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Returning to College for an Engineering Degree
KiTA
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I'm returning to school after discovering the WIA program will pay for it due to Dell closing my callcenter.
The general plan is it's worker retraining -- that I'll be done in 2 years and back in the workforce. They'll pay for the school and the expenses of said schooling, as well as extending my unemployment for those 2 years.
After a lot of soul searching, I decided to go back for Computer Programming -- Art is nice, but I have no natural talent for it, and while I love my carnivorous plants, I don't think Horticulture is my goal in life.
I'm a bit overwhelmed already, which isn't good, cause this is supposed to be the easy part.
The local community college has a 2 year AE program for Computer Engineering that transfers to 4 year schools. The class schedule for it is as follows:
COMM 101: Fundamentals of Oral Communications
COMS 224: Intro to Programming: PASCAL
COMS 229: Intro to Programming: C++
COMS 250: Data Structures
ENGI 120: Introduction to Engineering
ENGI 250: Electrical Circuits
ENGL 101: English Comp 1
ENGL 102: English Comp 2
MATH 170: Calculus 1
MATH 175: Calc 2
MATH 176: Discrete Mathematics
MATH 230: Introduction to Linear Algebra
MATH 310: Ordinary Differential Equations
PHYS 211: Physics for Scientists and Engineers 1
PHYS 212: Physics for Scientists and Engineers 2
Electives (11-17):
CHEM 111: Principles of Chemistry 1
HUMA: Gen Ed Humanities 3-11
CISA 101: Computer Literacy Skill
MATH 275: Calc 3
SCIG: Gen Ed Sciences 4-5
SOCS: Gen Ed Social Sciences 3-11
I tested into Math 108 -- Intermediate Algebra. Not bad for having not taken a math class in 10 years, I thought. However, that puts me behind a bit -- I will need to do Math 108, then Math 147 (PreCalc), before I can start in on Math 170 (Calc1).
I met with an advisor who suggested the following course load:
Summer (6/7 - 7/30):
ENGL 101 (3c): TWR 8 - 9:50
MATH 108 (4c): MTWR 10 - 11:40
Spring (8/23 - 12/16):
COMS 224 (3c): MWF 10 - 10:50
MATH 147 (5c): MTWRF 12:00 - 12:50
ENGI 120 (2c): MW 1 - 1:50
ENGL 102 (3c): TR 2 - 3:20
I saw that Elementary Japanese (4c) was available, so I added:
JAPN 101 (4c): MTWR 11 - 11:50
Basically, CSI has Japan 1 in the Fall, and Japan 2 in Spring -- if I don't take it in Fall, it's not happening. And I don't know what Fall 2011 will be like.
But adding JAPN 101 (which would be an Humanities Elective, a total of 8 out of the 11 I need) would put me at 17 credits, and a 6 hour block of classes without a break. It's definitely a "want", not a need.
I also met with the head of the engineering department, who suggested the following electives:
PHIL 202: Ethics
ECON 201: Principles of Microeconomics
OR
ECON 202: Principles of Macroeconomics
As taking those two are suggested by the Engineering accredidation board (they might be adding them to the degree soon) and would be specifically asked for if I transferred to a 4 year.
He also had a basic premade plan for 2 years (not including summer classes, * = can be easily rescheduled):
Fall 2010:
MATH 170
ENGI 120
COMS 224
ENGL 101
COMM 101*
Spring 2011:
MATH 175
PHYS 211
ENGL 102
ELECTIVE*
COMS 229
Fall 2011:
MATH 275
COMS 250
PHYS 212
MATH 176
ELECTIVE*
(19 credits)
Spring 2012:
MATH 310
MATH 230
ENGI 240
ELECTIVE*
They specifically state that as long as I start Fall with MATH 147, I should be ok for 2 years.
So I guess my questions are as follows:
Any Engineers in the audience? Is Engineering the right path for me? I'm aiming for a career in Software Engineering / Computer Programming, that was my original goal at YVCC before they fiddled with the degree options. That appears to be the best one for that -- it's the only one with programming classes as part of the major. Presumably I'd be heading for a 4 year, perhaps after taking a year or two to actually work in the field and all that.
