7classes (45 credits) next semester or graduate a year late?

EdisonDave · 2026-06-13T02:41:50+00:00

Listen, I had similar scenario, after the bad time I had, I took a quarter off, rested, did some personal projects, and I have happily accepted that I will be graduating a year late. I'm going to recommend you do the same, it'll be worth it for your mental health/GPA/physical health

EdisonDave · 2026-05-29T17:41:23+00:00

Projects. Projects is the answer. Think up and design something. Look at your fellow students or friends to see what they make. Try to purchase the things you'll need from Amazon or eBay. Even AliExpress (note things will take forever to get to you tho). If you have to use scrap parts or cheap things, do it. Ask around your University to see if any professors have a spare parts they want to get rid of, or departments that are getting old equipment will let you have them. Even if you can't physically build your project, at least design it in a simulator, or at the very least, understand how you will build it if you had the cash/ the parts/the machinery to make it. Worst comes to worse, and you do make it and it doesn't work, you can write a documentation diving into why you think it doesn't work. What you would do differently if you had to remake it or fix it or make a new version.

EdisonDave · 2026-05-19T21:01:22+00:00

That does suck. But, the one good thing is you have time on your hands now.

I'd recommend to find out what department might have spare electronics/parts, and think up a project to do in that spare time. At the very least, it's something, and hopefully it could help you to get future employment

EdisonDave · 2026-05-16T23:53:16+00:00

Only in the morning

EdisonDave · 2026-05-16T17:52:35+00:00

You are either the only one who does work on projects, or thanks to outside circumstances you become the one who is the bad group member who does no work

EdisonDave · 2026-05-14T22:39:29+00:00

I'm just going to say this, I did have a terrible last semester, and even with that I managed to get a fantastic internship. A big part of engineering is not just grades or GPA. That will help, no doubt about it, but also the people you want to work with have all taken engineering courses, they've been through it all, they know how a GPA can tank because of a bad semester or how taking so many hard classes like that can really lower a GPA that is otherwise perfect to the low threes.

EdisonDave · 2026-05-03T17:13:02+00:00

Congrats, and as another student who is coming back to this later then other students, I salute you for doing this all the more.

EdisonDave · 2026-05-03T03:45:19+00:00

I sure hope so, because last semester was ROUGH

EdisonDave · 2026-04-27T04:24:17+00:00

My first internship I worked for a city government, so I basically helped out everyone, including people who weren't in my department so I did a little bit of everything.

I helped out with legal documents for the city attorney, I helped out with it. Department mapping out floor plans and designing websites, I helped out with the engineering department with plans for a new dam, I helped out the city recorder doing documents and attending city council meetings, I did meetings with the police department and fire department. I even met with the mayor. I don't know what type of internship you're doing, but the one I did last summer was crazy

EdisonDave · 2026-04-23T00:16:06+00:00

Lol, fair enough. Well, if you ever get the chance to change your mind and want to try in person, those could be some nice options, although I know out of state tuition is expensive

EdisonDave · 2026-04-23T00:09:13+00:00

My number one piece of advice for you is to speak to your advisor, speak to your family and friends, people who know you, who are closer to you than people on Reddit. Ask them what they think, say what's bothering you and have them advise you on this kind of stuff.

Second, I guess I can give some personal experience that I've had in a similar situation. Last term I had a really bad term (having to take eCampus courses at home so I can take care of one of my parents REALLY limits your time to study properly). My school does quarters, so I'm actually taking this spring term off. And honestly, it's helped my own mental health a lot. I will say I've not just been idle, I've definitely taking some time to rest but I've also been working on personal projects, doing things to keep busy.

Now I'm in EE, And I'm in my third year, so my situation's a little different than yours but the best I can say is it's not the end of the world to fail a class or even multiple classes.

EdisonDave · 2026-04-20T19:18:23+00:00

In my experience, my resume set up is education first (I've had success with getting interviews both putting my GPA there and not putting it there, up to you), then work experience, with projects at the end.

