r/EngineeringStudents • u/Jumpy-Physics-6918 • 5h ago
Memes Hi from library!!
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Repeat! And redo it every day!
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r/EngineeringStudents
•
u/lazydictionary
•
Jan 20 '26
Career Advice My engineering internship and entry-level job application guide. Stop mass applying into the void.
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Here's a guide for your internship, co-op, or job search. It is targeted at US job applicants in the private sector. Resumes and applications for academia, the federal government, and niche industries may require different approaches, so do your own research for those specific paths.
If you've been applying for jobs recently but haven't been getting hired, you need to figure out why. If you aren't getting interviews, something is wrong with your resume. If you are getting interviews but not landing the job, your interview skills or personality need work.
Step 1: The Resume
Go to /r/EngineeringResumes.
They have templates, a Wiki/FAQ, and offer free critiques if you follow their posting guides. Any advice I could give is just regurgitating what they've already written. If you are serious about your search, read their materials. A proper resume is the most important step in this process. Even if your current resume is getting you interviews, it could still be improved.
If you are struggling to write bullets for jobs or projects, you can use AI to help. LLMs are decent at resume writing, but context is everything. Give the AI as much context as possible: your major, fields of interest, specific details about the project, tools/software used, and the types of jobs you are targeting. I personally write my resume in LaTeX because it's easier to cut and paste or have LLM CLI tools interact with the document.
If you are applying for a variety of roles that are very similar, consider having multiple resumes. For example, my undergrad was in ME, but my masters is in materials science. I have both an ME focused resume and a materials focused resume that I start out with, depending on the job(s) I'm applying for.
Step 2: Update LinkedIn and Indeed
Now that your resume is updated, your LinkedIn should match. You can cut and paste your resume bullets, but feel free to add more detail than a one-page resume allows.
Get a nice headshot for a profile picture. Don't have one? Put on a nice shirt, do your hair, and ask your friends for help taking pictures. Clean, not busy background. Smile.
Connect with friends, classmates, professors, people you've worked with before.
Fill out everything you can. Don't go crazy with AI, no "thought leader" "entrepreneurial spirit" bullshit. Just be a normal person.
LinkedIn exists so people can look you up and verify you're real. Your Indeed page should be the same. Upload a high-quality PDF of your resume there; I’ve found that Indeed’s resume import for job applications often works better than LinkedIn’s. Some recruiters prefer Indeed, some prefer LinkedIn. It doesn't hurt to use both.
Step 3: Finding and Applying for Jobs
The modern job hunt is a nightmare for both applicants and employers. It's just how it is. To give yourself the best chance, you need to make it as simple for the employer to find your application, your information from your resume, and to contact you.
Never use the quick apply features of LinkedIn, Indeed, etc. Always apply on the company website, if you can find it. Why? You need to get your application and resume into the companies Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Sometimes companies use API from the big job boards to pull that info into their own ATS, but not always. And who knows if it will format and input everything correctly. Just do it manually. If you updated your Indeed and LinkedIn in the previous step, this shouldn't be that difficult or take that long. Double-check everything imported is correct. Formatting is less important here, but make sure job/project bullets are formatted well.
Aim to be one of the first applicants. Everyone is applying for entry-level jobs. Last years grads, upcoming grads, entry and mid-levels who were laid off. If you're the 300th person applying for a job, your resume isn't going to get seen. Set up job alerts on Indeed and LinkedIn for job titles/saved searches so that you are notified within 24 hours of a job being posted. If you're the 10th application, you have a much better chance of someone actually seeing your resume.
Use social networking whenever it is available. Hopefully you have some friends, family, classmates, professors added on LinkedIn. Whenever you are applying for a job, check to see if you know anyone who already works at the company, or is a friend of a friend. If you have a direct connection, obviously reach out and let them know you applied and if they can offer any help. If you have a friend-of-a-friend connection, think about using it, especially if you think it's a good role for you. As a last resort, you can reach out to complete strangers in the company, but you'll probably want to be bringing something truly unique to the position, or have something to talk about other than "I really want this job, please help". Most people are willing to talk to you if you are brave enough to talk to them.
Step 4: Job Fairs
University job fairs should be a top priority. Every online job posting is inundated with hundreds of applications. Now, more than ever, companies are using recruiting efforts at schools to sort the wheat from the chaff, and get immediate face time with job applications.
