Lot's of good advise. I'm an ME as well. Duster_360 is putting it well in perspective. I went to college 7 years after being in the Navy right out of high school.

The bottom line is you will have at least 4 semesters of Calculus in which you will need some sort of calculus to pass the other engineering classes. You will have to be very comfortable in math out in the field too. You won't need to memorize all of the functions you learned in school, you just have be able to apply them and understand them.

And from the first part, you don't have to go right out of High School. Good luck.

Duster_360, my ebay id is 73duster340. I rebuilt the entire thing in my garage.

well i think ME would be a good thing for me to do because as i said i am hands on. what you do is build and test things correct?

i used to love math as i said i just really hate it when i do not understand it.

and talking to the teacher... ehh.... hes like 24 years old so he is one of those "cool" teachers that flirts with the girls and shit. hes an awsome guy but when it comes to teaching... its just embarassing.

heres an example.
by the end of the grading period id say well over 85% of the kids in the class knew nothing. they had Fs. he realized this and gave 150 extra credit points if you bring him in: tissue boxes, candy, graphing paper, and pencils. througouht the grading period he only gave 400 points. so if you had a 38% and turned in the EC you would end up with a 75.

this is my second year with him (i had to take him again... hes the only math anal teacher) and he has never gotten better.

im just going to deal with him for the rest of the year then when i get into college hopefully the teacher knows what he/she is doing.

i will go into college right out of high school because what else can i do? work all day long? at a job that i do not plan on doing for more than a couple years? no thanks.

im moving to NC with my girlfreind right out of high school and we are going to a community college so i can get my residency. once that happens i will go to UNC (university of charllote) and start my studying for ME i believe.

something could change in the next year but i am not sure.

the reason i picked ME was because i heard it
-was a fun job (dads frreinds are MEs)
-learn ALOT
-pay well.

what i want in a job is:
-to have fun while working
-for the job to benefit my family (ME are probably handymans)
-have some decent vacation times for family
-to have a decent pay. i want to be making a "confortable" amount of money so i dont have to worry about crap. that is the number 1 cause in failed marriages. a dissagreement in money. if i have enough to make it through life and have some luxaries then awsome. i DO NOT want to be one of those rich pricks that think they are the shits. i would love to have money set aside for my kids to pay fully for their college by the time they reach that age.
ive thought about this for a while and i know what i want as far as a salary goes. and MEs make enough for me.

Sounds like you have a plan, most engineers (in my experience) do not do most of the building and testing themselves they have a machine shop or assistant do it for them. I would suggest the military but it sounds like you have a kinda serious relationship... If you go the ME route the best suggestions I can give you are
1. Dont give up
2. Dont party too much
3. Have fun but dont forget #2
4. Do as many internships and Coops as possible, look for then as soon as possible. They will get you a good job faster than good grades alone.

I have a BS degree in engineering management and taken many ME courses.

Good luck

Do not join the military whatever you do if you want a family. I spent 15months away from mine while I was in Iraq and it about tore my marriage apart even though we were both trying hard. Just had to throw that in there in case the idea pops up.

Come be a Mushroom Grower like me... All you need a horticulture Bachelors Degree... :) It's a fun job, pays well, very secure.. and you get to squeeze Poultry Manure... LOL

ya i would say that i do have a serious relationship. been together for almost 2 anda half years :yipi:

im moving to NC to be with her not join the military:na: her dad is a captain or something high up in the marines and it doesnt seem like something i want to do (be away from my family)

also i dont party... never been a fan of being drunk. hell i havent even tried more than a sip of alcohal before.

once i move down there i am going to look for internships at places. i hear charlotte is HUGE for MEs.

and ya i could not IMAGINE being away from my g/f or family for 15 freakin months... thats unreal. i was away from ashlee (my g/f) for 3 months and it was INSANELY hard on us. i feel dumb saying that when you were away for 15 months but ima kid. lol so i still have alot of time to mature :party:

but the army, marines, reserve none of that is for me.

What I did in grad school as a univ wide research assoc was prototype development - my 1st proj was a 1/125th scale gas augumented water jet propulsion engine. After ONR approved where we were headed, I then got to build a 1/25 scale - developed 1300lbs thrust and just about wrecked the test stand it was bolted too - maxxed out the load cell we initially used. I drew all the mechanical drawings, revised them until everybody in the dept and ONR was satisified, drew up bill of materials, located and purchased equipment. I did about half the machining and supervised the other half. Dream job - only prob it didn't pay crap! Wonderful hours, but lousy pay - typical univ job.