I've heard I should expect 5 hours of work per week per credit -- is 17 too much? I have taken Pascal before, so I don't anticipate it (or C++, taken that before too) being difficult, nor do I anticipate ENGL 102 to be overwhelming. So my big classes would be MATH 147 and JAPN 101.
How hard are those high end Math classes? Discreet Math? Linear Algebra? Ordinary Differential Equations? I believe my exact situation (Computer Programmer stuck in ODE) has been made fun of on XKCD or Abstruse Goose or somesuch.
Is there anything I should be doing to start preparing myself for a Math frame of mind? The wikipedia article on ODE has me filled with pants wetting terror. I literally cannot see a universe in which I could understand a damned word of that article, yet alone in a little over a year and a half.
The general plan is it's worker retraining -- that I'll be done in 2 years and back in the workforce. They'll pay for the school and the expenses of said schooling, as well as extending my unemployment for those 2 years.
After a lot of soul searching, I decided to go back for Computer Programming -- Art is nice, but I have no natural talent for it, and while I love my carnivorous plants, I don't think Horticulture is my goal in life.
I'm a bit overwhelmed already, which isn't good, cause this is supposed to be the easy part.
The local community college has a 2 year AE program for Computer Engineering that transfers to 4 year schools. The class schedule for it is as follows:
COMM 101: Fundamentals of Oral Communications
COMS 224: Intro to Programming: PASCAL
COMS 229: Intro to Programming: C++
COMS 250: Data Structures
ENGI 120: Introduction to Engineering
ENGI 250: Electrical Circuits
ENGL 101: English Comp 1
ENGL 102: English Comp 2
MATH 170: Calculus 1
MATH 175: Calc 2
MATH 176: Discrete Mathematics
MATH 230: Introduction to Linear Algebra
MATH 310: Ordinary Differential Equations
PHYS 211: Physics for Scientists and Engineers 1
PHYS 212: Physics for Scientists and Engineers 2
Electives (11-17):
CHEM 111: Principles of Chemistry 1
HUMA: Gen Ed Humanities 3-11
CISA 101: Computer Literacy Skill
MATH 275: Calc 3
SCIG: Gen Ed Sciences 4-5
SOCS: Gen Ed Social Sciences 3-11
I tested into Math 108 -- Intermediate Algebra. Not bad for having not taken a math class in 10 years, I thought. However, that puts me behind a bit -- I will need to do Math 108, then Math 147 (PreCalc), before I can start in on Math 170 (Calc1).
I met with an advisor who suggested the following course load:
Summer (6/7 - 7/30):
ENGL 101 (3c): TWR 8 - 9:50
MATH 108 (4c): MTWR 10 - 11:40
Spring (8/23 - 12/16):
COMS 224 (3c): MWF 10 - 10:50
MATH 147 (5c): MTWRF 12:00 - 12:50
ENGI 120 (2c): MW 1 - 1:50
ENGL 102 (3c): TR 2 - 3:20
I saw that Elementary Japanese (4c) was available, so I added:
JAPN 101 (4c): MTWR 11 - 11:50
Basically, CSI has Japan 1 in the Fall, and Japan 2 in Spring -- if I don't take it in Fall, it's not happening. And I don't know what Fall 2011 will be like.
But adding JAPN 101 (which would be an Humanities Elective, a total of 8 out of the 11 I need) would put me at 17 credits, and a 6 hour block of classes without a break. It's definitely a "want", not a need.
I also met with the head of the engineering department, who suggested the following electives:
PHIL 202: Ethics
ECON 201: Principles of Microeconomics
OR
ECON 202: Principles of Macroeconomics
As taking those two are suggested by the Engineering accredidation board (they might be adding them to the degree soon) and would be specifically asked for if I transferred to a 4 year.