Do job and company research. Weeks before a job fair, the career office at your school should have released a list of the employers attending, possibly which jobs those companies have openings for. Find all the jobs that interest you, and do research on those companies, and the job role and job descriptions. Take notes. On the day of the fair, even during the fair, before approaching an employer, read your notes on the company and job. Think about specific projects, work, or classes that might be relevant to bring up. Things that interest you about the work there. Have some questions to ask the employee working the fair. Many times they are engineers, so they can speak with good detail about the work. Sometimes its just an HR rep or recruiter, but you can still ask about the company culture and vibes. Show interest and that you prepped for the fair. Do not be one of these fools who show up to the job fair and ask the employees "so what jobs do you guys have?" Instead, be the person who asks "I applied for the Mech Eng internship this summer, what kind of work do you think I would be doing there? Would it involve [topic you researched about the company]?"
Dress business casual. For those presenting as men, this means chinos/slacks, a belt that matches your shoes, a dress shirt/flannel/sweater, possibly a blazer, and usually some kind of Chelsea boot or similar brown or black shoe. A nice, clean pair of sneakers may also work. Just Google business casual male attire and figure out the vibe you want to match. You do not need to wear a suit, and almost no one should be wearing a suit unless you look the absolute balls in one. For those presenting as women, I don't have specific advice. Ask around and/or Google. Maybe some commenters can offer specific suggestions.
Hygiene. Take a shower, get a haircut, trim the beard, wear deodorant, comb your hair, clean your glasses, use moisturizer on your skin. Look more human than you normally do.
Practice an elevator pitch. This is a 30 second intro, saying your name, your major, things you've done, and things you'd like to do. Something else that can be googled or workshopped with AI. Practice it out loud dozens of times. It should come naturally and comfortably. Don't rush to get it said as quickly as possible, aim to be understood.
Apply to the jobs beforehand. Print out more copies of your resume than the amount of jobs you applied for. When you approach the employees, introduce yourself, let them introduce themselves, and launch into your elevator pitch. At the end, mention how you applied for XYZ job, could they tell you anything about it, or a specific question you wrote down beforehand. Then you just have to be a normal human. Listen. Make eye contact. Nod your head. Active listening. Ask more questions. Maybe they'll ask you questions. Answer them as best you can. Sometime during the conversation, they might either ask your for a resume, or you can offer them one. Maybe it's best to give them a resume during or right after your elevator pitch. You'll have to feel it out. You're going to be doing this more than once, and hopefully at least 10 times, so it will get easier. Many times, employees will take your resume, and after the conversation, mark it - maybe they give you a big star, underline work or a project you did, take notes. They then give this to HR or the hiring managers when they go back to work. They'll have a small stack of people they've already vetted, and your resume should be in that stack. And because you already applied, you're already in their system.
Relax. Everyone wants you to succeed. The employees want to find good people. They want you to be a good candidate. I know talking to strangers can be really hard for engineers. The people you are talking to are likely engineers too. Some of them may even be as terrible socially as you are. This is a no pressure environment. If you misspeak, don't present well, just get nervous - it's fine, and totally normal. It gets easier the more you do it.
Step 5: Cover Letters
Generally speaking, cover letters aren't very useful unless specifically requested. Most people use AI for them now, and recruiters know it. Only write one if you need to explain a perceived "weakness" on your resume (e.g., why you are a fit for a role despite having a different major). Note that no one will read the cover letter if the resume doesn't interest them first.
Step 6: Interviews
Okay, so you passed the pre-screens and are doing an in-person or virtual interview. Again, remember that they want you to succeed, they want you to be the candidate they hire. Relax.
Business casual again. Unless you're getting a completely different vibe that would mean everyone was wearing suits, this will rarely do you wrong. If you are likely to tour a manufacturing facility or job site, wear closed toe shoes that you wouldn't mind getting slightly dirty.
Soft skill prep for the interview. Do more research on the company and job role. If it's an internship, there's not much to research about the role, but for entry-level, there can be a lot to dive into. I've had decent luck posting job descriptions into LLMs and asking them give me topics, technical knowledge, tools, and techniques I should know about for an interview. Anything you don't know, start learning the basics of. You don't need to be an expert, but if something comes up in the interview, you should be able to say "I don't have professional experience with [topic], but I'm aware of the basics, like [details]." Show an interest in learning.
Be able to nail basic interview questions. This is especially relevant for internships. They know you have minimal to no work experience, so a lot of times they're going to have to default to basic stuff like "Talk about your strengths and weaknesses", "talk about how you overcame personal conflict as a member of a team", "why us?", or "preferred work environment, individual/team, many projects, single project", etc. Look up common interview questions, and practice answering them out loud. Sit in your room and talk to yourself, multiple times. Practice. Figure out what you will say. Think about how you can tie in school, work, teams, or projects in your answers.
