know the basics, op amp design, biasing
transistor amplifers, building power supplies, etc. etc. but I do not have the
confidence that I believe I would have if I got off my butt and finished my
degree. For example, I refrained from putting electrical engineer on my
business card...I had to make up something dorky like system integrator. I want
to be able to put electrical engineer on my business card and be proud of it.

I believe I will get more out of college this time around than most of the first
time students because I know what I want. I will talk with the professors,
avoid the frat parties. My big problem is the only affordable university that
has an EE major that is near me is the University of Washington (I live in
Seattle). I am worried that my latter grades will preclude me from getting
accepted as a transfer student. I am going on a transfer student advising
session next thursday, and I will bring my pitiful transcript (dean's list till
junior year and married...2.0 or worse after that).

Any advice? I don't think I would be happy at a community college or Devry
(there is not even one here). It doesn't have to be UW, but the next closest
college is Washington State. They are in eastern Washington, which would be a
four hour commute each way...not so good for making an 8am class. I am
fortunate to be in the position to have the money and the time to attend class
full time without distractions.

help...

Roland

Hi Roland,

I did a similar thing - went to uni at 17, did drugs, alcohol and a C grade
point average for a year, then went and worked for 3 years, as an
electronics technician/"designer" (designed lots of simple little circuits,
some of which worked, many of which only worked on the bench). After honing
my skills (and attitude) repairing smps & monitors, I went back to uni aged
21, and found it a breeze - I knwe why I was there, and developed some
simple techniques to help me succeed:

1) actually show up to lectures

2) sit up front, paying close attention and asking questions whenever I did
not understand (I'm paying for it, I'll get the maximum bang for my buck,
thanks)

3) write notes that were sufficiently lucid I could read & understand them 9
months later. For a couple of my papers, I wrote notes in duplicate -
frantic scrawls in class, followed by transcription/elucidation at night (I
had a physics prof. whol loved the word "clearly" and used it to hide sneaky
tricks like truncated binomial expansions to "simplify" equations. Most
people flunked the class, I got an A+ grade & won a scholarship).

4) do the assignments as soon as they are handed out

5)buy the next years books at the end of the current year, and read ALL of
them over the summer break. I didnt necessarily do any problems, but it
familiarised me with the terminology etc, so in class I at least had some
idea of what was going on, and could concentrate on furthering my
understanding

6) develop good exam technique. This is what I did: every course has a
course-work component, which you know before the exam. Figure out how many
marks you need in the exam to get a pass grade (usually 50%). Work out how
many points you can get for a question you know how to answer - I use 75% if
I know what to do. Answer the questions you know how to do first, and keep
a running total of your score. When you hit the magic 50% mark, stop, relax
& think to yourself "I have passed this paper," and feel the stress drain
away (I would typically down tools & glasses, and meditate for 5-10
minutes). Return to your exam, which you CANT flunk now, with renewed
vigour. Once you have answered all the questions you know how to do, answer
those you think you can do. After that, rather than attempting questions you
know you cant do, go back and check your answers to the others - make sure
you havent made any silly mistakes (eg transposed digits etc). Only then,
spend whatever time is left answering questions you "cant" do.

7) revise for exams: I would typically sit the last 3-5 years worth of exams
for a paper, doing what I can and checking afterwards. Any questions I cant
answer, I study carefully.

Actually, I found the whole bachelors degree rather trivial using the
aforementioned approach, as I already had a good basic understanding of
electronics, and found myself saying things like "Oh, THATS how you
analyse/design such-and-such" and would spend hours at home practicing my
laplace transforms, building opamp filters etc. I found the electronics so
much fun I abandoned my pursuit of programming (I used to know int21 calls
off by heart) and became a dedicated analogue designer.

After the bachelors degree, I started working as a "real" engineer, with
some very smart people, designing high-power motor controllers and smps. I
learned MUCH more in 3 months of work than 4 years of uni, BUT I could not
have done so without the analytical skills learned at uni. I started an ME
in power electronics whilst working, but after finishing the papers and
beginning the thesis (A+ average so far), somebody offered to double my
salary, and that was the end of that.....in a year or 2, I'll be in a
position to quit work and go back to do a PhD, as its more fun than working.

Good luck with your endeavour

Terry

 

[Dan Fraser]

Do get your degree before its too late or start your own company. I tried to
do the latter 5 times and failed.

As a non-degree engineer with tech school and 25 years+ experience, it took
me until I was 49 (I'm 52 now) until I found the right niche, a company who
would pay me a decent amount to design electronics for them. As it is, I
make about what a guy with a BSEE made in 1996 but still more than I made
before.

