I am a Mechanical engineer full-time student pursuing my Bachelors degree at the University of Delaware. Currently I am a junior and it is very difficult. I don't know the last time I got out of the house because there is always something due the next day. I don't have time to play video games at all and I don't know the last time I had a good night sleep. Even with all the stress and pressure, I am keeping my head up and looking at the bright side.

What major are you guys pursuing and what degree? Are you guys going through a similar phase and is it easy or hard?

8 years ago

Comment has been collapsed.

Is college hard?

View Results
Yes
No
I don't go to college because it is lame
I don't go to college because I can't afford it
I love college, party all day

Awe, no options for those of us who are finished with our degrees...

I didn't find undergraduate to be that difficult, but there were periods of a lot of stress. Graduate school was the most stressed I have ever been because I was taking classes and teaching classes at the same time. I was taking 3 graduate courses and teaching 3 sections of Calculus 1.

The best advice I received back then was even if I felt like I had too much to do, take at least an hour a day to relax and do whatever you want that ISN'T school related. If you burn yourself out and don't finish your degree, all that stress turns into wasted time.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Sorry, I forgot to add the option for people who finished their degrees. I love Calc 1, but teaching 3 sections and taking graduate classes is a lot.

You are right. I always tell my self that Saturday or Sunday will be my off day but it ends up not being one. I do give myself a few minutes of time off by watching videos online but it still isn't enough.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I remember taking calc as a junior in high school... there was nothing left to take my senior year... then I took a year off before college. When I sat down in my college calculus class it took about ten seconds to realize it was gone gone gone! So college algebra it was.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Haha. I feel you man. I never took Calculus when I was in high school. So in my first year in college, I asked permission from the Math department to take Calculus and they let me. A few weeks into the course and I didn't understand what was going on. I dropped the class and spoke to the adviser and they made me take everything from the beginning. College & Elementary algebra, Trig 1 & 2, Precalc. But I am glad they did because now I understand Calculus 1, 2, 3 very easily.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I'm a second year undergraduate pursuing a Computer Science degree. I agree sometimes it's really stressful, especially when it's nearing finals, and nobody ever gets enough sleep. :P Sure, it's hard, but nothing's really too hard when you love what you're studying. (: Anyway, do take a rest every now and then so you don't burn out. All the best for your remaining years!

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I love college, party all day

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Good for you man. I am glad it worked out for you.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thanks for the encouragement. I do love what I am studying. I love designing parts, making parts, etc.. But it is the department which is very strict. Freshman and Sophomore year was easy. But, when you come to junior year, there is a ton of classes we have to take. I already know a bunch of people who have changed their major once they were juniors because they couldn't take it anymore.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Good for you then! In any case you're halfway there already, engineer-to-be. (: Btw, if your friends switched majors in junior year, doesn't that mean their first two years are basically wasted? That's kinda sad.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Yeah my friends are stupid and they probably have rich parents or something. But some of my friends switched to civil engineering which is much easier and they accept all the freshman to junior classes from mechanical engineering.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Heh. I see, it's their choice I guess. What I think is two years down the road they might be feeling the same way all over again, so might as well push through the first time round.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Yes it is hard, if u able to get a job without college, I think it is better~
I just going to college because many job need that requirement..

Or if you like to study u can enter it also :>

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I could get any job but it would be something I do not like. I want to work in the mechanical engineer field and almost all the mechanical engineer jobs require a bachelors degree at the least.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Then go for college and take the related degree for Mechanical engineering~
As long you like the topic, I think college won't be much of problem :>

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I'm in my last year of Chemical Engineering and I can tell that college is hard. But if you really like what you're doing, you'll be able to enjoy what you study, no matter how hard it is. Although there can be some moments that may discourage you, keep going, I'm sure it will pay off in the future! ^^

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thanks for the nice words. I like the subjects but its just the amount of work load you have to do. There is a lab associated with some of the classes and the lab part is easy but, each report takes 3 weeks to complete.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I know that feel, bro haha. Many times, you spend more time writing reports than actually doing experiments. Just don't let that these moments make you forget why you decided to study what you're doing.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Not getting enough sleep might make me forget. Haha. Just kidding.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I studied Physics. It was a real struggle - but in hindsight I could have made things a lot easier on myself, just focused on what I was doing at the time and not worried about things that were out of my control or stuff that could have been put aside till later.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I'm glad you were able to finish your education. I used to worry about how I did on the exam right after I took it. I kept thinking about how I did but, that put a lot of stress on me. Now I study hard for the exams and right after I am done with it, I don't think about it because thinking about it won't do anything.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

It can be difficult but it is something that many people get through and I'm sure there is no reason that you can't! Just learn what to prioritise and be ruthless with your time if you have to be and don't make things harder for yourself by worrying! It'll be done with before you know it!

