Form a list of questions in which the answers will determine whether I change majors

[josh817]

Aerospace engineering at UTA. Still doing basic coursework so it's the same classes that a mechanical would take. I'm losing my ass in one of 4 courses, that being Statics. I have exasperated all ideas and advise given to me and I can't even do the homework. I have gone online, watched video lectures, used different books, formed a study group (but we're all just as hopeless), talked to my proffesor...

 

I spent the past 4 days reading through the GOOD book from last year. The department decided to change books, who knows why; maybe not enough were failing, maybe they wanted students to buy a new book. Regardless, I have the good book and the solutions manual to it. I studied it, I did the example problems all by myself and checked to see what the book did, they matched. I was feeling good, then I went to do my 10 homework problems from the **** book we currently have. Of the 10, I was able to vaguely do 1... ONE PROBLEM. So I go back and try to reference, NOPE, it's a horrible book. The examples it gives you don't match the homework and the homework/examples from the good book don't match this either!

 

I'm swallowing my pride. I don't mind saying this isn't cut out for me or that it just isn't clicking for me. I'm in such a grey zone right now though. I love seeing how things work, I love wrenching, I love designing/building stuff for my Z, but god honest truth, when I do it I never sit down and do force loads and all that... I sat here saying because I love doing those things, engineering is cut out for me.... but if I can't get this Statics stuff, the very BASICS of whats to come, then what the hell... Then I ask myself, ok so I lose my ass trying to get this class and I skid by, now I have dynamics, fluid dynamics, structures, solid mechanics, basically a repeat with more difficult stuff.

 

Now of course, we don't even have enough grades to determine our future in this class, haven't even had the first test but the feeling I have right now tells me this isn't going to make sense later either.

 

 

Alright, long story short, I am asking for a list of questions to be posed to me. Depending on how I answer them may guide me towards engineering or away from it. Right now I can't decide whether its the school, the teacher, the book, the material, is it me, do I like engineering type things but I'm just not suited for all the calculations, etc. I'm at the point where I must make a 2.25 GPA or else I get put on the naughty list and if it happens again they kick me out of engineering. However if I drop, my financial aid screws up and at that point I might as well drop out because the money I have set aside will last about a semester maybe two, without loans and grants.

 

 

Granted, the other 3 classes (Circuit analysis, coding, measurements and methods) I am doing swell in... but statics... not feeling it. The fact that everything ahead is more like statics and less like the other 3 courses worries me. If I do not get this class, I go onto the naughty list and this is all assuming that I decide to retake the course. If the teacher sucks, then I have a chance to get a better one, but not a better book. If it turns out this isn't for me, then I fail statics, a second time, so I learned the hard way and that's what I'm trying to avoid.

 

 

I'm seriously VERY lost right now. I can take courses over and over again and yah get my degree after like 7 years but lets face it; if I had that much trouble just getting my degree and now I'm going to have a career in that field, that means I get to look forward to frustration and stupendous amounts of extra effort, just to skid by in the work place. There has to be a point where persevering doesn't lead you in the right direction but begins giving you false hopes.

 

 

 

I can't do much about my situation right now but tomorrow I plan on visiting my professor and asking what more can be done. Like I said, I have done everything that has come to mind or discussed. Who knows, maybe her test questions will be challenging but not as complex, confusing, wordy, as the homework. Mind you, she admits herself that the book sucks for beginners but is good for "more advance readers". Oddly enough, the reason why we take this course is because we're beginners and hopefully by May, we are "more advanced", therefore I tip my hat and say thank you for the **** book. Not her fault though, the departments fault, and she can't do anything about it. Point I'm getting at is if she thinks the book isn't suitable perhaps that means her test problems will be hmmmm maybe similar to ones from the GOOD book and in that case I'm golden on tests but screwed on homeworks.

[Tx1021]

Just from briefly talking with you in pm's the other day I got the impression that you were in the exact same place I was before I changed my major from engineering. For me at least it wasn't so much that I disliked engineering but I could no longer take all of the reasons that you have mentioned from your latest class. So I guess I'd just ask yourself a couple questions.

 

-I guess most importantly, are you really done with engineering or just fed up with being in an obviously terrible situation that is out of your control?

 

-Do you think you have the dedication to follow through with engineering classes in the future that will most likely be similar situations and harder than your current statics course?

 

-Are there other majors that you are interested in that you think would suit you better? Ie: you'd be happier in the long run doing it every day of your life instead of engineering.

 

Hopefully that helps.

 

ETA: How is everyone else doing in the class? If you are around or above average on the exam I wouldn't worry about it too much. I've taken classes that I failed every single test before the curve was applied, including the final, and still came out with a respectable grade.

Edited February 20, 2012 by Tx1021

[josh817]

We have our first test this Wednesday. Like I said before, if her test has nothing to do with the homework in the sense that the book words what it wants horribly, then I may be fine and dandy considering I've been putting in so much work. Currently though I have invested ehhh 4 hours into the homework, only 2 problems of 10 done... Perhaps my homework grade will suffer.