He also had a basic premade plan for 2 years (not including summer classes, * = can be easily rescheduled):
Fall 2010:
MATH 170
ENGI 120
COMS 224
ENGL 101
COMM 101*
Spring 2011:
MATH 175
PHYS 211
ENGL 102
ELECTIVE*
COMS 229
Fall 2011:
MATH 275
COMS 250
PHYS 212
MATH 176
ELECTIVE*
(19 credits)
Spring 2012:
MATH 310
MATH 230
ENGI 240
ELECTIVE*
They specifically state that as long as I start Fall with MATH 147, I should be ok for 2 years.
So I guess my questions are as follows:
Any Engineers in the audience? Is Engineering the right path for me? I'm aiming for a career in Software Engineering / Computer Programming, that was my original goal at YVCC before they fiddled with the degree options. That appears to be the best one for that -- it's the only one with programming classes as part of the major. Presumably I'd be heading for a 4 year, perhaps after taking a year or two to actually work in the field and all that.
I've heard I should expect 5 hours of work per week per credit -- is 17 too much? I have taken Pascal before, so I don't anticipate it (or C++, taken that before too) being difficult, nor do I anticipate ENGL 102 to be overwhelming. So my big classes would be MATH 147 and JAPN 101.
How hard are those high end Math classes? Discreet Math? Linear Algebra? Ordinary Differential Equations? I believe my exact situation (Computer Programmer stuck in ODE) has been made fun of on XKCD or Abstruse Goose or somesuch.
Is there anything I should be doing to start preparing myself for a Math frame of mind? The wikipedia article on ODE has me filled with pants wetting terror. I literally cannot see a universe in which I could understand a damned word of that article, yet alone in a little over a year and a half.
KiTA on
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My initial response was "don't do it," but looking at your schedule it seems that there wouldn't be any day of the week when you'd actually have ALL of those classes. Take a sheet of paper and write out your schedule for each weekday, then assess if you can do it.
Not sure how worker retraining works, but check to see if you need a minimum number of credits per quarter/semester.
Engineering: I'm not an engineer, but my understanding is it's a very demanding field of study. Make sure you love or at least enjoy that kind of thing and aren't just going into the field for $$$. A lot of people switch majors/burn out of it. Personally, just looking at all that math makes me nauseous, but some people thrive on it.
Even if the CC says their program is transferable, CHECK IN ADVANCE with schools you think you'll be interested in transfering to. (Some have equivalency guides online where you can see what will transfer from your CC.)
Good luck! I went the "return to school after a long absence" route as well and even though it's been hard, it's definitely worth it in the end.
If the workload for Comp Eng classes is anything like the classes I took the first two years, then 17 credits might be a bit much. I managed to pin myself down with 15 credits of Physics, Calculus and Statics in the same semester and ended up getting physically sick from the stress and having to take time off. Granted, those were all the 'weeding' classes for engineering majors and I stupidly took them all at once, but still.
The way I prepared for the tougher math classes was to get the textbooks ahead of time and start practicing some of the earlier chapters. That gave me a head start on the classes and also taught me to ask the right questions in class. As far as being intimidated by ODEs, once you actually take the class you learn a shit-ton of shortcuts that trivialize solving them so don't even worry about it.
More importantly though: Congratulations! After all those shitty threads you are finally doing something worthwhile! Be happy!
https://medium.com/@alascii
Studying a language is not a "hee hee, this will be fun!" elective. Like he said, they're really time intensive. Especially one where you have to learn a whole new "alphabet".
I just graduated with my Mechanical Engineering degree not more than a week ago. Shoot me a PM if you have any specific questions.
How good were you at math back in high school? If you found yourself really having to try hard to do well, you might reconsider.
Also, mcdermott may be reporting correctly on his school, but where I went the hardest semesters were third year. Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer (granted, those are mech-e courses) kicked my classmates' butts, and I was lucky that both came pretty easy to me. The first "weed-out" classes I remember were Physics 2 and thermodynamics, in second year.
Last, the general feeling amongst my friends and myself with all that math: you never really understand it until the next semester where you apply it. I got through Ordinary Differential Equations pretty easily, but I really didn't understand it that well until I had to apply it in Electric Circuits.
