Getting old up to a certain point is a lot of fun. At 16, you can drive. At 18, you can buy lottery tickets. And at 21, we all know what happens: All of your friends and relatives at home start to remind you that you’re going to graduate soon. This is, of course, just in case, after spending two and a half years at an engineering school, you aren’t able to perform the math required to figure it out for yourself.
That’s where I am right now and I’m only a junior. I know its only going to get worse in the next year and a half.
Honestly, I don’t know what I’m going to do when I graduate—hopefully, between now and next May, I’ll come up with a plan that includes more than panicking. My plans change each week and at least for a little while longer, that’s OK. Convincing my family of that, however, is more of a challenge.
A lot of people choose to transfer out of RPI if they decide engineering or science is not for them. If you’re really unhappy with your major and can’t imagine sticking it out for the two or three years you have left, it might be worth it. It’ll most likely mean more time in school and money, but you can’t put a price on happiness or sanity. Otherwise, there’s no reason to feel that the rest of your life has to be spent chained to a laboratory.
A technical background isn’t bad to have. As many RPI graduates find out further into their careers, they end up doing things completely unrelated to their major, or at least things that are much different than they aspired to before they entered RPI.
A lot of companies like to hire engineers simply because they have good problem solving skills.
With all the math and science we’re required to take, you’re leaving this school with a good background to teach math or science to high school students.
Companies always need people with technical knowledge to manage or perform sales.
So, when you reach your junior year and start panicking because you’ve realized that you don’t want to be stuck in a laboratory for the rest of your life, it’s OK. All your work to date and to come wasn’t in vain, and you still have a good chance of finding a way to apply it in a way that you’ll like. As for me, I need to take my own advice.
