Guest Blog: Helping Your Engineering Student Succeed in College
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The College Spy periodically welcomes guest blogs from other experts and thought leaders on topics we believe will be of interest to parents and students on the journey from high school to higher education. Today’s guest blogger is Sol Rosenbaum, a licensed professional engineer (PE) with undergraduate and graduate degrees in mechanical engineering, and founder of The Engineering Mentor.
Is your child entering (considering) engineering school?
Are you, as a NON-ENGINEER worried about how you’re going to be able to properly help and support them?
Here are three tips for non-engineering parents of engineering students to help support their child's journey into this unknown world:
1. The struggle is real and COMMON.
Sure, there are a handful of folks that breeze through engineering school, but that is far from the norm. The rest of us struggled through it and had to fight for that degree. Helping them recognize this is important. While it may seem like everyone else is getting straight A's, that is simply not true.
Along these lines, failing classes is not something that is often talked about. Personally, it wasn't until 10 years into my career that I openly spoke about the single class I had failed. However, failing classes is not that rare and the key is to be honest about WHY one failed a class and then focusing on addressing that specific issue.
2. Taking more than four years to graduate is a reality for some.
From the vantage point of their career, this is pretty much a non-issue. At the end of the day, no employer is going to care if they took six years to finish the degree; they simply care that they have the degree. Additionally, I have found that many engineering students do better pacing themselves a bit slower to reduce the pressure and end up with better overall grades by taking longer to graduate.
Summer classes can be used to still graduate in the "standard" time frame, but reduce each semester's load. Personally, I never took summer classes as an undergrad because the complete mental break was more important to me. My tune changed in grad school when my focus was on wrapping it up quicker, so I took summer classes.
However, one should not overlook the potential financial costs associated with taking longer to graduate. For universities that charge per semester (as opposed to per credit) then the academic costs are going to be higher. Alongside these costs will be the room and board costs associated with student life. An additional, often overlooked cost, is the lost potential salary that one could have been earning if they graduated faster and entered the engineering world earlier.
3. Be careful about pushing them into a major that really doesn't interest them because you think it is the "right" path.
Engineering students who are there only because of their parent's interests end up being MISERABLE.
That said, if someone is in their final year or two, it can make sense to stick it out even if they hate it because starting over would be costly and/or time consuming.
A few quick bonus items to keep in mind . . .
Accept that you are not going to understand every class or subject that your child is taking. Instead of avoiding conversations on these topics, I urge you to show interest in their classes and let them have the enjoyment of explaining things to you.
An engineering degree is a great springboard to other industries. Don't be concerned if your kid wants to move into business, finance, or other career fields. Any field that rewards analytical thinking is going to benefit from your child’s engineering background. Also, they could consider patent law which is something I considered personally when I was in engineering school .
My final advice to all the future engineering student parents . . .
As your child gets ready to take this next step in their academic travels, it can be tough to see your child struggle and feel helpless. The single most important piece of advice that you can take into this period is to lend a listening and supportive ear. You may not have the answers specifically, but your life experience has given you the skills to dive into a problem and try to peel back the outer layers and figure out the root cause(s). Once the root cause(s) appears to be known, then you can help them create a game plan to overcome their challenges.
As I look back on my 20+ year engineering career, there is no doubt that I would not be where I am today were it not for the senior engineers who guided and mentored me at each step. In my efforts to pay this forward, one of my passions is mentoring the next generation of engineers. I invite both you and your children to reach out to me if you can use a helping hand.
For further information, please listen to my podcast with The College Spy to hear more about how I help younger students in their engineering journey.
About the Author: Sol Rosenbaum is a licensed professional engineer (PE) with undergraduate and graduate degrees in mechanical engineering. He has worked in the energy engineering space since entering the engineering field and is currently the Owner & Managing Engineer of SR Engineering & Consulting. His firm provides engineering support to the commercial real estate industry with a primary focus on energy projects related to green loan compliance and engineering review of Property Condition Assessments. As part of his passion to help younger engineers, Mr. Rosenbaum founded The Engineering Mentor, where he is able to support younger engineers across the globe. In addition to reaching him through his website, he is an open networker and invites you to connect with him on LinkedIn.
Contact The College Spy for assistance choosing the right engineering college for your student. The College Spy assists students and families across the US and internationally with the college selection and application process. You can follow the The College Spy on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
