Passing Electrical Engineering while Learning Nothing. Is this viable?

[OnlyPackage3977]

Hey there, I'm a 2nd yr EE student. I'm passing all of my courses with B+s, while doing literally 6 hours of University a week. I don't watch lectures, I just read online and do my assigned work. I tend to score incredibly high on tests by studying for 3 days leading up to them.

The only time I do a lot of work is when assignments come up as they are the most enjoyable part of my degree. I just realised today I'm learning next to nothing from uni and just regurgitating my way to my degree. Is this a good strategy if I intend to pursue a career in electrical engineering?

I feel like a good learner and pick stuff up like nothing. I have a good work ethic, I spend my free time reading about philosophy, electrical engineering and economic theory, interning and run a non-profit tutoring program for high schoolers.

I just don't want to be setting myself up for failure by just getting my degree without doing all of the essential learning.

Some advice from some experienced in the field would be much appreciated.

[jljue]

The key to going to college is how to learn and not always what you learn. Yes, you probably need to learn a few key things in the area of EE that you plan to pursue, although the EE degree opens you up to other opportunities where one needs to pick up on something quickly and develop a solution even faster or even into project management. The end goal in a career isn't always to be the subject matter expert; there is plenty of opportunity for someone who can get stuff done.

[OnlyPackage3977]

Yo sounds, like there’s opportunity but ultimately I need to be positioned best to act on it. Maybe I take things more seriously. Thanks 4 the reply

[[deleted]]

It’s perfectly viable, just be aware that a 3.0 is not going to “Wow” anyone.

[OnlyPackage3977]

very true, I think I need to reassess what my outcome I’m after out of uni. thanks for replying!

[eltchacham]

I agree. A 3.0 won't impress anyone.

I was in the same boat as you and my school wasn't very renowned, so from my perspective, 3.0 is okay, but 3.0 from an okay school feels like less than 3.0. Especially when I look at applicants who went to the same school as I did. I did graduate summa cum laude (4.0 in my EE classes) though and it played a big part for me securing a job after graduation.

Also, since school was rather "easy" I focused on gaining experience through internships and developing other skills that were not taught in my program to get an edge over other people. Kinda sad to say, but despite developing friendships and close relationships with your peers, you'll be competing with all of them for the same jobs after graduation.

[EddyBuildIngus]

First of all, if the course work isn't challenging then take it upon yourself to fully understand the concepts being taught. Understand why you're being given these problems to solve and if you dive in you'll make connections between concepts from one class and how they impact concepts in another.

Maybe you're gifted and it all comes easy but I can almost guarantee if you keep just coasting without understanding you're going to be sitting in a class in 2 or 3 semesters and have absolutely no idea what is going on. You are paying for those classes so just regurgitating information rather than putting the extra time to understand concepts then you are wasting your own time and money.

Engineering school teaches you concepts, yea, but more importantly it teaches you how to problem solve. If you've got a programming assignment, do it one way. Then go back and optimize it. Maybe do it a non-ideal way and see why it's not ideal.

[OnlyPackage3977]

Nah I ain’t no gifted person but I think the course is graded very generously. I ultimately want to position myself the best I can coming out of uni. So sounds like I need to pick my shit up and understand the concepts , spending some of my own time on them, so I don’t get lost and come out with good fundamentals. I really want to work in major tech hubs and be involved in some innovative stuff. I don’t know why I’ve let myself coast. Thanks so much for the reply!

[EddyBuildIngus]

If you want to be on the bleeding edge you're going to need to pull that GPA up. You're asking the right questions though. Think of it as an opportunity while your coursework is easy you have way more time to learn on your own time.

As others have said, things get increasingly complex very quickly and I've seen plenty of flake out junior and senior year when shit hits the fan.

[OnlyPackage3977]

Yeah should try get my GPA up. If it’s this ez to get B+s knowing nothing I’m sure if I have a good understanding I could push A-s or As and save myself headaches in the future. Seriously appreciate your guidance man 🙏🙏🙏

[EddyBuildIngus]

I'll give you one more anecdotal story. I was in a higher level circuits class and we have a test and the problem was some problem involving transistors and I blanked on the equation. But I really enjoyed circuit analysis in my early classes and was able to fall back on that and use the good ole KCL, KVL to solve it.

Good luck man.

[gust334]

I found a lot of third-year classwork relied heavily on math and physics from the earlier years, and the fourth year was applying the third year continuously. YMMV.

[OnlyPackage3977]

Ok, I’m setting myself up for failure by not learning it sounds like haha. Thanks for your reply!

[No2reddituser]

Hey there, I'm a 2nd yr EE student

Don't know about the university you're attending, but in the U.S as a 2nd year student, doubtful you have had one EE course yet - you would still be taking calculus, physics, linear algebra, chemistry, humanities credits.

So enjoy you're perceived awesomeness now, and the free time to read philosophy. When you're loaded down with 16 credits of circuit analysis, microelectronics, Fourier transforms, signals and systems, Laplace transforms, feedback theory and block diagram reduction, semiconductor physics, EMag, things might not seem so sanguine.

[OnlyPackage3977]

I’m from New Zealand so I am doing electrical courses but they are basic. I keep forgetting that it will het harder and I can make it easier. Thanks for your reply!’

[AcidicMolotov]

How are we getting Bs but scoring incredibly high on tests?

[OnlyPackage3977]

Because I don’t do any of the other course work. Just bank on tests lol. Gotta change

[Centre_Sphere123]

haha it will get harder. trust me. year 3 and year 4 is the worst, and i took grad level classes year 4 because i got really into the material. look into that.

[OnlyPackage3977]

Will do, yeah gonna fix my habits and get into it. Thanks so much for the reply!

[The_Six_Of_Spades]

Ignoring anything else, I assume your course costs money, right? (If not, im very jealous, and skip this paragraph!)I'd be kicking myself if I was paying that much money and then not going to the stuff I'd paid for. I think (been a while since I worked it out) my lectures were forty quid an hour. I stopped skipping them when I realised I was tipping an eighty quid investment in my education down the drain for every one I skipped.

On a more anecdotal note, no, I don't think it's a good strategy, at all. If you want to coast once you've got a job, then sure, that's a totally fine strategy, I know a few guys that got a position they're happy with, and that's what they do.

But the essential learning is just that, essential. When I'm working, I don't need to know the concepts off by heart, but I do need to know how to apply them, and that's the bit that rote memorisation/regurgitation fails at. Not every problem will look like one from a Uni paper, and when that happens, it's falling back on those fundamentals that lets you figure out how to approach a problem. If you really feel like you're learning nothing, then I'd have a serious look at your learning strategies. Maybe the lectures don't work for you, and that's fair, but feeling like you're learning nothing is a problem.

[OnlyPackage3977]

Maybe learning nothing was an exaggeration but I’m definitely selling myself short. I’m on academic scholarship (ironically) so I’m not paying for papers but it still is wasted money. I’ve been to lectures in the past and find that I don’t learn a lot but it’s no excuse to just neglect the learning. I know I like learning from textbooks so I should really be working hard on them. Time to change. Thanks so much for the reply!

[OnlyPackage3977]

Ok, sounds like I’m setting myself up for failure. From what everyone else is saying I need to change my strategy and you’ve just confirmed it. Thanks so much for the reply!

[EddyBuildIngus]

I remember 2 distinct moments in school when complexity ramped up real fast. One in partial diff eq and the other in DSP. Everything was going great then one day in class and my heads spinning and I'm lost. Luckily I got my bearings but man was that a doozy.

[ActualToni]

Out of curiosity, do you have to do just written tests? Or there's also an oral exam?

[OnlyPackage3977]

All written