 

Your first question is practically what I'm trying to solve. I recently told my mom that I have a really hard time honing in and focusing on my work for certain subjects. I use to be able to sit down and work, after 20 minutes I was in such a zone I didn't want to stop until I saw it all complete. With Statics, I sit down and I get livid. I think why in the world did they change to this god awful book; I've seen the old one, it's great and it has a solution manual or if you don't want to use that you can check out Cramster.com and find some stuff. There are resources associated with that book to help you, with this one, there is absolutely nothing.

 

Perhaps it is just my attitude right now after dealing with it this weekend but the way I'm seeing things is if I make this class, as you stated, there are plenty more of higher difficulty that I get to look forward to. I would hate to creep my way up the latter and get to a point where I say I'm done and change majors. Right now is a good time to change if need be because I have all science, math, english, history, economics, communications, etc. baby courses taken care of. Now that I'm taking all MAE, the longer I take these courses, the deeper I dig my hole into credits that will not help at all in another major that requires 2 years of coursework on top of what I have. So, I don't really know if the dedication is there...

 

Currently, I am trying not to dwell on the idea of changing majors. It's early in the semester and I don't want to get premature ideas in my head that I won't get this. It could be a bad egg of material and next chapter I will catch on. I mean after all, the idea of getting a different book and completely ignoring the crappy book didn't occur to me until a week ago after we had already covered 4 weeks of material. I've been playing catch up ever since so maybe after this test, I can keep up with the class in the different book.

 

I won't lie though, I get excited at the thought of changing. I can honestly say that my college career has been the worst and most un-enjoyable years I have experienced by far; both because of academics but also other reasons beyond this topic. I don't know what I would change to, maybe accounting... Something that will actually land me a career. I do like to work on the computer, and I know how to do so quickly and efficiently. I HAVE enjoyed my Circuits class, perhaps EE but I'm not sure.

 

 

My mother advised that if I do change majors I should change schools too. Not only does UTA give me bad vibes and stress from them pounding my face in over the past 3 years, but I have a very VERY sincere feeling that they are not there for the students. You read the school paper and within every article is something about promoting the status of UTA. It is obvious and I think even admitted that the president of UTA is tired of being considered a branch off from the main UT school in Austin; so he tries to vamp up UTA to give the false appearance that it's as prestigious as Austin. A new building open "one step closer to world recognition", "tuition increase because of hiring of star staff", blah blah blah. Star staff... yah, people who can produce research but hate teaching. Just like my Statics teacher! No research but she openly admits she hates teaching statics, dynamics, and solid mechanics! So you wonder, what was administration thinking, hiring someone who hates teaching. Or changing books to a worse one, or perhaps assigning those "key assignments" where they say if you fail this assignment you fail the class; not because of how the numbers fall into place but because "this is a major theme of the class and if you don't get it you shouldn't get the class". Ah, ok, makes sense. I'm surrounded by people who don't care, administration that makes decisions that are detrimental to students but perhaps beneficial to them, and most annoyingly, admin staff that can't do their jobs. I mentioned in an earlier thread about college how I attended a mix of community college and UTA. Community college was $50-$60 per credit hour, UTA is around $360. I didn't have to pay for my parking tag at community college because it was a given that if I'm enrolled, I should probably have a tag. They provided a parking spot for me, and security. UTA, you get to pay $125, "security", and fight for a spot. Staff there... when it came to getting your vaccines before you can enroll, TCC was easy! You can't register until you show proof, thats it! UTA, welllll you need your shot, I get my shot and go to show proof

"no you don't turn that in here, go to the other office across campus."

"no, you don't turn that in here you turn that in over there."

"I just came from there" "

"Let me call them to check. Oh, they're saying you don't need that"

A week later, bulletin on the website "get shots or you will be dropped from classes"

So I try to turn my documentation in again "call this company, they're handling the paperwork for us"

So I call the company... "we don't have any student records on file from UTA and no one can turn anything in until we have them. We're basically waiting on UTA to do their part but we will email/call when we receive the student info"

Never got an email or a call, never was dropped from courses, never showed proof of shot.... what? Nonsense, for $360 per credit hour compared to a measly $50.

And my adviser... That woman sends me some vague email saying I'm booted from the Aerospace department and I will now be "undeclared engineering", I presume it was from taking one course at UTA last semester, that being Linear Algebra, which I made a 78 or something in but that shows up as a 2.0 and my magic number was a semester GPA of 2.25 so shame on me. I believe it was called being "dismissed" from the department. Of course, this was sent out the last day before everything closed for Christmas break, at night time, so you can't get a hold of anyone. I do my own research and dismissed is the same as being expelled practically from the department and all courses will be dropped associated with that department. I start freaking out and I get to wait a week before I can get a hold of anyone. I email her saying I want to talk to someone immediately about the situation and also how no sort of documentation was attached to the email explaining what this means, what will happen, that sort of thing. She replies saying "I didn't send that email, the university sent it". Alright, I may have made a C and been dismissed but I'm not a dumbass. It has your name on it, from your address, it's from you. Oh yah, same lady did this sort of thing previously. Sent out an email about advising requirements before you can register, 3 days before classes started in the spring. I asked why she waited until 3 days before classes started. Her response was she sent it out a week or two in advance. AH K ITS NOT THERE YOU DIDN'T SEND IT.