The other best advice I can give you is: be overprepared in the beginning. I slid through Physics 1 without really studying and got a C. The problem is that I took Statics next semester which built off of it, so I was behind everyone else. I didn't manage to fully catch up, so the next semester I was behind for Dynamics. I still don't understand rolling mechanical systems as well as I should. Do your best to understand everything as best you can in the beginning, or you'll regret it.
Oh, and I strongly advise against taking Japanese. I took Latin for 6 years in high school, so I figured I could probably handle taking Latin in college first year. I went to 2 classes before I realized that the amount of homework I'd have to wade through was not worth it.
If not, then just tell me to go away!
I too am all signed up to go back to college to get my engineering technologist degree (Mechanical). How much prep work should I be doing before this kicks off? I am two years out of university with an accounting degree, so I doubt all the math I learned there would be too helpful. Would it be smart to go get one of those Math and Physics self help books and work my way through them as a refresher?
mcdermott is correct on all accounts, though. Do you know if the program is ABET accredited? It sounds like it is, based on the courses offered. There's a big difference between ABET and non-ABET engineering programs. If it's a known program at a relatively large school then it should be.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
For example, I graduated with a CS / SE degree 3 years ago, and the last semester I had one class that was a 'senior project' kind of deal. One program, giant requirements spec, one semester to do it. Crunch time on that was brutal, but knowing that I had one less class to study for a final for, as well as no homework to do was liberating.
Oddly enough, one of the best pieces of advice I can give you is DO NOT BRING A LAPTOP TO CLASS UNLESS THE CLASS IS HIGHLY INTERACTIVE. If they are standard lectures, I guarantee you that you will start surfing facebook, here, or who knows what instead of paying attention. The standard excuse that people can 'multitask' or that you can get homework done during class has been debunked on multiple occasions, and has been linked to poorer performance. Just bring a spiral notebook and some writing utensils.
Also, you won't be working at this time right? 17 credits is a bit more than most people would take, but without a job it is doable. I known people who managed 15 and a full time job.
Yes, advanced math in an engineering program is hard. However, there are so many resources to help you through the coursework that as long as you apply yourself (and go to class/recitation sessions!) you should be ok. It absolutely seems daunting, but once you get through your initial classes and into calculus, you're really going to be exercising that part of your brain regularly and the intimidation factor will gradually reduce.
It sounds like you have a good plan to get through two years at CC and then onto a 4-year university, I would narrow down your goal 4-year school and absolutely make sure with their registrar that all of your CC classes will transfer. Nothing is more annoying than having to take Calc or Physics twice because oops sorry, that class doesn't count here.
And I'm waffling on the language thing. I took four years of French while doing my Eng degree, but I had already studied it for years prior - and even though I was really familiar with the language from HS/grade school classes, the college level language classes are so much more intensive it's pretty ridiculous. But, I do think that taking language or music classes along with the advanced math helps you in the long run, because they use similar pathways in the brain (yes, math is a language too). It's going to be a lot of work, but if you think you're up for it definitely do it.
And just a note on "weeder" classes - it's not necessarily about any one class, but more about the courseload that eng students find themselves in during their second and third year. Developing good time management and study skills before then is pretty imperative.
This is bullshit. I take all my notes on a laptop and I've never once checked my Facebook or surfed the forums during class. If you have even a modicum of discipline, you'll be fine. You'll also take MUCH faster notes and they'll be easier to organize at a later point.
Also, I would not recommend taking the Japanese class unless you really really want to learn it.
This is a bit OT, but how does one takes notes on a laptop? I mean, I can't even begin to imagine taking notes on Ochem using a laptop...
Yes.
Also, why an Eng Technologist and not regular Eng degree?
Basically, when I started it was Comp Sci (and I was Comp Sci Programming), when Echo took over 95% of the students quit "IT" and joined Engineering, and all but one of the teachers quit on her. (Looking back, this is also known as a "warning sign".) I didn't, cause, that would have required that I be paying attention to my life, and back then there were other things to do, like Final Fantasy 7 and Everquest. You know, important stuff.
I ended up with 2 2 year AAS degrees and 45 credit hours that didn't count, due to being talked into retaking classes I didn't need -- the school was riding the remaining IT teachers hard due to all the students switching out for Engineering.
