ive had it with my job, finally starting my escape plan

[bradley300]

Well after 7 years, ive decided i finally hate the wonderful world of making house paint in a hot, dusty factory more than i hate school its self, so i've finally decided i'm going to college. I didnt go to college out of high school, so this is a totally new experience for me.

Once it's all done, i should have a Mechanical Engineering degree from Purdue and some kind of an auto certificate from Ivy Tech( Indiana Community College).

First I need to go to Ivy Tech to get some pre-requisites out of the way and brush up big time on my math skills. I took my placement exam yesterday and killed on the reading and writing portions and totally bombed the math parts. But that figures, i hated high school and ended up marrying a high school teacher, i was always horrible at math and now i'm going to have fun classes like calculus 1 and 2, trigonometryand physics. It has been 8 years since i had any kind of math class and never did well then, but now i'm interested and i can see that i will actually need it for something besides more school so maybe it wont be as bad.

I am taking some cool auto classes tho like braking and suspension, high output motor preformance and my favorite, motorsports fabrication. All of those are in Indianapolis, being so close to all the IRL teams, they could really turn out to be neat classes.

[bwamos]

Good deal, and I wish you the best. From what I've seen you certianly have the smarts for it.

Don't forget about the best of all engineering mathematics classes. Differiental Equations lovingly refered to as Diffy-Q. Yes, I use the term lovingly very loosely.. LOL.

[Pappy]

good deal bradley...one thing no man can ever take from you is an education!!! best of luck:)

[bradley300]

thanks everybody! just dont get mad if there are a few I need calculus help! threads in the future.

i think my biggest problem with math was never seeing the point. every math class in high school seemed to only have one purpose, to get you ready for the next one. Now that i can see how it works and how it applies to what i'm interested in i think paying attention will be much easier, and with that comes making the actuall work easier.

i'm also glad about the way i approached this. i could have gone straight out of high school and spent an untold number of dollars and hours trying to figure out what i liked, but instead i got a job a month after i graduated making nearly 20 an hour and now they are going to pay 90% of the classes. it's more work this way with a full time job, a wife and school, but i think in the end i'll appreciate it more and it should push me to try harder

[Bradracer18]

I'm in my third(almost last) year in engineering. Its a very tough road, and be prepared to give up a lot of your life and nights to studying! Math is easy, the good thing about math is that it never really changes, or you don't have to make assumptions to solve the problems, etc. When you have to actually apply that math is where it becomes worse.

Calc 1-3 is not too bad, diff eq is also not too bad.

Physics 1 and 2 are very, very tough!

Chemistry I thought was tough too, but others did well.

Engineering mechanics classes are nearly the worst(statics, mechanics, dynamics, fluid mechanics). These require a ton of work, and studying!

Good luck, and post any time! I'll try to help if I can. Its well worth it. They posted the average incomes right out of college for us engineers, and it was right around 57,000 +benefits(and sign on bonuses). So that's a nice thought.

[KXRida]

just work hard. I can assure you mechanical engineering is by far one of the hardest careers to get into. Lots of work, so do your best, because you're paying for it! My brother has a split degree in aeronautical/mechanical engineering if I remember correctly. Just do you best and work hard bro! I have about another year/year half left in my college life.

[Ralph]

Originally posted by bradley300
Well after 7 years, ive decided i finally hate the wonderful world of making house paint in a hot, dusty factory more than i hate school its self, so i've finally decided i'm going to college. I didnt go to college out of high school, so this is a totally new experience for me.

Once it's all done, i should have a Mechanical Engineering degree from Purdue and some kind of an auto certificate from Ivy Tech( Indiana Community College).

First I need to go to Ivy Tech to get some pre-requisites out of the way and brush up big time on my math skills. I took my placement exam yesterday and killed on the reading and writing portions and totally bombed the math parts. But that figures, i hated high school and ended up marrying a high school teacher, i was always horrible at math and now i'm going to have fun classes like calculus 1 and 2, trigonometryand physics. It has been 8 years since i had any kind of math class and never did well then, but now i'm interested and i can see that i will actually need it for something besides more school so maybe it wont be as bad.