 

I feel like I have been wronged, played with, and led on say I stay trapped within the system. Advisers who want to throw you right back into a class that just got done raping you, or they look at you like you're an idiot when you say you want to go to a community college and transfer credits, then they won't help you achieve that by guiding you. Or maybe when you say you're taking 12 hours and not the "recommended" 16-17 hours; "why do you want to do that".... are you a retard? I can't handle 17 hours. Look in your computer, go back to the semester I took 17 hours with labs here at UTA, what GPA did I get?

 

 

 

 

And while I'm at it, I detest curves! A curve is given when the majority of the class does poorly. There have been instances where maybe 10% did well and no one else did, therefore no curve was given or a very small one was distributed. I say this because if everyone suffers and a curve is given, on every test so it's not like it's getting better, doesn't this mean there is something wrong with YOU (the prof.) or your TESTS? You can't cry lazy student when EVERYONE suffers. Perhaps a curve is good for the first test and students improve later down the road as they find out what your tests are like, or perhaps you change your test to conform to what is REALLY necessary to test over and not your personal goal to achieve a 50% class average. Yah, had a teacher once that was proud of that and yah, I dropped that course. A curve is used to fill the gap a teacher makes between them and the student because they either can't teach effectively (so why do you have the job? oh yah research) or because the teacher wants to make a hard test and I suppose... feel good when everyone suffers? Why not test over relevant material that is within our level and get an accurate reading of where the class stands rather than bombing everyone and handing out "free points" to fill the gap.

 

 

I digress. I'm pissed, tired, and still have to finish this lab report because I blew 3 days of devotion to statics for nothing.

[lowrider]

I've been there, my difficulty was with calc3. It was my first math course at "big boy school" at the University of Tennessee after transferring from a local community college. The teacher was Russian with a very heavy accent, he had his own E-book that was used in the class. He also had the online homework. That was the first time I had ever failed a class. I tried to take it the next semester with a different teacher, this time I had enough sense to drop the class and get out alive. I ended up taking the class at another local community college during the summer. The level of teacher skill was astounding. So my suggestion to you, is to see how the first test goes. If it doesn't fair well, look and see if another professor teaches the class. It's amazing how helpful a professor that knows how to convey the material is. Don't let this discourage you, life is a roller coaster you have to ride out the ups, downs, and loop-d-loops!

 

Rate my professor is your friend!

[ctc]

I will give you my back ground and then ask my question of you.

 

Growing up I always like airplanes, so in high school, I decieded to become an Aerospace Engineer. I went to Univeristy of Kansas for 4 years in there Aerospace program. I did not graduate. I fluked out my first two semesters, had to potition the engineering school to let me back in on probation. Scrapped by with a GPA just high enough to not get kicked out.

 

After 4 years, I decieded to take a semester off, I was working full time while I was going to school, only way to pay for it. While working full time, I looked around and realized I didn't want a menial job for the rest of my life. I reapplied to a new engineering school, did not transfer any credits and started over. 3.5 years later I graduated BS Aerospace Engineering with a 3.75 GPA. I got a internship my last year doing computer programing for Learjet (makes business jets). That internship got me in the door, my boss knew I didn't want to do computer work the rest of my career, so he talked to the chief test pilot. As an intern, I was cheap labor, so the the chief test pilot let me switch to his department as a flight test engineer. I got to ride in the airplanes while testing things like the engines, fuel systems and pretty much everything. After graduating, he offered me a full time job. I worked that for 3 years, then as our company downsized I went looking for greener pastures. I now conduct wind tunnel testing on advanced military concepts for one of the big three defense contractors.

 

All in all, not bad for 7 years of college and almost flunking out.

 

So, end of lecture, now my question,

 

Why do you want to be an engineer? What will the piece of paper give you that 20 years of hard work and fabrication skills wouldn't? What are you good at?

 

Remember, aerospace engineers don't necessarily do a lot of wrenching, we direct others. The wind tunnel models are made by expert craftsmen in our shop. I could not hope to have their skill, but I also will not spend 30+ years working a trade. I do what I am good at, thinking about the problem and getting the solution. I leave it to others, most of the time, to actually implement the solution.

 

Also, remember this, in college you learn the ability to learn, to overcome things that are difficult and determine the solution on your own. Sometime it works, sometimes not, but you learn.

 

One last question, How crappy do you think the text book of life is?