The programming teacher was *trying* to warn me back then before they forced him out in lieu of a cheaper accounting teacher who didn't know Programming, but I wasn't paying attention and he wasn't allowed to flat out tell me to leave YVCC for a bigger school.
He still literally pulled me aside and told me I needed to leave YVCC for a bigger school.
One of the things I remember him talking about was doing a lot of coding for Warehouses and whatnot, for what I guess you'd call embedded systems or somesuch. I always thought it was just higher level computer programming stuff, but reading up on Computer Engineering, I guess that's a closer fit to what he was doing?
I just don't know enough about the field. It's like what Terrendos said, lack of early prep work leaves ya playing catch up -- but it's infinitely worse in my situation cause I'm playing catch up with common sense.
My goal for a college degree was a more generalist degree this time, so I would have a good basis to specialize with later -- and this time, I'm getting my gen ed requirements done, damnit.
Thing is, I already know Hiragana and Katakana. I was going through Heisig's method of learning the Kanji, but stopped when Dell started falling apart, so all that work is lost. My original plan was to go through Khatzumoto's Deep Immersion method (alljapaneseallthetime.com) after learning the Kanji, maybe that's something to do again.
While I still don't consider myself as having made any progress in learning Japanese, a friend (who actually hangs out here, thinking about it) pointed out on FB that I am not going into this completely blind...
Basically, my fall quarter is shaping up to be Pascal, Math, English, Engineering and Japanese. Pascal should be a gimmie, as I have done it before. English I am not anticipating being something that will kick my ass too hard. And the head of the department made it sound like Intro to Engineering wasn't going to be a weedout course.
Math and Japanese are the two that are probably going to kick my butt the most.
Um, wow. I was not aware they would. Everything I've heard has been 2 years only. I go in to talk with him today and get inserted into the WIA system, maybe I can pitch the idea to him. I'm just terrified of him turning me away if I get too greedy or something.
Part of the problem is there's about 600 Dell people here in Twin that are all aiming for WIA stuff, I don't know if their budget will allow for people going for Bachelor degrees instead of 2 year stuff.
Didn't think of that. I'm an Applied Linguistics major so I don't really take classes of those types.
Let me rephrase that. For non-science type classes it's much easier to take notes on a laptop.
Let's not even take the kanji into account, languages are still a huge time sink. If it's been a while since you've been in school, taking a large class load including a language is not a good idea.
Ease into things. If you're going to be there for two years, you can take Japanese over the Summer or in your second year.
Yeah, if there's a bunch of people trying to get assistance then maybe they can't afford to pay for all four years. I was lucky and got my WIA contract before two large production plants around here shut down and the workforce office became swamped. From what you posted in the OP it looks like they're extending your unemployment as well as funding your education? I only got part of the tuition and travel expenses so maybe you're getting a similar deal but with the money distributed differently. I'd still ask them if you can do the 4-year thing, provided you haven't already started paperwork with the community college. It never hurts to ask, and that's what the workforce representative is there for.
EDIT: Also you appear to be in a different state so maybe they have different guidelines as to what they can fund and where they can send you. I guess what I'm saying is, YMMV.
They offer Japanese 101 in Fall, and Japanese 102 in Spring. No summer course, or I'd be taking it starting next month. And I don't know if I will have room for it in the schedule next year -- conflicting classes, ODE math kicking my butt, etc. It just kinda... fit. Perfectly so, which is why I thought it was providence, but, who knows, you guys make good points. I still have until the middle of August to decide if I want to drop it or not.
I was thinking of picking up an iPad, the idea of taking notes on it might be the justification I need to shell out the cash for one. I wonder if Evernote or whatnot would be good for that. Anyone have any experience taking notes on like, an iPhone or something?
Edit: http://abstrusegoose.com/206 Found it.
I can't imagine that taking notes on an iPhone would be something worth doing. For formulas and whatnot, I'd just use pencil and paper.
