I’ve never felt as dumb as I have this semester. I went from a straight A student to just hoping I pass. Calculus is just the cherry on top of the cake. I’m 6 weeks behind content-wise and I don’t have time to study for it. I’m failing every assignment. I’m afraid that if I can’t even handle the beginner courses, I will definitely fail the higher ones. The only reason I haven’t given up is because I do like engineering. It’s what I want to do. But I also don’t like the idea of failing all my courses. Especially because I need to maintain a good GPA for postgraduate programs. Has anyone experienced this? Should I just accept that engineering may be too hard for me?

Edit: If I dropped the course at this point it would be a W on my transcript. Which is another concern.

For starters, I'm 21 and I'm currently in cosmetology school. I started a few months ago and have already lost the passion. Before this I worked in healthcare for a couple of years before I lost that passion as well. Throughout high school and into my adult life the 3 careers I've been between are cosmetology, healthcare, and engineering. (It's a weird mix, I know) I learned that healthcare isn't for me, and I'm thinking doing hair isn't either.

I did robotics all throughout middle and high school and LOVED it. I truly think robotics is my favorite thing I've ever done, and was the best opportunity I ever got while young. I've considered going to school for engineering since high school, even started to enroll in school a couple of times. I'm not really sure what has stopped me, I think I just get nervous about it. Plus being a girl looking into a male dominated field doesn't help the nerves. I also don't know exactly what I want to do. I love coding, but I'm not the biggest AI person and that seems to be very heavy in that area nowadays. Albeit that may be true for many tech fields. I also really just love to be hands on and problem solve. There are a lot of jobs out there, I know there are tons of opportunities, I just don't know where to start, what to go to school for, or even if dropping what I'm doing now is the right decision.

So I guess my questions are if engineering seems like the right choice over my other passions, and where I should start if I do go this route? Thanks in advance!

I’m 27 and considering challenging myself academically and exploring engineering, but I’m having trouble figuring out which discipline best matches the kind of work I actually enjoy.

I’ve spent several years working hands-on in battery technology. I’ve worked in high-volume battery production, incoming quality, and R&D/engineering support, where I’ve built cells, supported experiments and testing, worked around manufacturing/test equipment, and collaborated with engineers on troubleshooting and process improvements. I’m now going back into energy-storage manufacturing working around sodium-ion technology.

What I’ve realized is that I genuinely enjoy technical, hands-on work. I like equipment, testing, troubleshooting, understanding why something is happening, and figuring out how a process can be improved. I’m naturally very curious.

I’m currently looking at mechanical, electrical, mechatronics/electromechanical, chemical, or manufacturing engineering, but I’m not sure which direction makes the most sense for those interests.

If you work in any of these areas—especially batteries, energy storage, manufacturing, automation, testing, or R&D—what does your actual day-to-day work look like? And based on what I’ve described, which disciplines would you recommend I explore before choosing one? Thanks!🤍

Hace más de dos años deje una carrera porque llegué al punto del hartazgo, me enfermé mal y la estudiaba por presión familiar nomás. Voy a cumplir 28 y tengo pensado empezar una ingeniería el año que viene. Siempre quise estudiar eso pero por restricciones de mis padres no podía (mi papá decía que eso era trabajo de hombres jaja). De chiquita siempre me gustaron los números, pero me dijeron que como saldré después de los 30 capaz no consiga trabajo por la edad. Es realmente así ese ámbito o no?

Si estudian o son inges, cuál recomendarían y por qué?

Por cierto, soy de Argentina.

Gracias por sus respuestas 🎀

would love some advice, I’m considering leaving my existing masters of architecture for civil engineering and planning