[Tx1021]

From your response it doesn't sound like you are sick of engineering. It sounds like you are sick of the way that most public schools have become degree factories that place making a profit far ahead of teaching quality or student success. Unfortunately if you do change majors you will probably run into all of the things that are making you so frustrated right now. So IF you do decide to look at other majors at UTA I would try and get a really good feel for that department and the teachers in it, the department can make all the difference.

 

And at the end of the day ctc is absolutely right. College taught me to teach myself far more than it ever taught me engineering or economics.

[josh817]

A part of me wants to know what aerospace engineers even do. This is somewhat of an example for what I'm walking about. You said you you think about a problem and get a solution, my brother in law says he designs this that and the other at Lockheed, my father an electrical engineer, I've seen his work place but I have no idea what he did.

 

What I mean by what do you do is not what general work you do or project you worked on, I want to know what the work was. When you go into work, what do you do? Research? Pad, pencil, calculator? All computerized so you never see this stuff again really? Write performance reports? Jot down performance notes and send them to someone else who writes the reports?

 

I'm narrowing it down and that may not be realistic in that I may not land the same sort of job however I'm looking for an idea as to what sort of things engineers actually do day to day. Maybe, by getting the input from others, I can be like uhhhhh yah I don't want to do that every day for years.

 

I'm very confused right now. I have a good feeling I can scrape through Statics but as I said before... it isn't getting any better from here. I can try to separate myself from that teacher but... that's not a sure sign of doing well in the future. I appreciate a challenge, I want a challenge in my work but I want to be able to achieve and jump those hurdles. Investing over 7-10 hours on a 10 problem homework assignment only to get 6 of 10 points, who knows on the test, that **** isn't going to work. All my other classes I can invest a lot of time in, and the output will be relative to the effort being put in. I may take 3 or 4 hours on Circuits homework but I understand that **** when I'm done. I just took several hours for a lab report but I know I'm going to make a B on it, and made A's on my projects. Statics though... And that's the worrying part because everything from her on out isn't going to be like Measurements and Methods, or Coding, or Circuit Analyses, it's going to be like statics, calculating forces, blah blah blah.

 

 

Things like this are burning me out very fast and makes me not want to do this anymore:

 

Definition of a couple, and then homework problem from the **** book, saying couples, when it doesn't even meet the requirements of what a couple is.... And yes, the help online describes a couple as what is shown in the second picture, not the first. Left in the dark.

 

 

Personally at this moment it appears I want an easy way out, an easy degree that will get me somewhere. Of course, easy to you is hard to me, easy to me may be hard to you. I get great joy when I can sit down, analyze, and bang problems out. "problems 1-10 bam bam bam bam, uh oh I'm stuck, peak at some outside resources. Oh ok, I think I got it, bam bam bam bam" Not, "............ what? where do I even start. Ok so you did that step but I'm still lost". I get much joy out of learning, doing, and understanding. When I don't get these three things, after trying hard and doing everything advised, I start to think is it just me and the material not wanting to mix and maybe that's how it's suppose to be, move on.

 

Great example would be my lab report today on sampling rates for a dynamic audio signal, what happens, why does it happen, why do DVD's sample at 96kHz, why do "audiophiles" say their vinyls sound better than digital music, etc. It took me a few hours to type it up but it wasn't completely oblivious. I did some outside research, I learn it, I can teach you it probably at this point; that's how clear it is to me even when I haven't had any sleep in 24 hours! That's how I want my college career to me with a few blunders here and there.

 

From the sound of things, what I described, what I enjoy doing, is more of a trade job as you already stated. This isn't the first time I have heard this. I don't know how I feel about learning a trade.

Edited February 20, 2012 by josh817

[BluDestiny]

If your doing good in core classes by not a math class drop it like its hot, take up a social studies to boost your gpa and retake statistics at a community college. I'm finishing my third year at Embry riddle and its hard, but I know I can do it.

[emeraldlion]

Right, which one is TCC? Maybe you can take the stats course there and transfer the credit to UTA. Or maybe look into taking it elsewhere like UTD. There are various options. I have had some REALLY rough courses in the past and the professor CAN and DOES make all the difference in the world sometimes. If she isn't into it, it can totally kill your learning and the class. I wouldn't necessarily think about changing yet. I would seriously consider dropping the class though. I used to think dropping a class meant you were giving up or quitting. I havelearned that is not the case. Sometimes you just have to fall back, regroup, and attack again at a later date.

[TheMission]

I agree with Blu as well -

 

If this class is killing you and the curriculum/staff is the primary issue you are facing, by all means take the same transferable class at a local community college. There are more options and may have different curriculum and more helpful teaching staff.

 

I get what that question is asking, but it doesn't fall under the traditional definition of a couple as their is no rotation involved.

 

It's essentially three "ropes" pulling on each other, where y axis "rope" and x axis "rope" are pulling with their stated force at a 90 degree angle and you need to figure out what angle and force the rope C is pulling at so where the "ropes" are connected remains stationary.