Also, there are lots of classes that are offered that'd fit "perfectly" with my schedule. Doesn't mean it's providence. If you can drop it by August, sure, try it out, but realize that at that time in the semester, the work load is not going to be anything like the one you're going to have come midterms or finals.
And I've found that I definitely remember things better if I physically write them out rather than type them, but your mileage may vary
I would also echo that while some engineering programs have weed-out courses early, a lot of the later courses can also be brutal. My second degree is CS, and my brother (whom I lived with for a time in college) got his ME degree. His later classes were brutal, and he spent Sunday,7pm - Friday,4pm studying or working or going to gym, no exceptions. He is a very disciplined person--I would have flunked out gloriously back then if that was my load. My upper-level CS courses were not so mentally demanding, but the projects got larger and larger.
You've done "soul-searching", but have you sought the help of a career center? You might be tempted to think that noone knows you better than yourself and thus you have nothing to gain by seeking their input, but don't believe that self-lie. My campus had one, and for a nominal fee I was able to use their resources and get some feedback on personality-career match-ups. I did this before I started my second degree--I did not want to spend years and $10,000's and have nothing to show for it, like I had already done on my first degree. (oh, I should say that I did graduate with my CS degree Dec '06, don't regret a bit of it, and have been employed since then.) Definately something you should consider--the amount of time and effort you are about to invest are substantial.
CprE here, though it has been about 7 years since graduation.
I wouldn't get an iPad tbh. Paper and pencil are fine, you can use a laptop too, with the advantage being that you will be able to run the other software you will need later on (Office, various IDEs, etc). I've heard OneNote is quite good for note taking and students get pretty hefty discounts on Microsoft stuff generally. However as has been said you will need discipline to use a laptop in class. If you lack that discipline, do yourself a favor and leave any electronics at home.
I'd skip Japanese for now unless you are really serious about taking it all 4 years. At the start of your program is when you are the most inflexible and will be doing the most work. It is just the nature of the program. Once you get to Junior/Senior level classes, your workload will probably drop off some and you will have more time to freely indulge in electives. You can make your later years hard, but it is far less mandatory, since you will be taking technical and general electives rather than being required to take the weed out and foundation courses.
I'd take micro too, but that is just because I find economics fascinating. There seems to be a lot of overlap between people who like economics and engineering in my experience.
The projected schedule the engineering head gave you looks fine. You are taking largely the same types of classes I took in my first year. I would see if there is some opt out for the oral communications class and maybe the composition classes depending on the strength of your writing. A lot of time those sort of classes allow you to just test out. The only thing that struck me as at all odd was that they are still teaching PASCAL, but that isn't a big deal. Learning the fundamentals of programming is far more important than learning any given language and PASCAL is a fairly reasonable teaching language.
Let me correct myself -- it STARTS in August, and presumably I can drop it for a week or 4 after it starts.
That's nothing -- YVCC's CS / Programming degree was Fortran and COBOL. I think C (not C++) was an elective, as well.
I'm honestly not seeing the hard classes early on -- most of them look like standard stuff. The second year is when physics and the higher end math stuff starts showing up.
Also, are you sure you want to be coding all day 5 days a week for the rest of your life? I don't want to be a downer, but that is what programmers do. Some people like it, but not everyone is cut out for doing it long term.
Both of those are things I'm trying to figure out. I just don't know.
As for CS vs CE -- The only degree that required Programming was Computer Engineering. That led me to gravitate towards it. My idea was a generalist degree, so I would have options after college. I don't want to get a tech certificate style degree -- I don't want to go to college for a specific job, but rather a field.
Does that make any sense? I don't know if it does. I'm worried a Comp Sci degree would end up with me back doing Tech Support again. I can't keep tech support up. I've done it for 8 years now and if I don't do something else, I'm going to have a breakdown. I was even considering Art or Horticulture, just to get away from Tech Support.
It's not like I couldn't aim for Comp Sci after the 2 year -- as someone mentioned earlier in the thread, transferring from Engineering to ComSci is easy. The other way, not so much.
