Virginia Tech is so much more than an engineering school. The disappointing thing is I can’t shake the feeling that those of us who aren’t engineers forget that. Last week I was talking with a history major, and he was telling me how unhappy he was with the department of history and its inability to meet his expectations.
I have heard similar verdicts from people of other departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, and my reply to them is always the same: either you are in the wrong program for your passions, or you simply are not taking advantage of the program you’re in. It saddens me that not everyone realizes all the things their major, their professors, this university has to offer.
Of course, the most important thing is to make sure you’re in the right program — that you’re working towards a degree that will give you the skills to go after what makes you happy. All of us hear this, but many of us don’t actually listen. Too many of us are struggling through one program when our passions beg us to struggle in a different one. Our parents tell us things will get better if we can just jump through all the hoops and make it to grad school, somehow manage our way into the real world. But if you ask me, if it’s not making you happy now, it won’t make you happy a year, five years, 10 years from now, or the for the rest of your life.
Think about what you’re doing. You’re free to push yourself to get a degree you don’t want but that you think you need. But after you read this, don’t ever say someone did not tell you to really consider if what you’re working toward in undergraduate or graduate school is what will make you happy.
The bottom line is, you shouldn’t be afraid to change what it is you’re doing. What you’re doing now is going to affect the rest of your life, so you might as well do yourself a favor and not settle. Find what makes you happy — not your parents, not your advisers, not your professors, what makes you satisfied and excited with your life.
For those of us who have found the program that works for us, it’s our responsibility to make sure we’re taking full advantage of it. We owe it to the university and the community to do so.
A version of this article appeared in the Apr 14 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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In response to "The bottom line is, you shouldn’t be afraid to change what it is you’re doing."
Virginia Tech does an extremely poor job in its ease of major changing among students. I am in the wrong program but have been unable to get into the one I am passionate about because of unreasonable and unrealistic "requirements" and "restrictions". The university is supposed to work for the students, not the other way around and in my history, and in that of several friends', they have failed in that aspect.
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Part 1:
I'm in the school of engineering and trust me, it's not all that it’s cracked up to be. For the past 2 years, I've been dealing with professors who don't want to be there but are required to be there and consequently don't care about their students. Even worse, for some reason or another, they think it is their duty to make it as hard as possible to pass the class. Like the goal here at tech is to NOT produce as many well educated engineers (which our country lacks) but to repel/drop out as many as possible and allow only the exceptional to make it. It's almost like the department takes on the Navy SEALS mentality.
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Part 2:
To be more elaborate, seems like every engineering course (in the ECE department) you get a dull lecture that is either hard to understand because of language barriers, or it's just poorly presented. On top of that, you get unrealistic assignments that expect you to know things you don't, but instead of teaching you the fundamentals they expect you to "just know it"
I still have 2 years to go and I'm hoping the float or sink mentality changes and professors start to actually want their students to be successful. I'm not saying all professors are this way but a lot I have encountered have been. It's a tragedy it has to be like that.
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Part 3:
Yeah there are plenty of opportunities to take advantage of and I advocate that, and I certainly do go to out of classroom things that relate to my major and go to office hours when I can.
However it certainly makes it harder to in the classroom when you have professors who seem to make it their job to do everything they can to fail you through impossible expectations, exams that have material not even covered, and more.
Tech may have many very qualified and expert professors, but what good does it do if they fail in the classroom.
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I agree, and while college isn't about "holding your hand" like in high school and a lot of learning does come on your own, at the same time ....you are also paying lots of money for their "education" and so you are entitled to some sense of quality, not to feel like a failure. In engineering I've known very brilliant guys fail engineering exams along with the rest of the class and slide by with a C. It's common although some departments are better than others. Usually the professors have to curve to prevent half the class from failing outright.
Engineering is not an easy subject. It's suppose to be challenging..but up to a certain point. The problem is that the exams in a lot of Engineering courses are designed not to challenge but to make it extremely hard to pass. I say this because time and time again, I've studied and kept on top of things only to get to the exam and have 1/3 of the material be new stuff that wasn't covered in the book, koofers,or the lecture. So how could you prepare?
That is the real flaw with a lot of exams that come from professors who are use to teaching graduates.
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It's a shame we're paying money for that and a lot of "would be" good engineers are discouraged and end up dropping out because your set up to fail, at least in the beginning courses.
It's almost like your better off "self educating" at the library or on youtube, it's free and you would get the same educational quality if not better than a lot of these professors give. While you shouldn't be spoon fed, you are paying for education after all, not to teach yourself everything. You can do that for free.
Just my two cents.
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