Going Through Engineering School To Get That Degree Was Worth It!
Engineering school was never easy, and I know it will never be even in the future years to come. If there would be a change, it would be that the course would even be more difficult.
This is what I tell younger relatives or friends who plan to take up engineering. It’s not that I was discouraging them, I was just trying to give them a fair warning that engineering isn’t just some course wherein all you need is some skills in math and you’re good to go. No, no, no…it’s so much more than that.
There were a lot of times during engineering school that I just wanted to quit the fight and choose a different road but somehow, something got me going and I was able to reach the end.
The Struggles To Get There
Every college course has its own struggles, it just depends on how a person handles it. Unfortunately, the struggles that engineering school offered weren’t easy to handle for a person like me.
The sleepless nights, the endless grunt work with mathematics in every subject, the overlapping homework, impossible projects, and the mind blowing examinations. Failure was everywhere, and the only consolation I got was that everyone was feeling the same way I did too. At least I didn’t feel so alone.
There have been a million times that I thought about shifting out to a different course–a lighter and more “humane” one that would suit my taste and personality, but somehow as the semesters went by, I was beginning to love this course more and more. My relationship with numbers and how it related to how different things in the world worked just never failed to amaze me. It was a bittersweet relationship.
Remember Why You Even Started
A point came when I was fed up. I was failing half of my subjects, and tried everything to pass them all. Juggling a lot of major subjects was never my forte, it was either I prioritize one over the other and skip a class just to study for another subject or juggle them all at the same time and kill myself trying.
I got my slip that’s needed to shift to a different course, and all that’s needed was for me to fill it up and I was good to go.
At the end of the form was an essay question, “Why do you want to shift to a different course?” which led me to think about all the struggles I went through, and why the heck did I even take this course in the first place.
Then it hit me.
I chose engineering because I knew that learning how the world worked fascinated me. I always loved taking some of our household appliances apart and trying to figure out how they worked. I loved helping out at my dad’s car repair shop as he explained to me how a car’s engine would work. I loved imagining that one day I would be designing things that could make the world a better place.
I loved engineering right from the start. But I guess I was just overwhelmed by all the struggles.
I saw everything in a new light after that. Since I was a slow learner, I began to compromise and take lesser units than normal, to make sure I would be able to make time to study for all my subjects better.
I also asked help from seniors to give me some tips on which subject would give me a difficult time. Baby steps… It took me longer that the others to get there, but what matters is that I got through! That diploma was mine for the taking!
Remember that everyone is different and has his/her pace. So follow your own pace, and pay no attention to the others who are faster or slower than you are–they are running their own pace as well. And when you feel like giving up, always remember why you started in the first place. In the end, when you get your goals, you’ll know that IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!