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thank you for the positive motivation.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

+1 to physics :D

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I'm a final year Electrical student. I apparently hate myself because I plan to go for the grad degree.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Congratulations man. I am assuming you are doing your Senior Design right now. In my university, a few people that I know said that grad school is not that bad because you have no labs or discussions. It's just lectures. Don't hate yourself, I am sure you make will make your parents proud.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I do adult education.(equivalent to University diploma, OR, you work 3 days, study two days and get the equivalent)

I plan on chemistry, specializing in petrochemistry

I don't go to college because I have no highschool diploma cause I started working at 16 ;-)

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Chemistry is a subject that I loved ever since I took the class. Do you know if they offer adult education in the U.S. because that sounds pretty cool. You must've worked a lot when you were 16. I used to work 40+ hours from the age of 14. I had no choice because me an my family immigrated and we had barely enough money. But now here I am.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I think it's a Belgian thing only:p

Yeah I worked some shitty hours/jobs ...

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

At least you are through with that stage in life. I wish U.S. would do adult education because I know a few of my friends would definitely benefit from it.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Untill I run out of money again;)

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

There are similar work+study things in Germany.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

No Germany is way better, everything is free

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Free is good.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

As far as I know, many of these work + study thing are hosted on private universities, so they are not free anymore. But I never looked into it any closer.

Yes, studying at a normal university is free (200-300€ for 6 month, including a ticket for busses and trains in some universities).

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

If you get the same education in private and normal university. I would definitely pick normal because the price is very good.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Everything below is "as far as I know" without any sources or fact checking done before posting!
Private universities (or Hochschule) in Germany select harder, so you might end up with smaller courses, which might be good to learn but less good to collect new ideas. Most private universities specialise, e.g. on economics, theater/directing/art,.., subjects in which people are the most expensive on the universities budget.

Public universities feature more subjects with expensive infrastructure + research (e.g. physics).

In general I would give funding always to public universities, where everyone [1] get a chance.
For students it is more about what they want to study and what style of teaching is best on an individual basis. Small courses, teachers giving you assignments on a very tight schedule (private) vs. (public) a little bit less of an imposed schedule and more individual responsibility to learn your stuff. At least it was so until 10 years ago. Since then Germany switch to bachelor/master and the schedule is tighter in all subjects. Many scientist complain now, that student can no longer think for themself and have to be told everything.

[1] Everyone who qualifies to universities in general and the subject in particular. There are subjects you can not get in, if you are not the best of the best according to your highschool diploma.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I studied archaeology, I major in pre-Roman Italy, graduated in 2004. Was it hard? Hell yes. Was it worth it? Sure, I do what I love for a living.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Reading your comment is keeping me positive. The hard part is the education because of a variety of factors. But once you nail lit down it is satisfaction in the end. Archaeology is pretty awesome.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Hello, archaeologist here with a phd on a Roman Civil Basilica in Asia Minor.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Nice. That's a lot of studying. I don't think I can go that far. But I applaud you for it.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Deleted

This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Your perception is right on point. Hard is determined differently for every person. But its good you are doing what you love.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Deleted

This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

You are right. A lot of people cannot afford it and they keep reminding me that I am blessed to be able to go to college. But good luck with your career.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I'm studying Land Surveying Engineering at the National Institute in Brazil, 4 years to go! ps: I hate calculus. lol.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Congrats in choosing engineering. It is a whole lot of fun except some classes. I hated calculus as well when I was taking it. But now its not that bad because all of my classes use calculus in some way.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Yeah, I know. I have to use it all the time, and I will use in the future. But I don't know man, maybe it's not for me. I won't give up because it's my dream that I'm talking about (and my future). Good luck for you!

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

If it is your dream then definitely stick to it because you got a chance to fulfill it. You never know if they chance might come back. Thanks and good luck with your studies.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I studied chemical engineering at a university level up until recently. As I live in Sweden, the government payed me for studying (and I did not pay the university), but had no such system been in place, I would not have been able to afford to study at a higher level, as I come from a poor background.

Studying any engineering subject is hard. It will require a lot of work, and at least over here almost everyone (who passed courses) spent more time studying than they would have spent working a full time job. Before studying to become a chemical engineer I also studied a bit of History of ideas, and that was easier than high school (and I spent most of high school playing quake and not doing homework...) 2-3 classes/week, 2h each, and the only time I spent studying was on my way to and from school (it took me 1h to get to the university I studied at).

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

An hour commute is rough because that's two hours of the day wasted driving. I commuted 40 minutes for a while for mechanical engineering and time lost through transportation was easily the worst thing about it.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I'm used to it, 1h travel time has kinda been the norm for me ever since I started high school. I wanted to study something that the closest one did not offer, so I went with one that was ~1h away. Then I studied history, and it was 1h away, after that chemical engineering, and once again 1h away (had a job between, which technically speaking involved my own home, as I was the janitor (I think that's the right word here, it's at least a related job) for this apartment building, and 15 nearby ones. And now my job is, you guessed it, 1h away (all those hours are +/- 5min, and don't include the time it takes to walk to the subway).