I am taking some cool auto classes tho like braking and suspension, high output motor preformance and my favorite, motorsports fabrication. All of those are in Indianapolis, being so close to all the IRL teams, they could really turn out to be neat classes.

This is actualy more common than you think. at penn state altoona there is a EMET program thats aimed to me more hands on and less theory based (math). I see alot of older people going through it (One of them used to be a cannondale engineer!)

Your surely making a good choice by going back to school. Good luck with it man.

Mechanical Engineering is very tough so work hard!. I'm finishing up my second year now and the classes are starting to get more and more interesting and im noticing that they get seem to be getting easier only because the subjects finally have my attention

[bradley300]

Originally posted by Ralph
I'm finishing up my second year now and the classes are starting to get more and more interesting and im noticing that they get seem to be getting easier only because the subjects finally have my attention

thats why i'm interested in ME, i would say most of it applies to quads or some kind of auto racing in general which i love. i figure the more i can apply it to what i like the easier it will be to enjoy it, and most important, the easier it will be to stick with when it gets hard.

the ultimate goal is work for a ATV manufacturer designed quads or working at a NASCAR or IRL race shop somewhere

[my88r]

good luck:macho

[450raider]

hey congrats and good luck with that, there was actually plans about 11/2 yrs. ago for me to go to new pal indy with my family to go to some comm. college but it just never happened, the small town in tn i live in is like hotel california- you can check out anytime you like, but you cant ever leave, but anyway youll get the hang of it, heck ive been outta school for 2 years and at times feel dumber than a brick on basic stuff :D

[RideRed84]

I'm graduating in 5 weeks with an industrial technology systems degree (engineering with out calculus ) from Illinois State . Took me 6 years but it's worth it. I remember thinking school would never end and now it's almost over.
I got lucky with the math and only took stats, finite, and econ
Chem sucks, physics I have always been good at so thats easy.
I guess I really never think about how much work I do, but it is a lot. I do work out side of class pretty much every week day for a couple hours.
Good luck and keep pushing through because you'll be done before you know it.

[KXRida]

Ralph, you going to PSUA? haha I didn't know you're from altoona. I'm about 5 miles from the campus on the otherside of town. We'll have to go riding.

[derekhonda]

Good luck, I got a bud graduating from purdue with a civil engineering degree and I know purdue and their engineers, its gonna be tough but hey a little hard work never killed anyone. I guess I never realized you lived around these parts, I live (or soon will) in lebanon, about 20 minutes south of purdue and 20 minutes north of indianapolis. I can show you a couple trails around those parts if you get bored enough, haha.

[Ralph]

Originally posted by KXRida
Ralph, you going to PSUA? haha I didn't know you're from altoona. I'm about 5 miles from the campus on the otherside of town. We'll have to go riding.

This is my second year at psua. Ill be off to state next year. Id love to go riding some time but i dont have a quad right now :(

[Dr89]

hey man best of luck! and not to scare you off or anything, but one of the guys i live with absolutely killed math in highschool, calc, advanced placement calc, advanced placement chem, you name it he aced it. he went into ag engineering this year at UK and has really really struggled through this first year, more with the chemistry courses required than the math. he's a farm boy through and through so he "interested" in the problems they have to solve as they all relate to ag type things, but it doesnt make the actual math of it any easier. just a heads up for ya!

but on the flip side, i was AWFUL at math in high school, im a smart kid but i hit my math wall with pre-cal. just like you i nailed the reading and writing portions of every test i've ever taken, but the math - not so much. BUT, in my first year here at UK i have a 4.0 and thats including two math classes!! somethin about it at college just came easier for me, the large classes made my grades rely entirely on tests, so no pointless homework or busy work to "not do" and drag my grade down. hopefully that will also work to your benefit!

* a tip for ya, i have to take calc 123 next semester for my business major but the local community college has courses that ALL transfer to UK, you get the credit but it doesnt count towards you GPA, which is a good thing. im going to take my calc class there because it's supposedly easier and more one on one help is available, and if i get a C, so what, i pass, get the credits, and still keep a 4.0. if you have tough classes you know you'll have to take see if they can transfer to purdue from a CC. (kind of a loop hole haha)