In the real world, I've build huge pieces of complex machinery - but basically through supervising crafts on the how and the where and in what order. That pulp machine was 600' long , 16' tall and moved a sheet of finished cellulose at 45mph, cranked out a 1.5ton finished roll every 15minutes - took almost a yr to built it. Other jobs have been much more on the intellectual side - NASA - my work and recommendations are flying every time Shuttle's on orbit. Things I never got to see other than on paper - the cargo compartment bay door radiators that manage heating and cooling are largely mine - god what a struggle that was. MEs tend to design stuff - someone comes up with a need in the business you're in and you go figure out how to make it happen.

You start in pre-engineering - thats usually the 1st year, get a taste of a few things - math, chem, and physics. You may need some remedial math work to make up for what this last bozo has failed to deliver. Its critical to get a good solid start with the math. If it takes semester to bring your pre-calculus skills up to par, so be it - it'll be time well spent. Who knows, you may find something you like more that 1st year, I saw many leave engr for other fields in the 1st 2 yrs and saw a lot of switching disciplines. I never wavered and I guess I was the one the dean talked about when we had orientation - the 1 of every 3 that actually graduate in ME.

I'm working as a senior consultant now on my own, self employed, and never dreamed I'd be doing this well. I can quit right now and never hurt for money, but I love what I'm doing and the folks I'm doing it with and for. I look forward to getting up everyday and going to work - I usually get to see or learn something new almost every day. I credit the ME background with making all this possible.

Wow! Do I feel Inadequate now. I don’t want to brag. That’s not my way but this will come out sounding like I am. I am a month away from my 27th birthday. The only bill I have is for my 4800 square foot house. I only owe 1\3 of what its worth. I make $86,000 a year doing a hobby I like. I am on my way to being debt free by the age of 28. You want to know my education level? High School. No I am not a rich kid. I make more than my father ever did. He will retire at the age of 65. I will by 30. If that falls through 35 IT WILL HAPPEN. My 2 cents don’t really matter here but I have no college education what so ever. Didn’t care for school at all. Not that it was hard. My senior year I had a 4.0 GPA. I just didn’t care. Through high school and after I worked for some great men. I learned hands on from people that know their field. I was running a machine shop at the age of 16. Yes I mean running it. I then tried my hand a wood working at a cabinet shop. I learned the building stages and moved into installing multi-million dollar jobs on the west coast. I managed the install crew there before I left. Then I changed to the largest Stair company in the US. I ran their decorative parts department before they were sold. I have worked every stage of residential and commercial construction and then some. The one thing I have found is that there are 2 ways of getting into a great career, a degree OR experience. Don’t get me wrong, I am encouraging you to go to college. You should. They have a lot to teach. I choose a different route. I have lost a job interview to guys with a degree but every time I have lost the interview I have had a call back simply because of my experience with what I do before the next job is posted. I have a mechanical mind. Engineering would have been great for me if I went to college. I had an economics teacher in high school that put it very simple “do what you love and the money will follow.” I did and is has. I bet a lot of RC nuts on this forum did just that. They went to college for what they love and it’s worked out great for them. Do what you love. Money will never buy happiness. That I know. I have enough to live on and that’s what matters. My family time is worth more money than a bank can hold. Here is my 2 cents in a nut shell: find a job you love to do and do it. Let it make you money but don’t work so much you never see your family. After everything’s said and done you will not have anything but your family. Hope this helps.:neutral:

awsome.
 

That was a great layout of how some people differ in the way they live their life and work their way up the food chain. I to had the opportunity to spend my time in school, but I just wanted to work with my hands. I hated wasting my time sitting in classes with teachers who had no ambition to live their own lives the way that they wished they had. I can learn how to do just about anything, and that has served me very well. I left school at 16 and worked odd jobs until I joined the US Navy at 18. I was thrown into a leadership position going onboard my first commmand running a shipboard power/propulsion plant, and wow did I learn fast. I was scared to death, but I refused to fail. I moved up through the ranks quickly and had a blast doing what I wanted to do. Working with my hands and then eventually teaching young men and women basic engineering skill on their way to the naval fleet. I retired in 1997 at the age of 38. I work now just to keep busy while my wife works on her retirement.

I have to say the most fun that I had was as a boot camp drill instructor for 5 years at the Orlando Naval training center before it closed in 1995. I put in over 20 years and as an engineer did less than 45 days at sea. That is just unheard of, but that is the way I guided my career. I wanted to work, but going to sea was the last thing that I wanted to do. I have always been at home taking care of business. I was very fortunate and now I have an impressive resume that lets me take any job that I want in my field. Don't get me wrong I had schools to attend, but they were practical on hands type classes with lab training except for the senior leadership training stuff. I hated going to school so college was not my cup of tea either Hickoryhead.