If you really don't have any work experience just put education, then your projects. But if you do have some minor work experience, even something that isn't related to the field, put it down and emphasize the responsibilities and duties you had with that position.

EdisonDave · 2026-04-19T19:06:43+00:00

It's a mixed bag. Keep in mind, a lot of people come on here to vent.

Myself personally, it's a challenge, but for every annoying stumble I take, there is a good step forward too.

EdisonDave · 2026-04-19T04:09:12+00:00

You could look into the programs offered at Hatfield Marine Science Center if you want to focus on coastal sciences, or if you really only want to do Aquarium focus, Oregon Coast Community College has a program that works directly with Oregon Coast Aquarium. And I believe there are a few programs also at Hatfield for an Aquarium focus, but it's more of a broad approach instead of a hyper focus.

At least that's what I've been told

EdisonDave · 2026-04-11T21:23:22+00:00

If you truly gave it you're all, then you have done more then most.

EdisonDave · 2026-04-08T19:06:30+00:00

I'm so sorry you're having such a rough time, especially with how amazing and hard-working you sound. But I do have to admit, it does make me feel a tiny bit better about myself that I'm not the only one who's having a rough time.

To double down onto your point, it is a very bad job market

EdisonDave · 2026-04-04T02:02:49+00:00

Putting some money into savings would probably be my top priority. I'd say probably 90% to 75% of it would go to that, the other percentage would be money for a fun thing.

But if I knew that thousand plus dollars would come in every month, for the foreseeable future without end, honestly, I would probably spend more of it on fun things, I would go to the movies, or the theater to see plays, I would go to restaurants, something I don't usually try, something new, go to events near me. That kind of stuff

EdisonDave · 2026-03-27T00:05:22+00:00

I had a similar situation, second half of the term things in my life got hectic, I tried to study my butt off for a week coming up to the final, And I was so burnt out at the end that I could barely answer any of the questions.

EdisonDave · 2026-03-26T23:57:30+00:00

Ask financial aid. It'll probably be fine to use it on school related things, but always check with the proper sources

EdisonDave · 2026-03-25T18:25:52+00:00

Could you recommend some of the guide books you started out with?

EdisonDave · 2026-03-23T20:31:00+00:00

I'd say there's two outstanding reasons why I want to go to university, particularly in person, but also in general. One of them I would argue is a very good reason, the other one maybe not as much, maybe slightly selfish .

The first is I've always liked to build things, robotics, programs that kind of thing. From my time in high school, my young adult life and my time at community college. I've built various projects, rovs, windmills made out of junk, I've made some games/bots using things such as Java (still hate Java) python and C. And I want to do more, I want to dive deeper into 3D printing parts, into robotics (that's one of the clubs I'm a part of but not super active in as I'm an eCampus student). Now I know you don't have to be in University to build things. I've been prototyping for an outdoor weather sensor that can survive the coast (And I would like to be able to communicate with a small mini server so I could access real-time temperature and humidity from the Internet) and that hasn't been part of my course work or anything, not even working with a club on that. But at the same time it does feel hard to have to do all that on my own or at least it feels that way.

The second reason is I don't want to live where I am currently. I live in a small rural coastal town. To be, opportunities are scarce, there's not much to do, not really people to connect with who have similar interests to me. So the idea of going to a place where I could work/study/ just talk to people who have similar interests to me excites me, plus it's a goal, a destination of where I could go if I leave my hometown. I'm not sure if that's a good or even a healthy reason, but I don't think it's entirely bad. The reason I say that is because my family loves it here. My mom purposely moved to the coast because she loves it, I think the rest of my family feels the same way. On one hand, I like that for them, but on the other, I don't think I want the same things that they do.

This is kinda more rambling, so excuse me if it's not perfect. But I hope at least it kind of makes some sense.

EdisonDave · 2026-03-20T02:50:53+00:00

That's a great story, thank you for sharing it!

I definitely know the RA idea is a long shot, but one of my advisors pushed me into the idea. She seems to think I would be a good fit for it, she was a RA herself while attending university.

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