Most employers want the paper no matter what. If you don't have the paper by
the time you're 40, forget about it because engineering is a young man's
game. I dyed my hair and never stated my age to get the job I have now. And
the entire 1970s disappeared from my resume.

I'm only there because there are so few people who have any pro audio
experience, who knw how to work with kilowatt scale amplifiers. It was just
luck.

I figure that dropping out of University and going to tech school cost me
1/2 million dollars and made it take 20 years longer to get where I am now.

Dan

 

[Kevin Aylward]

I'm not saying he should lie, just that if his 2nd reason for going is
more flattering than the first he should lead out on that foot. UW
will have people coming from all over the world, with letters of
introduction telling the UW staff that UW is their _first choice_ of
_all_ the Universities in the _world_. Even knowing that each
applicant has sent out 10 identically worded letters to 10 other
universities, the staff will want to pick one of them over someone
who says "the commute's convenient, but other than that you're as
good as podunk state".

I disagree. Seeing 10,000's letters all spouting the same PC speak is in
one ear and out the other. Simply imagining going through all those
letters yourself and it should be obvious. In my guesstimate, I don't
see how any professionals will take any notice at all whether someone
says its the commute, or they think the uni is great. Its simply
irrelevant, other than taking PC makes one out to be a right twat.

Look at it this way: If you're in the bar at closing time and you
tell the woman "you're the only one left and they're about to kick us
out" are you more or less likely to get a date than if you say "you're
absolutely the single most beautiful woman here"?

This depends. For example, if your the 10th person who has used this
last line that night, the first one might give you an advantage if said
in the *right* way. It makes you stand out from the crowd. Although, in
general, both will have a probability of success of zero

Or alternatively "Brand X -- cheaper than Heinz and almost as good"
vs. "Brand X -- everyone loves our ketchup".

The analogy is not equivalent. The difference is that you are dealing
with professionals, who are vetting this stuff as their normal daily
job.

Kevin Aylward
[email protected]
http://www.anasoft.co.uk
SuperSpice, a very affordable Mixed-Mode
Windows Simulator with Schematic Capture,
Waveform Display, FFT's and Filter Design.

 

[Terry Given]

PhD, Post hole Digger? They use vinyl posts now with powered hole diggers!
Great stuff Terry. My final taking technique was to disrupt the rest of the
class to lower their scores and make mine appear better. It was fun and had
it's rewards. No studying necessary. On a ten question exam, start on
question #5 and ask comprehensive questions on the test makeup as you go
thru to question ten. Then, take a break, leave for the men's room, knowing
the rest of the class thinks you have finished and gone home. When you
return note the red necks on your fellow casemates and you are totally
refreshed. By then, any questions on problems one thru five have been asked
and answered.
I also had pre electronic experience and could finish some 3 hour tests in
30 minutes. Also began designing power electronics but had to learn most of
the basic theory all over again. Thank god for SPICE coming along because
Laplace transforms interfered with my pool shooting and drinking time. But
there were some circuits I would explain to the class after the prof made it
sound impossible to understand.
Still amazed me how difficult electronics was to some teachers. They
should work in a good electronics lab, study, redesign and test every
circuit they see. When they can operate the scope without taking their eyes
off the screen and explain each wiggle on the waveform they are ready to
teach.
Regards
Harry

Hi Harry,

PhD I think stands for Particularly Hopeless Drongo. When I enrolled for my
ill-fated ME, a mate of mine who has a PhD (and is perhaps the best engineer
i have ever worked with - his grasp of 1st-year physics verges on the
profound) tried to stop me, pointing out that it wont earn me any more
money, and in his opinion, higher education means learning more and more
about less and less, until you know everything about nothing.

The main discouragement in my ME was not the 2x pay offer, but what I found
upon reading 30 or so ME theses: they were all written by people who clearly
didnt grasp their subject matter (imagine writing a thesis on a dsp
closed-loop controller, without mentioning Fs or loop stability parameters
Fc, pm, gm etc. or PID control without mentioning Kp, Ki, Kd) yet were
awarded ME degrees anyway!