I have a natural talent for coding, it's one of the only things that "clicked" back in the day, to the point that I took every coding class YVCC required (including a huge number that I didn't need). I was even tutoring most of the coding classes for YVCC, sometimes miniature classes of 5-6 people at a time. It was... fun, but crazy.
There's a difference between classes you want to take and classes you need to take. If you want to take the Japanese course, take it. But if it interferes with your required stuff, as in you find you don't have time to study for your required classes, etc., then you might want to drop it.
Time management skills are pure fucking gold. I need to work on mine...
I can has cheezburger, yes?
This isn't really true. You do code yes, but at least amongst the programmers I know (myself included), you aren't trapped in a dungeon coding for 8 hours straight. There are other aspects of software engineering that need to be taken care of as well. Requirements derivation, design, test, etc. And there are paths out of coding and into other things like program management.
Or you can just use the capital you accumulate at a higher wage to switch careers.
Also, I'd do CprE over CS, even given that almost all my day to day work is related to programming. It opens up more options IMO. At least in my program, there wasn't anything a CS major could do that I couldn't, and there were many things I had familiarity with that they did not.
Computer science itself is more the theoretical "how do programming languages work / how do they run on computers" theory intensive algorithms type stuff. Software engineering if more the "I have problem x, and I want to solve it with y." Computer engineering was more the EE side of things, with less of an emphasis on programming languages and programming, and more of am emphasis on hardware / firmware level coding. Luckily, in this regard, I think the first 2 years at a CC will pretty much count for any of these, but its something to consider.
As for the classes you are taking, computer science majors of any kind don't necessarily need Calc3; but you will need linear algebra, etc. I would recommend that you definitely respect your math courses, since everything will eventually be based off of them.
If you work super hard outside the real world, the real world becomes much easier to handle.
Work as hard as you can in college and it will pay off for the rest of your life. Just tread a fine line between that and burning out.
This I can support 100%. If you're doing a rough major, I'd recommend not taking any class that you absolutely are required to take (gen eds included; pick the easiest ones).
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
This is more of an issue of economics...I simply don't have the money at the moment to take another 4 years of Uni. I am stepping back into this a bit late (27 years old), so I am more concerned about getting into the work force rather then getting the degree.
I have done some research and have seen some cases where Eng firms provide funding for the Bachelor while working..so that may be an option later.
I would love to go get the bachelor, I just really don't have the coin. With college only $2,500 a year for 2 years, I can more easily afford that then the $5,000 for university for 4.
It sucks, but I want into the industry and just trying to fight my way in.
What should I be reviewing? The best thing that comes to mind is High school level Algebra, Calculus and Physics. Would I be far off on that assumption?
According to this, Algebra and Calc.
That's a thought: Are there websites I could use to review and study for Math? Get a head start?
First, I personally think that 5 hours per credit per week is INSANE. I did about 15-20 hours a week for my senior design class my last semester, but that was horrible and by far the hardest I ever worked for a class in my life. 3 hours per credit is the number I hear most, but I think even average students only spend that much time on their hardest classes.
For the math classes, I never took discrete math, but I've heard that the CS/CompE people consider it a weed-out class.
Linear and ODE are not super tough, Calc 2 is the kicker, after that it ought to be smooth sailing.
Even if Calc 3 is an elective, I'd recommend taking it. After you transfer you may have to take something like an Advanced Engineering Math class that would benefit greatly from Calc 3, or might even require it as a prereq.
Physics may be one of your more challenging classes. I started life as a physics major, and college physics was an easy freshman class, but when I started grading for the class later I noticed lots of people that were using green engineering paper were having trouble, and when I switched to CE I heard lots and lots of bitching about physics from smart upperclassmen who did well in all of their engineering classes. I think it's just a different mindset, but physics can be considered a bit of a roadblock by people in engineering programs.
I'm not sure that taking the two semester sequence of economics would be a huge help. ABET requires that you take an Engineering Economics class, but here (and I think many places) that takes the form of a 400 level class that your sequence would probably not get you out of when you transfer.
Unfortunately I know virtually nothing about programming and upper level CompE classes. I build roads, damn it!
Paul's Online Math Notes is pretty awesome for this.