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

That's a lot of traveling time. I don't know how you do it because I know that I will not be able to.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I've had no choice. As I've spent so much time studying, I've not had a good income, so I had to live where you can find a cheap apartment. With the current situation in Stockholm when it comes to finding a place to live, I'm glad that I even have one. Now I'm putting aside most of my spare money so that I'll be able to buy my own place, but apartments are not exactly cheap around these parts

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I hope your situation will gets better and you are able to find your own place. Good luck.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I'm not complaining, I've managed to get a solid education, the apartment that I have might not be big, but rent is low, and now I get to work with explosives, as a chemical engineer. Life is quite good. It's just that if I want an apartment that's closer to anything, I need to buy it (as you need to wait 5-10 years if you want to rent an apartment closer to the city, and I don't intend to wait that long).

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Right now I commute to my university and it takes 20min to drive to the parking lot which is 15min away from school. Once I arrive at the parking lot, I have to wait for the shuttle bus another 10min. Then the bus takes 7min to get me to school. A lot of time is wasted for me.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

im studying mediadesign first year. At this moment its not hard, If you have any interest in it, its fun!

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Good luck with media design. I am glad you are having fun.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Currently in Medschool ^^

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Keep it up, you will be a doctor in no time.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

oh I hope so, I'm already 6 years late XD

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

6 years in not that bad. It is never too late for anything. You are pursuing what you want and that is what matters. Good luck with med-school.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Mechanical engineering in the northeast U.S. Taking a semester off to help pay for it.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Hello bro. How far did you take your classes till? Right now I am doing Machine Design, Fluid Mechanics, Vibration and Control, Solid Mechanics. And 3 labs.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I'm studying Graphic Design in first year of BTS (french equivalent of a degree), I had a first year before that who's needed for that cursus. That's f**king hard, but I really enjoy it !

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I did some Adobe Illustrator and its fun. I am happy that you enjot what you do.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Major in statistics with an emphasis in actuary science with minors in general business, mathematics, applied statistics, data science, and mathematical statistics. You be the judge if that's hard or not
It is terribly difficult but i find it fun and rewarding

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I know statistics is rewarding. I do labs and we have to apply statistics to figure out the results we would've gotten in the lab.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I want to go to college for Computer Programming but I plan to go to the Air Force. Not sure if I should go to the Air Force before going to college...

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

In my university there are a lot of engineers who are taking classes but at the same time, they are in Air force or military, etc.. I think once a week, they have to dress in their uniforms and go to the event of Air force or something.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Mechanical Engineering Technology and about to graduate in december. I started in fall of 2009...it's been a long road haha

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Congratulations. 6 years is not that much. You are finally going to be done.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I'm currently a junior studying public health as my major, and for my minor, Global Poverty and Practice. I'm interested in community health, health advocacy, decreasing gaps in health care, health care policy, homeless and disadvantaged/impoverished populations in the US, and mental health awareness :)

I am attending UC Berkeley :) it's fucking difficult to stay afloat here. i'm dying at the moment under stress and work and schoolwork and tests ... ugh. I don't sleep at all.

fun fact that i didn't know ... it is ranked the #1 public university in the nation, #20 overall—U.S. News and World Report ...

and something i do know... it has a big rep for being near a city of hippies and vegans/vegetarians and liberal-minded people :D

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

UC Berkeley is a very good university. There must be a lot of people who shop from whole foods I am assuming and there must be tons of vegetarian restaurants. Stress is immense for me right now with all the labs that are due, HW, tests starting this week, no sleep for sure. I have friends who just stay in the mechanical engineering building studying and sleeping there.

I like that you chose a career where you care for the people and community. I took a class for my breadth called Environmental literature and it opened my eyes with all the poverty and people not being able to eat for days. Best of luck to you.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I'm in my second year studying Biomedical Engineering at the Technical University in Eindhoven.

It requires some effort and ya really need to remember some stuff from high school, but I find it very doable.
I also still game way more than I should, really^^ But I'm fine!

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Haha. I'm glad you still are able to game. There are Asian exchange students in my university majoring in English. Everytime I see them, they are in a group playing League of legends in the cafe or library. I get jealous sometimes. Good luck with biomedical engineering though. It is a very good major.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

It's pretty fun! In terms of a technical study I think it's one of the broadest as well: it has some biology, chemistry, physics, ethics, programming, and of course a bunch of math. And that all in the first year!

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I kind of feel bad that college was not super stressful for me (Business Administration). I had financial aid so I could take my classes full time and I stayed with my parents so bills weren't a concern.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I don't have financial aid but to reduce the cost I am also staying with my parents.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Does teaching at College count as going? If so yes.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I guess so because you still are in college. :)

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Doing my final exams at the moment for my second year of chemical engineering. Sometimes it is a bit more relaxed during the semester, but when it gets busy it gets really busy. I'm generally spending most of my time doing uni work or study though.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Chemical engineering is ranked the hardest in my university followed by mechanical engineering. Good luck with your exams.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Deleted

This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Yeah the first and second year was pretty easy for me since we had to take a lot of math, physics, chemistry courses, and some mechanical engineering courses.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

it's hard at first. you'll get the hang of it eventually...
i'm 10 years at Uni now.. (doing PhD)

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

This semester is the hardest for me compared to all the previous semesters. Starting next semester it gets easy for me or at least I hope. I commend you for doing your PhD.

8 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Sign in through Steam to add a comment.