[Rhodes22-list] The Nerd Goes Back To School

[Rob Lowe]

Roger,
I went back to school after a 11 year break in my sophomore year to complete
my undergrad in engineering and then stuck around to complete my master's in
same since I figured I needed the extra degree to compete with recent
graduates 10 years my junior.  Plus, I never felt the four year degree was
quite enough, but with your experience, you should be fine.  And I'm
currently working in my chosen job field (environmental engineering) which I
could have never done without the degree.  As others have mentioned, there
is a certain advantage to going back to school as an adult.  Just going to
class everyday and staying awake should be enough to pass!  And you don't
have to worry about where all the parties are.  I found that some of my
professors were completely clueless about "the real world" and about what
they were teaching.  As someone else mentioned, try not to correct them all
the time!  I also had a hard time calling some of them "Dr.", especially the
ones younger than I.  I sort of did the "Dr." vs. first name thing depending
on circumstances and personalities.

The class load you are taking on is a bit high, but you only need to get
through it during the next year.  Some advice?  Don't worry about being the
"A" student, just pass the course.  I found a C+ in calculus and in
environmental chemistry to be just fine :) .  The both counted as "passed".
Also, I found the third and fourth year courses easier than the first two
years as they were focused on what you wanted to learn.  The first two years
tended to be "weed out" courses.  I cruised during my last two years.  Good
luck, I know you can do it because I did, and I'm not as motivated as you
are! - rob

Rob Lowe
S/V Getaway


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Kaynor" <mark at kaynor.org>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Monday, September 01, 2003 4:24 PM
Subject: RE: [Rhodes22-list] The Nerd Goes Back To School