Interesting too the behaviour of those I did my BE with: all but 3 people
(90%) had jobs before finishing exams; those 3 people didnt do well in
exams, and all chose to stay on for Masters. My class also had 2 "Massey
Scholars" (top scholars; the uni had about 5 that year), both of whom were
asked to do PhDs, neither of whom accepted (the lure of the $$$ is strong)

I did do a truly evil thing for one of my ME exams (heavy current
electronics). I had been a power electronics designer for about 5 years at
this stage, so unsurprisingly found myself doing very well. Although I was a
full time student, I never went to Uni, and actually lived about 6 hrs drive
from uni (working full time; the company I worked for provided a good deal
of support to the uni, so the lecturers were happy to send me my assignments
etc remotely). When I showed up for the final exam, no-one in the class had
seen me before, and wanted to know if I was in the right place. When I said
yes, they asked why they had never seen me. Simple, I replied, I've never
been to class. This raised a few eyebrows. The exam was particularly hard,
and I wrote about 80 pages of answers, almost completing the exam.
Afterwards, the group of students gathered outside asked me what I thought.
"Trivial" I replied, adding that I took about 2hrs, then spent the rest of
the time checking my answers. Totally untrue, but the looks on their faces
made it all worthwhile ;}

I managed to upset a lecturer during an exam once, too. It was a
communications paper, and the lecturer was a bangladeshi with a thick
glaswegian accent. During the reading time, I noticed the question "explain
all you are be knowing about the AM modulation". This struck me as
hilarious, and I thought about writing "all I am be knowing about the AM
modulation is that it is being a means of modulating the AM" or words to
that effect. This inflamed my jocularity to the point of bursting out
laughing, which is apparently a big no-no. The lecturer (and everyone else)
looked at me laughing hysterically, and I presume he must have figured I had
programmed my calculator with answers or something, as he came over to my
desk, picked up my HP28S calculator, and spent about 5 minutes fumbling with
it, trying to open the case. Eventually he gave up, and went away. This did
not help me stop laughing. I tried picking up the calculator and opening the
case in full view of everyone, but that didnt stop me laughing, either.

Terry

 

[Terry Given]

On Sun, 16 May 2004 15:48:15 -0700, "Terry Given"

[snip]

Hi Roland,

I did a similar thing - went to uni at 17, did drugs, alcohol and a C grade
point average for a year, then went and worked for 3 years, as an
electronics technician/"designer" (designed lots of simple little circuits,
some of which worked, many of which only worked on the bench). After honing
my skills (and attitude) repairing smps & monitors, I went back to uni aged
21, and found it a breeze - I knwe why I was there, and developed some
simple techniques to help me succeed:

[snip]

"I knew why I was there"... the MOST important part of deriving
usefulness from training!

| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |

Absolutely. That was what differentiated me from most of the other students
(and myself, first time around)

Regards,
Terry

 

[Charles Edmondson]

Hi guys,

I am ready to go back to college to finish my EE degree. I am 33 and it has
been a long time since I was last in a classroom. Normally this probably would
not be too hard, but I really screwed up my grades my junior year in college
after getting married. It just went downhill from that until I dropped
out...well to be honest, flunked out.

I can do the work now. I believe I am much more mature. I have been practicing
electronics ever since college, and I even had a job for five years in my field.
It was more digital than anything (circuit board design, cpld, fpga,
microcontrollers, blah blah blah). I know the basics, op amp design, biasing
transistor amplifers, building power supplies, etc. etc. but I do not have the
confidence that I believe I would have if I got off my butt and finished my
degree. For example, I refrained from putting electrical engineer on my
business card...I had to make up something dorky like system integrator. I want
to be able to put electrical engineer on my business card and be proud of it.

I believe I will get more out of college this time around than most of the first
time students because I know what I want. I will talk with the professors,
avoid the frat parties. My big problem is the only affordable university that
has an EE major that is near me is the University of Washington (I live in
Seattle). I am worried that my latter grades will preclude me from getting
accepted as a transfer student. I am going on a transfer student advising
session next thursday, and I will bring my pitiful transcript (dean's list till
junior year and married...2.0 or worse after that).

Any advice? I don't think I would be happy at a community college or Devry
(there is not even one here). It doesn't have to be UW, but the next closest
college is Washington State. They are in eastern Washington, which would be a
four hour commute each way...not so good for making an 8am class. I am
fortunate to be in the position to have the money and the time to attend class
full time without distractions.

help...

Roland

Roland,
I wish you luck! I was in the same boat about 15 years ago. I had a
degree in Psychology (BS) with 'decent' grades, i.e. about a 2.95 GPA,
but had been a hobbyist for most of my life, and been working for the
phone company as a technician for 7 years. I was living in So. Cal. at
the time, and was going to be laid off, so decided to go back and get my
degree in EE.

Spent a couple of months finding out that I couldn't get accepted at any
school in California for a second bachelors - there just weren't any
spaces available. Finally, I move to Albuquerque to go to UNM, as I was
able to get accepted there.

Was there a couple of days, and was talking to the guy next to me, and
he told me he was getting into graduate school for EE. He had a
journalism degree! After a little investigation, found out I could have
gone to a bunch of different schools as a grad student, just not was a
BS student!

So, good luck getting accepted! If you are trying to finish up your
first degree, you might have a little challenge...