Things I Wish I Would Have Known as a Freshman

Josh Rogers
Being a senior at Tech and being so close to finishing out my fourth and final year here, I've started to get a bit nostalgic for times past. I've also started to think about times past and what I would have done differently if I could go back and start over. One thing that I wish I would have known is how crazy or dedicated you have to be to get an engineering degree in 4 years. I would definitely go on a 5 or 6 year track if I could go back. I'd take a few more electives also, maybe learn a foreign language. I'd definitely get a minor at the very least, maybe even double or triple major and milk school for 8 or 9 years. It'd be really nice to be able to do school for a while longer. Even when I think about how ready I am to be through with classes and actually making , instead of spending, money, I still can't help but mourn the fact that I will likely never again be able to live the college lifestyle.

Granted , it's not for all of us, but I love this lifestyle. Wake up late, on most days at least. No real worries about bills or the like. Instead, all I have to worry about is what I'm going to spend the weekend doing, and whether to get a pizza from the Vu or from Trimbo's for dinner tonight. I think about how I should have been a bit more active my freshman year trying to find an internship, and about how I should have learned more about the career fair or about Career Services. About how I wish I'd known what to expect on the Fundamentals of Engineering exam. Strengths and dynamics, statics and electrical circuits, classes that some have to take and others don't, but all are expected to know. About how much easier it was to pass the FE after I'd taken the FE prep class, what a savior that was. About all of the professional societies that are out there for engineers and scientists and just about any other professional field. About how important it is to form a large network of industrial contacts when you are in college, and how much easier that makes the job search. About how I should have joined another club or two, or maybe taken the ski and snowboard class to have an excuse to go snowboarding during the week. About how I would have used the HPER more if I knew all about the pool, the racquetball courts, the equipment rental and all of the other amenities that they offer there, such as the ability to rent camping equipment, or equipment for various sports. About what they offer in the Digger Den; the pool tables, game systems, ping pong, and big screens to watch the big game on. There are a ridiculous amount of things that I didn't know about when I first came to Tech, and still a lot that I don't know about even now as a senior. I was even a campus tour guide for a year, and still don't know probably half of the things there are to do here. I know I've missed the chances for some things, but there is still a semester worth of stuff to do here at Tech, and I plan to go and dig up as much as I can handle.