[ham] Re: [Rhodes22-list] The Nerd Goes Back To School

[Michael Meltzer]

Heard some real bad stories about desecrations and even after that "snob" stories from it not being from the right university and
even then not being a WASP.

MJM

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rob Lowe" <rlowe at vt.edu>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 2:03 PM
Subject: [ham] Re: [Rhodes22-list] The Nerd Goes Back To School


> Michael,
> Actually, I thought about PhD myself and a lot of people told me I would be
> a good candidate.  Can't say I'm real impressed with the PhDs that I do
> know.  It's a lot of BS to go through to make you an expert on one subject
> that may or may not have any bearing on the real world.  Also, seems a MS is
> more marketable than a PhD.  Most PhDs are perceived as "over qualified" for
> most jobs in my field. - rob
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Michael Meltzer" <mjm at michaelmeltzer.com>
> To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 11:27 AM
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] The Nerd Goes Back To School
>
>
> > good for you, I was thinking along the same lines not to long ago, quick
> question, why not the Phd?
> >
> > MJM
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Roger Pihlaja" <cen09402 at centurytel.net>
> > To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> > Sent: Monday, September 01, 2003 5:53 AM
> > 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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> >
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