 

Future work will definitely bring more of these issues and you may generally not get the option of changing people/problems, so it may be best to double down and embrace the insanity, as life outside of the education world is rarely as flexible. I'd also invest relation-ally in possible tutoring/partnering with someone who is doing better, as it'll reduce your homework time significantly and help you over the hurdles. Rarely should we take on things alone, as even this forum shows us that with Zs, support and wisdom/knowledge of others gets us much further than what we can on our own.

[ctc]

A part of me wants to know what aerospace engineers even do. This is somewhat of an example for what I'm walking about. You said you you think about a problem and get a solution, my brother in law says he designs this that and the other at Lockheed, my father an electrical engineer, I've seen his work place but I have no idea what he did.

 

What I mean by what do you do is not what general work you do or project you worked on, I want to know what the work was. When you go into work, what do you do? Research? Pad, pencil, calculator? All computerized so you never see this stuff again really? Write performance reports? Jot down performance notes and send them to someone else who writes the reports?

 

 

Google: Wind Tunnel Test Engineer for a couple descriptions of what I do.

 

To answer your questions, go ask your faculty, other engineers and specificaly any companies you might want to work for, what engineers do. In the mean time, join an engineering professional society at your school (AIAA for AE's, SAE for ME's) and get involved. They have many competions where you build things hands on. They will also have speakers come in and tell you about what they do as engineers.

 

Also, if you want to get through a tough class, find the smartest guy in class and ask for help. Make some friends and start a study group. You are not the only one struggling. Beleive me!

 

Chris

Edited February 21, 2012 by ctc

[Michael]

Indeed, Problem 3.81 is incorrectly worded, and that would confuse students. But resolving vectors into their components, finding magnitudes and directions, etc., is essential for mechanical/aerospace engineers.

 

Something else to note... as you become more senior as an engineer, you'll be doing far less calculation and far more writing and speaking. So after enough time on the job, the primary skill set is supplanted by more of a humanities-type of skill set. The math however continues to be important, not through direct calculation, but in understanding the equations and how to simplify them for making quick estimates.

 

One route to consider is to switch to a "mechanical engineering technology" major at community-college. Get an associates degree that qualifies you to operate CNC machines and the like. Old-timer machinists are losing their jobs because they can't program the new machines. Get into that niche, get some practical experience, and a few years in the future you can decide whether to return to 4-year college for your BSE. Your employer might even offset the tuition.

[josh817]

All very good ideas.

 

Starting from the top:

1) I can't drop the course otherwise my financial aid gets wacky and I won't be able to afford school if that occurs

2) I have been told mixed things (another example of how our star staff and my lovely tuition yields ten different answers from ten different people). Adviser said you cannot take MAE courses at the community college and transfer them in. Everyone from my Physics 2 class at TCC said they were doing circuits, statics, and dynamics, at TCC.... However, I didn't think much into this because I must have 12 hours somewhere to get full time student financial aid. I have hit a point in my degree where there is no more wiggle room unless if I took a blow off course that had nothing to do with my degree plan, otherwise, I'm stuck taking the 4 classes I have now and can't move forward as these are prereq's. Statics namely.

 

This actually served as part of my problem to being put on the naughty list in the first place. My OVERALL GPA is a high 2, low 3, but at UTA they split your GPA's into 3 categories and these 3 categories must be above 2.25 otherwise you get the boot. Well, one of the categories was math+science+eng GPA. After I failed calc. 1 at UTA, I ran to TCC and did just about everything there. I did my physics, my chem, my english, my history, calc 1-3, passed those bad boys with straight A's and I'm proud to say it wasn't because TCC being a community college "just hands it to you". They transferred in, I got credit, but thats all! The GPA's don't transfer in, that makes sense! So, when I took 16 hours last semester, but 3 of those hours was Linear Algebra (the only class I took at UTA so I stayed enrolled as a student). I made a C in that class which not only threw a red flag because I made a "2.0 semester GPA" (even though I had straight A's at TCC) but it always dropped bombs on the math+science+eng GPA category because I only have about 8 credit hours that were averaging in. I think that number was a 2.48 and when the 2.0 went in for a 3 credit hour class it knocked me down to a 2.08. There wasn't anything in there to act as a buffer. These are the reasons why I think I'm done taking courses at TCC. I need to start working on that one category because as soon as I'm done with my "pre professional" courses, I will be reviewed and hopefully allowed into the actual aerospace engineering department, however the terms are that these three GPA's are above and stay above 2.25. If I take all these courses at TCC, and that GPA stays below a 2.25 because the GPA's don't transfer over from TCC, then I will be stuck with no more pre professional classes to take but a suffering GPA.

 

Hopefully that makes sense.

 

3)I think I will join a the AAIA. Although I feel loaded down to the max, I think you're right in that I should attend some seminars and get an idea. Besides, they have free pizza.

