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Break from Projects for a While :-(

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LAN_403

EDY19

Thu Aug 24 2006, 01:37AM

Registered Member #105 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 08:54PM
Location:
Posts: 408

Well, a new stage in life- College! I'll still be surfing the forum often I hope, but I probably won't be adding any new projects for lack of space in the dorm for my entire lab. But weekends, boy will those be full of projects! Any others going to college for the first year?

Part Scavenger

Thu Aug 24 2006, 02:33AM

Registered Member #79 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 11:35AM
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 673

Good luck man! What's your major?

HV Enthusiast

Thu Aug 24 2006, 02:59AM

Registered Member #15 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068

Be sure not to get too buried into work or projects. Go out and have some fun - meet other people, party it up, and enjoy the college scene. You'll have plenty of time in the future to work on projects.

EDY19

Thu Aug 24 2006, 11:42AM

Registered Member #105 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 08:54PM
Location:
Posts: 408

Majoring in EE, but having thoughts about something in audio possibly- speaker design/amplifiers.... Im not quite sure.

Jrz126

Thu Aug 24 2006, 01:58PM

Registered Member #242 Joined: Thu Feb 23 2006, 11:37PM
Location: Erie PA
Posts: 210

EE is a great choice. I'm going into my 5th year for EE and computer engineering. I just need a few gen-eds and some comp. eng. courses.
I was alittle disappointed though, its about 95% theory and about 5% hands-on. Which is ok I guess, but its alittle hard to follow some times. I compensated for it by having projects outside of class.
I'd highly recommend getting a sweet calculator...like this one:

. Maybe not right away because you wont be able to use it for your calc classes. Once you get into your EE classes though, it'll help alot for the tests.

Which college are you going to?

scuba14c

Thu Aug 24 2006, 02:14PM

Registered Member #236 Joined: Wed Feb 22 2006, 09:59PM
Location:
Posts: 13

I've been at Michigan Tech over the summer for Boimedical Engineering.

Electroholic

Thu Aug 24 2006, 05:35PM

Registered Member #191 Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 02:01AM
Location: Esbjerg Denmark
Posts: 720

2nd year Chem Eng. gota love the male female ratio.

Hazmatt_(The Underdog)

Thu Aug 24 2006, 08:47PM

Registered Member #135 Joined: Sat Feb 11 2006, 12:06AM
Location: Anywhere is fine
Posts: 1735

There's really no need for a super sophisticated calculator. Once you get passed Calculus 2, they don't let you use calculators. Not to mention when you're doing more of the theoretical stuff you don't even use a calculator, its all you.

An unfortunate side note, I wanted to post my linear systems exam, but the instructors keep all the more difficult stuff. I think im going to ask him if I could get my exam though so I can post answers on Observability, Reachability, and the process.

Carbon_Rod

Fri Aug 25 2006, 12:39AM

Registered Member #65 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:43AM
Location:
Posts: 1155

I remember my first college level degree â€“ some tips:
1.) Try to sell your books via private sales (10% off bookstore)
2.) Student union book sales may save you some money
3.) Keep books you may need as reference later
4.) Gym lockers cost the same and are 3 times the size of regular lockers
5.) Itâ€™s a marathon, save any partying until after finals. 48% of students will fail to transfer out (it is competitive after all.)
6.) Remember to work backwards from the requirements of the university faculty you wish to enter. Some colleges are notably bad for graduating prepared students in subjects like physics. The longer you are there the worse it is for you academically. Not to mention not all credits are going to transfer the same (unassigned credits are practically useless.)
7.)

is not always reliable, as instructors know it exists and can give inaccurate reviews. Talk to former students, as some instructors are tricky.
8.) Awards and scholarships are great as few ever really apply for them â€“ if you have above a 3.8 gpa for first year then you often get a university entrance award that pays the tuition. Second and third year GPA entrance requirements are usually lower â€“ however, if you retake classes most universities will simply average the mark obtained
9.) Student medical and dental: If you play contact sports this is essential, but may be unnecessary if you have a union job that pays for coverage already.
10.) If co-op is optional for your institution, I would recommend getting a paid semester to find out if the area you are interested in is really what you want to do (also, when you graduate you already have 1year experience in the field.) Sure youâ€™re underpaid and not appreciated â€“ but so is everyone else when they start.
11.) Calculators: Are not permitted for low-level calculus, linear algebra, and discrete math. The only course IIRC that allows them is simple statistics. It may be helpful to learn the following if given a lab option: MatLAB, Maple, and Mathematica. You will get to a point eventually where some things are not feasible anymore to do by hand.
12.) Choose instructors you understand â€“ some people are intelligent but really donâ€™t give good lectures.
13.) Notably after third year a visiting student pass and or transferring majors is practically impossible to get.
14.) Postgraduates may be disappointed by some university rules about credit expiration and course transfer limits. However, some institutions may give you a break in the GPA requirements and priority registration if you already have a degree.
15.) Depending on the faculty, some may have barriers that prevent registering in select courses. However, there are always other schools near by -- At one point I had attended 2 universities, 1 college, and did a 4-month term with the government at the same time. You donâ€™t have to settle for what they give you â€“ just make sure the credits transfer to cover your degree requirements (make sure to talk with student services.)

Projects â€“ Pfft â€“ Try to find time to sleep...
Good luck,

Simon

Fri Aug 25 2006, 02:42AM

Registered Member #32 Joined: Sat Feb 04 2006, 08:58AM
Location: Australia
Posts: 549

I'm currently taking a second year of a BSc with majors in maths and physics in Australia and I can agree with the bulk of this.

You don't need a fancy calculator. Here we were told to get a big sophisticated machine costing $$$ for pre-tertiary maths but now not only do I not need it, I'm not allowed to take it into exams anyway.

For maths (including vector calculus and other stuff engineers do) I do not need a calculator at all. Derivative of x squared is two times x. No calculator necessary or even helpful.

For physics I need a calculator but for that the old-fashioned "scientific" calculator is fine. Off the top of my head, beyond basic arithmetic I'd only use trig functions, raising things to powers, logarithms, pi and Euler's constant. Statistical functions are sometimes handy but not necessary - definitely not anything beyond mean and standard deviation. (I'm doing a second year statistics course and any serious stats we do is on a computer.)

It's likely there'll be computers with MatLab or Mathematica around and they'll satisfy anything you'll conceivably need otherwise.

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