> Roger,
>
> When my dad was about 50 he decided to change careers - he quit his job as
a
> programmer/analyst and went back to school to get an additional degree in
> school administration. He excelled in school (being an adult has certain
> distinct advantages over being a college age youngster) but he was never
> able to land a job in his new career.
>
> He took another job as a programmer and he and my mom started a small
> gardening, landscaping, lawn mowing, and assorted other odd jobs business
on
> the side. In a couple of years he was able to take early retirement and
the
> two of them found working together outside to be thoroughly enjoyable.
They
> did pretty well until they decided they had to give it up - my dad was in
> his early seventies then, and I'm sure that, had he been able, would have
> continued on. I think he was happier doing the landscaping than any other
> job he'd had. All we can do is our best - then we get to enjoy seeing what
> comes next. Like they say - pray to God and row for the shore.
>
> We'll all be pulling for you. Good luck and hang in there.
>
> Mark Kaynor
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
> [mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org]On Behalf Of Roger Pihlaja
> Sent: Monday, September 01, 2003 5:54 AM
> To: The Rhodes 22 mail list
> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] The Nerd Goes Back To School
>
>
> Hi Everybody,
>
> Well, my life has changed again!  I've gone back to school at Saginaw
Valley
> State University (SVSU).  I've enrolled in their 2nd baccalaureate degree
> program in an attempt to earn a BS degree in mechanical engineering
(BSME).
> As many of you know, I already hold BS & MS degrees in chemical
engineering.
>
> The whole thing happened pretty quickly.  In the end of July, 2003, I
> received an advertising flier in the mail from SVSU.  As I quickly glanced
> thru it, intending to toss it out as junk mail, I noticed SVSU had this
"2nd
> Baccalaureate Degree Program" & they had programs in mechanical &
electrical
> engineering.  The BSME & BSEE degree programs really caught my eye because
I
> wasn't aware SVSU had an engineering school.  Up to that point, I thought
> the closest school that offered engineering degrees was Michigan State
> University in E. Lansing, MI, about 100 miles away.  So, the next day, I
> arranged an appointment with the SVSU Admissions Dept., took a tour of
> campus & the Engineering School, & talked with a couple of the engineering
> professors.  I came away convinced these folks & their program were for
> real!  The decision to pursue the mechanical engineering degree is purely
> market driven.  As I've been job searching, it appears about 75% of the
> engineering jobs that come onto the market in this area are for ME's.  In
my
> previous job, at the Dow Chemical Co., I did a lot of mechanical
> engineering-related work.  Those of you familiar with my technical writing
> for the Rhodes 22 list know that most of it is mechanical engineering
> oriented.  With 26 years of experience, I could probably do the job in
most
> of these positions.  However, without an ME degree, I couldn't even get an
> interview.
>
> However, I've been unemployed since March, 2002 & our savings are
dwindling
> away pretty quickly.  In addition, my older son Daniel, is just starting
his
> 2nd year of college as a Graphic Arts major.  So, from a family resources
> point of view, I needed to get the required class credits for this BSME
> degree down to something that could be completed in a year or less.
That's
> where this 2nd Baccalaureate Degree Program came to the rescue.  Despite
the
> fact that my 1st BS degree from Michigan Technological University dates
back
> to 1975, in the 2nd Baccalaureate Degree Program, all the general
education
> class requirements were waived.  All I had to do was determine how many of
> my chemical engineering college credits would transfer & count towards the
> mechanical engineering program.  Getting an official copy of my transcript
> from Michigan Tech sent to SVSU was no problem.  However, I needed to
> somehow get documentation of the course content of certain of my chemical
> engineering courses from the years 1971 - 1976!
>
> So, on very short notice, in the 1st week of August, Daniel & I made a
road
> trip up to Michigan Technological University in Houghton, MI.  Houghton is
> in the NW upper peninsula of Michigan, about 450 miles away.  We left
early
> one morning & got to Houghton by about 2:00 PM.  I spent the rest of the
> afternoon in the archives of the campus library.  The library archives had
> bound paper copies of the academic catalogs from the years I attended
school
> there.  I was able to photocopy the course descriptions I needed out of
> these original academic catalogs.  We camped overnight nearby & drove home
> the next day.
>
> >From these course descriptions, a few syllabuses (syllabi?) I still had
> from my college notebooks, and some letters of recommendation from my
former
> colleagues at Dow Chemical Co., I put together a stack of course petitions
> wherein I attempted to preempt out of as many ME courses as possible.  For
> each required ME course, I took the course descriptions from the current
> SVSU academic catalog and tried to justify my case that combinations of 3,
> 4, or even 5 classes from Michigan Tech &/or my work experience provided
> equivalent training.  I had to prepare stand alone course petitions for
each
> SVSU course I wanted credit for.  I also had to sort thru the remaining
> required SVSU classes to figure which ones I still needed to take.  In
> certain cases, I had to petition SVSU to allow me to take classes and
their
> prerequisite classes concurrently.  I had to submit these petitions to the
> SVSU mechanical engineering dept. and the entire ME dept. faculty voted on
> each one in private session.   After all the academic dust settled, I've
> managed to enter SVSU as a senior with 93 credit hours in the bag and 36
> credit hours remaining to be earned.  This works out to 17 credit hours
per
> semester in the fall and winter terms plus 2 credit hours in the summer,
> 2004 semester.  At this rate, I'll be done by August, 2004 with less than
> $10,000 invested, not including commuting costs.  It's doable; but, I'm
> going to need to find a job ASAP after that!  If it's not in engineering,
I
> may be flipping burgers at McDonalds a year from now.
>
> 12 - 18 credit hours is considered the "normal" range of full time student
> load.  So, 17 credit hours per semester doesn't sound like a real heavy
> load, right?  However, the course petitioning process left me with mostly
> the really hard core ME classes to take - i.e. the real "killer" classes
> that everyone dreads.  The normal 4 year BSME degree program has students
> taking only one, or at most two, of these killer classes per semester.
I'm
> taking three of these beasts at the same time this semester, plus a couple
> of somewhat easier (for me) courses.  The winter semester class load will
be
> similar.  Keeping in mind the last calculus class I took was something
like
> 30 years ago, the homework load is staggering!  For some reason, I only
have
> classes Monday - Thursday.  But, on Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday, I have
> classes from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM with a 45 minute commute on each end.
> Fortunately, there is downtime during the day to do homework in between
> classes.  Being a morning person, I'm not too thrilled with the 12 hour
days
> & the late evening schedule.  But, in each case, there was only one
section
> of the class available.  So, my class schedule has zero degrees of
freedom.
> I'm fortunate it's even possible at all!  I'm very motivated; but,
> hopefully, haven't taken on more than I can handle here.
>
> So, on September 22nd, I will turn 50 years old.  I will spend my 50th
> birthday in college classes with students less than half my age.  Because
of
> my late night class schedule, I've resigned my adult leader position in my
> Boy Scout troop.  You won't be hearing about any more Boy Scout Polar Bear
> Winter Camping trips for awhile.  For now, I've kept my adult leader
> position in the Venture Unit.  But, I've warned them I won't be attending
> any Monday night unit meetings and will be very selective about attending
> weekend outings for the next year.  Hey, load had to be shed somewhere & I
> think I'm going to need the weekends to catch up!  I plan to stay on the
> Rhodes list, but probably won't be as active in my contributions.  I hope
> you all understand.
>
> Despite the work load, my attitude is better than it's been in a long
time.
> I'm a very active person & engineers are, by nature, hard wired to be
> problem solvers.  The past 18 months of fruitless job searching has been
> pure torture & my ego & self esteem have really taken a beating.  I don't
> know where this new phase of my life is eventually going to end up.  But,
at
> least there's a goal to be worked for & it feels like I'm moving forward
> again.  My wife, Deb, is nervous about the cost & worried about me bearing
> up under the crushing class load; but, in the end supportive.  She was
> appalled at how many hours it took me to do my homework & amazed at how
> cheerfully I did it.  The nerd has gone back to school!
>
> Wish me luck!
>
> Roger Pihlaja
> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
>
>
>
>
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