 

4)I am indeed thinking about perhaps doing baby steps to work up to a BS. However what I also contemplated is what if I land myself in a different degree but get a hook up to do something with my hands. One thing I have learned is that you may have a degree in X but your career is in Y. An aerospace engineer as a high school teacher or you know, whatever.

 

5) That was just one example of the difference between the terrible Mcgill Statics book and the good Hibbler. Mind you, Mcgill didn't even explain what a couple was so if I didn't know any better and never used the Hibbler book, I'd be even worse off! Everyone is doing terrible right now. I didn't realize it until today when she asked if we had questions and a kid asked how to find the moment about a line. Yah, we went over that stuff like two weeks ago, she acted shocked that he doesn't know this two days before the test but lets get real woman, you blasted through it. People had questions, you went on and inevitably left the entire class in the dust. She is literally, the only one who is keeping up with herself. She asked the class how long it takes to do one homework problem and to my surprise, I'm not the only one that takes an hour or longer. Again, she freaked out "these should only be taking you 30 minutes at the most". We informed her it's not the calculations, its trying to figure out what Mcgill is asking us and how to get started. As you can see above, he loves playing with his words and screwing you over, Hibbler doesn't pull that ****.

 

Regardless, the way you guys described the problem is how I solved it. I figured my answer was wrong because a couple should produce a moment and I didn't have a moment, I just had a line of a certain magnitude with a certain theta that canceled out the other two. I still suspect something fishy about him calling it a couple though. Something about those double arrows... Hah, thats a shame he didn't mention it or explain that notation. As the prof. said "this book is challenging for beginners but for the more advance reader it's actually a clearer representation of the material." I guess she learned that logically, we all beginners except for those who are retaking.

 

Not only that but she asked if we are doing practice problems. The answer is yes but we have no idea if they're correct. Odd problems have answers in the back but no work to show the steps so if you have the wrong answer then you're like.... well that's cool... Oh and TX1021, there apparently IS a solutions manual for this book She said she had it and assured us that it was "of no use" because he skips most of the steps to the problem anyway. That left me ROFL'ing when she acknowledges that even his solutions manual isn't user friendly unless you've taken this course before, yet she's surprised we're all squandering in our own muck. The solutions manual must be pretty exclusive I suppose.

 

 

Oh and I forgot, the study buddy friends thing. I had received three phone numbers, two of them were guys just as lost as I was, the other was a kid who was retaking it a second time. He understand the stuff but never did his homework last time. He isn't interested in working together. Today I went in search of new people and no one is really interested. The problem I am seeing is that this is a freshman level course. Most of the kids in there, are freshman, and they're going about it thinking they will skip class, not do homework, whatever. Generally, not the people I want to study with. Ironically, of the 4 classes, 3 have attendance policies where if you skip more than X amount of times you get points deducted. Statics doesn't have this. I have a gut feeling it's them holding that worm in front of your face waiting for you to be a sucker and take the bait. Here, a difficult class with a **** book and professor; we know you feel like you can skip class because she doesn't do anything, right? Hah

 

 

Such is life. Back to the grind. Tomorrow I'm not doing anything but practice problems. I am determined to go into the test like the Hulk.

Edited February 21, 2012 by josh817

[Michael]

Try "Engineering Statics", by Merriam and Kraige. That was our textbook 20+ years ago - it was very clear, almost pedantically clear.

[JavelinZ]

I understand how you feel. I'm in my junior year of mechanical engineering school myself. I did my first two years at a community college and transferred in to the university. I had to retake Statics and Dynamics at the CC and I'm currently retaking Circuits I which through me for a loop (no pun intended) last semester.

 

Now this is all coming from a guy who was never a math whiz, in fact the opposite math has always been my worst subject. I'm not the fast guy at calculations or seeing how to solve an equation. Statics was over my head the first time I went through it but I nailed it the second time. You said you were worried about the courses that lie ahead after Statics and I think I can offer some alleviation for your concerns and some advice.

 

Don't get to down. (I don't know about your course but in my program Statics is an 8 week course with Dynamics taking up the second 8 weeks.) It is designed as a water shed course. My ASU class chart says next to Statics, "Predicts success in major" Basically they set it up so that people who can't cut it don't become engineers, it is hard for a reason.

I used the Hibbeler book its a great book as you've noticed. My advice is to use it to gain your understanding. The pictures for your HW are the most important thing usually you can see from the picture what they want you to find. So use the good book for learning and the crap book pictured problems for doing HW. You may still have to figure out the wording but stick with it and try to ignore the grammar that seems poorly put together or exhaustive and simplify it. Doing that I was able to figure out what they were asking for and by looking at the pic. Also it is still relatively early in the semester as it looks like you are solving for resultant forces and vectors. The biggest thing in Statics I would say is KNOW HOW TO SETUP A FREE BODY DIAGRAM. Once you can do that the problems practically start solving themselves. It's a lot of TRIG based stuff, so know your triangles and Pythagoreans. My buddies and I found ourselves banging our heads on the desk a few times so stick with it.