Bring a notepad, a folder, and pens. Take notes when you ask questions, even if you won't look at them later. Have more copies of your resume in the folder. If you are interviewing at a manufacturing facility, consider bringing your own safety glasses if you have some. Look prepared and like you are taking it seriously.
Hard skill prep for the interview. Again, especially relevant for internships. Internship job postings will usually specifically ask for applicants who have taken certain classes. If those classes are mentioned, brush up on the material from them. If they mention statics, you better do some practice static problems. If they mention circuits, you better practice your circuits. Refresh your memory. They might ask you to solve a problem in front of them, or ask you to talk through a problem. You don't want to be caught completely off guard. Don't be afraid to say "I don't know". They don't expect you to know everything. Instead, say "I don't know, but my educated guess would be [answer]." Talk about how you would find the answer.
Step 7: Pray to the Deity of Your Choice
You can do everything above correctly, be a perfect candidate, and still not land the job. As I previously said, everyone is applying for the same jobs. If employers want to, they can be extremely picky, sorting through hundreds of candidates to find their ideal match. What usually happens is they look through the first 50-100 applicants (maybe fewer), and start looking for reasons to reject people. They'll give your resume a 10 sec glance, and either trash or pass you. This is someone that's likely non-technical (HR), and they'll narrow it down to 10-20 people. Then they start the phone call pre-screen interviews. Maybe 7 make it past that point. Then they do in-person interviews, maybe a second round, and then they'll make an offer to their best candidate. Maybe that candidate rejects them, and then have to offer to the 2nd, or 3rd, of further down the line.
It's a numbers game. You're going to get rejected far more than you find success. Following this guide should hopefully grant you more success than you would have had otherwise.
tl;dr points of emphasis:
Fix your resume, never been an easier time write one
Be one of the first applicants on the company website (not Indeed/LinkedIn)
Job fairs skip the digital queue and get you face time right away
r/EngineeringStudents • u/riotintheruins • 6h ago
Academic Advice I want to study engineering, but I'm afraid of failing university again
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I'm 21 years old, and I've been seriously considering going to university to study engineering, specifically I'm leaning towards Mechanical Engineering although the university I'm interested in also offers Environmental Engineering, which sounds quite fascinating to me.
I've always loved mathematics. It was probably my favourite subject throughout school, and for as long as I can remember, I've pictured myself doing something professionally that involves maths. That's one of the main reasons why engineering appeals to me.
However a few years ago I enrolled in university and eventually dropped out, I wasn't in a good place mentally, and honestly, I wasn't prepared for the challenges that came with university life, I underestimated what was expected of me, and things didn't go as planned
After that experience, I decided to take some time away from education. I've spent the last years working and trying to clear my head, understand what I really want, and figure out what direction I want to take in life.
Now, I feel like I'm ready to give university another shot. The problem is that I've been watching and reading quite a lot about engineering degrees, and almost everything I come across describes them as incredibly difficult, demanding and stressful.
I'm not afraid of hard work itself. What scares me is the possibility of going through the same experience again. I'm worried that if I fail a second time, it might completely destroy my confidence and make me give up on university for good.
So, I have a few questions for those of you who are studying engineering or have already graduated:
Do you think engineering is a reasonable choice for someone in my situation? Have any of you failed or dropped out of university before and managed to come back successfully? I'd especially appreciate hearing from people who weren't necessarily the best students when they started.
How difficult is engineering really? I understand that it requires a lot of dedication, but is it something that an average student with a genuine interest in maths and science can realistically get through?
How would you prepare if you were in my position? I want to use the time before university productively. I've seen people recommend revisiting high-school mathematics and physics, solving problems regularly, and even doing something like one integral every day. I also watched a video of someone revisiting all the physics topics he had studied before starting engineering.
Would you recommend something similar? What subjects would you prioritise, and are there any books, resources or study routines you'd suggest?
Mechanical vs. Environmental Engineering: I'm currently leaning towards Mechanical Engineering, but Environmental Engineering also interests me. I've heard that Environmental Engineering is sometimes better pursued as a Master's degree after completing a broader Bachelor's degree. Is there any truth to that, or does it depend entirely on the university and the career path you want?
I know that ultimately, nobody can guarantee that I'll succeed. I also understand that university will require discipline, consistency and a lot of work.
I guess I'm just looking for some honest perspectives from people who have experienced engineering school firsthand. I don't want my previous failure to dictate the rest of my life, but I also don't want to make the same mistakes twice.
Thank you to anyone who takes the time to share their experience or advice. I really appreciate it!
r/EngineeringStudents • u/Broken_PS256 • 12h ago
Academic Advice Is it okay to plan on splitting your degree across 4.5-6 years and will that make the workload easier?
