Choosing a STEM Degree and Understanding College Readiness

On another note: You may have chosen a STEM degree because you think it is cool or fun to think about science, and the fantasy of building a time machine is your goal. I was this person. It is alright. If you cannot get yourself obsessed and into the material, it is okay to change your major. We all play an equally important role in society, no matter if you are cleaning the floors here on Earth or wiping down the windows at the international space station. We all play a role. Striving for goals and glory is just another form of intoxication—it doesn’t do any good to have plans for glory.

I have watched many students struggle only to fail at courses like physics and calculus. They are determined to get that engineering degree when they could never complete it, no matter how much they think they can. It may be because they are incapable or are not mature enough to buckle down on homework and studies. I for one, could never have done calculus in my teens or early twenties; I had to mature first. I started at twenty-four. Maybe sex and partying or love for someone takes precedence. I was this person. My hat is off to the eighteen-year- olds taking calculus and passing. I could have never in a million years have done that at that age! If you aren’t ready, you aren’t prepared. Unfortunately, your parents and society expect you to be at ready at a certain age regardless.

Make sure you know yourself and what you can do before committing to such a daunting task as getting an engineering degree. Maybe you need to just work a job for a few years and explore life before college. Think these things through before you jump into a degree you cannot handle and then end up failing everything and having to switch colleges only to get a business degree. I have seen this a thousand times. Ego and arrogance are your enemies in college.

Mathematics and Physics in STEM Degrees

Most people that take STEM degrees do so because they love mathematics and physics, which are the foundations of all STEM degrees. They like to do this for free and in their free time. Suppose you are an engineering major and dreading your math or physics homework. Why the hell are you an engineering major?

A Final Tip on Studying: Never Cram the Night Before an Exam

A final tip of advice on studying: Never cram the night before the exam. This is such a silly mistake students make.

Your brain is NOT a hard drive. It is a biological collection of mass that requires time to generate cellular structures in order to retain and process data learned.

I know that you have struggled with problems, only to set them aside and come back a few days later to find that they are no longer difficult. This is because the neurons and brain cells have now been created and formed—however that works as I am not a neurologist, but I do know the timeframe of physical development—and you can access the data you learned.

If you try to cram all of this into your brain the night before the exam, the exact opposite result of what you want will happen.