 

Now about future course work obviously a good professor can make all the difference, anyways here is what I have to say about a few future courses you have.

 

Solid Mechanics- Stress and Strain baby, practically all the equations in this class revolve around hooke's law (springs) F=delta*X

 

Thermofluids 1 - This is another one they consider water shed, but if you put in the time you'll be good. You live in the Steam/vapor Tables it is has a lot of basis in chemistry.

 

After these most of the courses go further into the previous topics from what others have told me.

 

Also it seems that you do well in the EE end of things personally I hate electrical doesn't make a lot of sense (la'place and all that). Don't know why but it is hard for me to understand I guess I like things I can see and put in my hands. Or maybe that time I got hit with 300 or so Volts did me in, man that sucked. Also you may like Industrial a buddy of mine switched to it, they're focused on efficiency. Most of their upper division stuff has a business/manufacturing type focus. They look for ways to streamline processes is the best way I can think to sum them up. Definitely research the different fields and find out what they do.

 

Oh and be glad you're parking is only $125 or so dollars, a permit at ASU for one of the campus structures runs I believe $820 per semester. That's why I walk onto campus.

[josh817]

Heh, they announce to the world that they opened new parking. True, but it's all parking garages, so they forced students into a $600 garage spot. I would think in the desert, parking fees are low. What do I know.

 

I don't want to make it seem like I have already made up my mind but... at the current moment it is difficult for me to drop the idea of changing. Like I said, I get excited with the thought. And you know what, maybe that's what I need. Something to take my mind off things. Something to say that if I don't get this, its not the end of the world. I can retake, I can switch majors, I can do whatever I want, hell drop out and go work at a welding shop as a grunt and see where it takes me or whatever! If my mother wasn't so livid over the idea of joining the military, that would be further up on the list of things I can do however because of her feelings and disowning me or murdering me before someone else gets the chance to, it's basically last on the list. Quite possibly a good thing too, if all else fails, Uncle Sam can use me. This helps me breath fresh air, relax, lose some anxiety, but I must keep from being cocky and blowing off a test.

 

My opinion on retaking a class is fine and dandy however if you don't get a second or third time... massive frustration. As I said above, there must be a point where persevering just yields false hopes of achieving a goal that may not be cut out for you. I'm not even at that point yet so I won't worry.

 

 

Friends would make a tremendous help, and I don't want to sound like a sorry sucker, but that's part of my issue with having college be the worst time I have ever experienced. I really do hate college but I love learning and frankly labs are my favorite part of class even if it adds extra work. I will go out and say that I do not have friends that I can hang out with, talk about girls, classes, cars, whatever. Ever since my freshman year I was lucky enough to have a girlfriend. Hah been a year now and without a lady friend or any bros it gets extremely lonely. Enough for me to move back home and commute 45 minutes every day next Fall or move in with my dad who is closer, doesn't matter. Again, I won't lie, I get VERY upset and disappointed thinking that this is prime adolescence time. A time to go out, have fun, try new things, all that and I don't mean drugs. I haven't done any of that. I have never attended a party, never been drunk, never done this done that, whatever. I will be an old man, maybe have kids, and I won't have any advice to tell them or any stories to share except college was terrible. My typical week is classes, dinner, homework, movie, sleep, repeat. Weekends, if I'm working, means standing out on a corner waving flags with a bunch of 50-60 year old men and listen to their stories. Some events my father comes with me and we camp out. If I'm not working I'm either at my fathers shop working with him or I'm back home in Keller with my mother. I don't do **** in Keller but I just enjoy the feel of home. And I'm not at all disappointed in this, I'm not embarrassed to chill with some old guy dragging on a cigarette and falling asleep on a stool while a Porsche burns to the ground, or spending time with my parents, but it would just be nice to experience the things kids our age usually do. For the good time stories, for the fun, for the booze the girls the music whatever it may be. And yah, I have been active, I have been out trying to make friends and get the ball rolling but they don't compare to my best friends from highschool which are fading away as we speak. They come home for a few days and the only time I get with them is an hour or two before they leave. They tell me "be active, make friends, that's how you get the opportunity to do fun stuff" yet for the past 4 days they were home, they were out partying and I wasn't invited nor did I hear any word about such events to possibly invite myself.