There is definitely more than just one way to skin a cat as they say. You don't have to love your job, but you need to love what it is that you do on that job. Too many people go to work every day and they hate their job, and their lives. The one thing that I am sure of is that if you commit your efforts to doing a great job you will succeed and enjoy the fruits of your labors.:lol:

Yep, don't do it if you really want a degree, either. Unless, of course, you're the oldest of 9, parents just now are getting good jobs, and want to do everything yourself, and only yourself. That's me, I got less than 2 years left in the USAF. I just now started signing up for classes in a Mech Eng career field. I've always done well in math, I understand it well most times. The biggest thing for me, however, is that I LOVE to invent, design, tinker, and play with things. Even little things, like a desk drawer, for example, get me in the "mood" to make it better than before, yet, for no reason.

I'm 21 years old and 4 of my siblings are in high school now. Part of being the oldest is doing the right thing and I want all my brothers and sisters to go to college. That's part of the reason I signed up for the military and also part of the reason I sign up for college classes while I'm still in. I want to get this going, so if I do decide to separate, I'll be ready and on my way to a degree. The other part is my girlfriend. I'm pretty sure things will go further with time and the military is not the way to go with that. She and I just spent 4 months away from each other. I was in Afghanistan, she was in Iraq. Two scary and unsafe places, especially for a girl. You can't build a family on that, not even a relationship will be as good as it could be. Get those student loans man....you'll pay 'em off with that ME degree sooner than you'll get those 4+ years of your life back from the military. Don't get me wrong, I think everyone should serve and I love the USAF, but it just won't work all the time.

/end long-ass post.

You will find in college that you will have to give up that "do it later rather than sooner". I had several instructors who found pride in the number of students they flunked.

I also somewhat understand your comment about "not reading" in that I have a 17 year old at home that thinks the same thing. In "real" life, you will get out of it what you put into it.

I had an instructor in college that kinda woke me up after I had flunked his class. He asked me how much I thought I would make when I graduated, and how much a year of college costs. Add those two up and that's what I threw away by having to be there another year.

Hickoryhead - you are an IDEAL candidate to get a degree, if not in engineering, then in a IE masters program. You could equate it to "the icing on the cake" to your career. Right now you are in your prime. Someday, you will be 40 something, and wont be able to keep your eyes open later than 8:00 pm.

lol that is an eye opener!! i just lost 50-60 thousand dollars by flunking one class:surprised::gasp::gasp::surprised::gasp:

and ya hickoryhead imagine what you could do with a freakin degree! DAYUM!!! but i guess its just a waste of time for you. hell you are making whatd you say 83k a year? why would you want to waste 4 years going to college when you can just keep doin that 83k.

i think that some people are just brought up well and get lucky (like hickoryhead) im sure you had to work hard to get there but you know you are lucky to be getting paid that without a college degree. you just knew the right people at the right time.

Luck??
 

If you believe in luck that is great:sleep:, but most people don't just fall into a good career. Right Hickoryhead? They have to work hard no matter what it is that they do. There is a lot of compitiion out there who want to knock you off of the top just to try and get your position.:diablo: So you have to be on your game 24/7 in order to compete. It is not just about getting an education. You have to jump right into the work force and make a reputation for yourself:whip:. That is what gets you to the top. Either that or a ton of butt kissing.

Believe me when I tell you that there are also a lot of people employed out there that have no idea what the hell they are doing. You have to wonder how in the hell they got passed the age of 20 without getting into some kind of accident or electricuting themselves. If you find your nitch and you truly put your best foot forward nothing can stop you. If you look for the easy way every single day it will bite you in the ass sooner or later. If you expect to lay back with a degree and the jobs will come to you, then you have a lot to learn. There are no free rides unless your family name is Hilton, or richy.

Life is tough and it never stops. My Dad used to tell me life is like a speeding train going down the tracks. You can either get off of your butt and climb aboard to enjoy the ride, or sit there and watch it go by. That is the choice we all have to make every single day. So mkae you choice and get moving:lol:. Life is good, if you make it that way.

I think Hickory hit the nail right on the Head!

when i said luck i guess you took it wrong. what i mainly meant was that he was lucky to have the resources he did to accomplish all of that.

almost all of my freinds parents own companies so they are extremely good at what there parents do for a living. they are lucky that they have the tools to excede what others do.

i figured that is what happened with hickory... maybe his dad knew someoen in the business and that is all how it started.

if not then that is truly amazing and i hope to be like that one day.

im not saying at all that hickory hasnt worked im just saying from my experience you have to know the right people for that kind of stuff to happen.