 

After a while of that sort of stuff, I learned to entertain myself. I started working on a garden over summer break, I take summer courses, I "restored" my Datsun pickup. God knows I need these activities because I literally did not hang out with a single person last summer, or winter, or spring break. To say the least it's frustrating and it kills me, but that's not what this is about. lol rant sorry

 

So not only has it hit me real hard in the social department; when you want to take a break from things and have fun, there isn't anyone to do that with. And for my classes, I have hook ups for 3 of the 4 classes which is probably why statics is being a buger. Perhaps I invest in a tutor. UTA provides rooms for math, physics, and chem. where students can walk in and ask questions, basically like a tutor service but its free. I talked to the Physics lab and they said they MAY be able to help, probably not, and definitely not if they have students in there needing help on physics. The problem I'm seeing right now is that yesterday, I sat up front to scope out who is smart and who I should avoid. I spotted some guys who looked to have completed most the homework and asked if they wanted to work together and they didn't seem interested at all. I'm going to start brown nosing and see if I can't sucker them into working as a group. I find that if you aren't hopelessly lost in the class, then you are smart enough to do the work on your own at home, perhaps it clicks for them but it's not an enticing offer to say lets study and work together as a group when they are doing just fine on their own.

 

Perhaps as long as I don't wear out my welcome, I can stop by the TA or prof. office once a day to do one problem at a time. My mom says if that's all the advice they have for you then you might as well use it and wear it out until they find something more helpful to direct you towards. "If you're going to go down you might as well light the ship ablaze"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the occurrence that I do switch, I can already say I won't switch to liberal arts. I simply can't stand it. I like number, I can do math all the way up to Calc. 3/Linear Algebra before it starts getting theoretical and confusing for myself. I could see maybe finance or accounting and continue on with an MBA. I know I won't pursue a masters if I stick with engineering so we'll see.

 

 

 

Another question I may pose to the already employed engineers. Is this something that you go in for your 8-12 day, do your thing, and when you leave the day is over. I can see maybe you still go home pondering on things or brain storming but I really don't want to be in my mothers situation as a school teacher where she goes in at 6AM, comes home at 5PM, and then gets to look forward to more work at home. Maybe that's a bit too picky but I'm just getting a feel for things.

Edited February 21, 2012 by josh817

[ctc]

Get a security clearance and a job with a defense contractor. If you take your work home you go to jail! Lol.

[h4nsm0l3m4n]

Youve posted before about your frustrations with your school. If it really is as bad as you say, perhaps the issue is with them and not necessarily you. Statics wasnt too bad of a class, lots of free body diagrams, but overall not too unintuitive. I think we used the Hibbeler book as well. I dont know if you already tried it or not but isolating what concepts you arent understanding and then seek clarification on it from the professor/TA worked well for me when I was having trouble. Usually they were able to set me straight in a couple minutes because it was always a small thing I didnt quite understand that was giving me problems.

 

As far as what do engineers do. My school doesnt offer an Aerospace Engineering degree specifically, just Mechanical Engineering. I know we had interns go to Boeing to work on various design projects on the 787 and the 757 from wing related stuff, to landing gear, to interior many of them get hired on after they graduate. They also did manufacturing process related projects such as designing production fixtures, etc. There are lots of other companies in the NW that work in the aerospace industry making parts, doing FEA analysis, testing, R&D work, pretty much anything you can think of.

 

If you look outside of aerospace the work isnt too different in a lot of aspects. For example, as an ME it is my primary job to design products for my company. This requires me to design various plastic injection molded, die cast, sheet metal, and work with other various custom design and purchased parts. I do FEA and tolerance analysis, put together BOMs, do various cost analysis, design production fixtures as needed, help setting up the production lines as needed, help the R&D group with their new technology development, support existing products, travel to vendors to do tooling reviews, do alpha/beta/pilot builds for our products, coordinate with my design team, etc, etc.. A lot of different stuff..

 

I dont feel that engineering is ever a pure 9-5er. The last few couple months we have worked 50-60 hours a week in an attempt to meet an unrealistic deadline (prior to that I worked 45-50 hours a week). I am traveling to china in 2 weeks to review tooling design for over 50 custom parts. In addition to time spent at work, everything you see has, to some degree, been "engineered." So working on cars, cell phones, computers, makes for a great engineering resource. You can spend hours looking at the design of the various parts and walk away with ideas or concepts to use on your own designs at work. First thing I did when I bought a cordless drill is inspect the various parts. Is there an interesting snap, detent features? Interesting complicated injection molded parts or unusual materials? Unusual coating or part finish? Do any parts have warpage, sinks, or other defects? There has been several times when I wake up in the middle of the night to jot down a quick concept, or a reminder to check something. My work is always in the back of my mind, theres no getting away from it.

Edited February 21, 2012 by h4nsm0l3m4n

[Tennesseejed]

Josh, if you think school is hard, just wait until you get into the real world.

 

I don't mean to come across as a ****, but most science degrees have courses that are intended to thin the herd. If you want a degree is Aerospace Engineering then pull up your big boy pants and figure it out. Or quit.

 

If you want to survive, Ctc has offered you some very good advice.

 

Most Grateful Dead fans can pull a 2.25 in a major university. One of my advanced math classes (which by then didn't even involve numbers) was taught by some Vietnamese **** who couldn't speak conversational english. Nobody knew what was going on. Some of us banded together and pushed forward. Others left.

 

Do, or do not. There is no 'try'. ~ Yoda.

[cockerstar]

Can you take the class pass/fail?