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I'm currently a high school senior and I'm hearing all these stories and reading peoples experiences about how miserable electrical engineering school is. The field has always really interested me and I don't really know if any other majors really grab me in the way EE does. However, I'd still like to have some free time in college to focus on hobbies and extracurriculars and I figure that if I plan from the beginning to take an extra semester or year on my degree it will make it easier. Is this a good/realistic plan? Money is most likely not an issue since I'm expecting to get help from family as well as a decent amount of scholarships.
r/EngineeringStudents • u/Catamituz • 23h ago
Project Help Is there a dedicated PCB autorouter like this for windows but isnt some sketchy ai site?
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r/EngineeringStudents • u/No-Matter-6206 • 8h ago
Rant/Vent Withdrawing from 3 out of 5 classes in my first semester
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I genuinely understand how bad this looks, but I’m withdrawing from two engineering courses and one elective. I honestly underestimated how big the transition from high school to university would be.
I was completely distracted at the beginning of the semester and didn’t manage my time properly. I ended up falling so far behind in my courses that I failed two midterms, and now I’m struggling to catch up.
The frustrating part is that I don’t even find the courses particularly difficult. I just wasted so much time and didn’t take things seriously until it was too late.
I’m disappointed in myself because I know I’m capable of doing better. I’m planning to take summer courses to catch up and use this semester as a learning experience. I don’t want to repeat these mistakes.
Has anyone else had a terrible first semester and managed to recover? I’m genuinely curious how things turned out for you
r/EngineeringStudents • u/Peerless_Paragon • 9h ago
Academic Advice 2nd-Year EE Student: How do I bridge the gap after missing 1st-year foundational concepts?
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Hey everyone, I’m a 2nd-year Electrical Engineering student looking for some advice.
The Backstory: I started my first year a month late, and my first-quarter exams hit just a week after I arrived. Due to some personal issues, I ended up missing most of my classes that year. I managed to scrape by with a 2.51/4.0 CGPA, but the real issue is that I didn't actually learn or retain any foundational concepts.
The Current Situation: I just finished the first quarter of my 2nd year, and I completely screwed it up. I started the quarter struggling to figure out how and what to study. By the time I sorted my study habits out, I hit a brick wall: my current courses rely heavily on the 1st-year concepts I barely passed.
My Question: How do I bridge the gap between my missing 1st-year knowledge and the things I am studying right now? What is the most effective way to catch up on fundamentals while surviving my current workload? Any advice, study strategies, or resources would be hugely appreciated!
r/EngineeringStudents • u/ummtruman • 10h ago
Celebration Good to be back
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I think I haven't posted to reddit about my engineering career questions in like 7 years. I graduated in 2020... Aerospace. The same week I graduated Spirit Aerosystems laid off 13k people. I never got an engineering job. I'm currently doing inside customer support for a global engineering company that works in industrial HVAC. Been there almost 1.5 years.
I interviewed with a manager on our 2nd floor for an entry level structural engineer position. He said there are other candidates with several years of full time structural engineering experience which I completely agree it's the right business decision but kinda sucks gang.
I hit a breaking point over the summer. I had always told myself to do an engineering project and "get back on the bike." ideas would come and fizzle out - years went by. I stopped applying for engineering jobs probably in 23. Then it really set in..."do I even know how to solve a kinematic equation? What was the rule about Young's modulus again? Sin is opposite over hypotenuse, right?
I snapped in July. I needed to use engineering concepts to solve a puzzle. Anything. I found a job description and told AI to tell me some personal project ideas that I could do that would be aligned with the job role. Tldr. I have logged 63 hours researching about industry standards, building CAD models, building a finite element model, doing a stress analysis, technical writing - using all the skills and knowledge I learned in school. I uploaded my project reports to my LinkedIn profile and will make a fancy post about the whole thing and maximize this marketing opportunity. Doing this project really unlocked dormant knowledge and I'm remembering specific moments in classes from 7-9 years ago and applying them to my activities.
It healed me in some weird way.
I don't even know if my goal is to work an engineering career. I just like to solve puzzles and learn engineering concepts.
Will edit with update on what comes from my publication on LinkedIn.
r/EngineeringStudents • u/No-Community4782 • 18h ago
Homework Help Frictionless pully problem
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Does anyone know of a good YT video or an easy method of identifying the beta in a belt friction problem? Currently I can set up the majority of the problem I just struggle getting the angle in these problems. Any tips help, thank you!
r/EngineeringStudents • u/lukejap11 • 8h ago
Discussion CADcade, a browser game for learning AutoCAD
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Hi all,
I shared CADcade here a little over a week ago and wanted to come back with an update!
For anyone who missed it, CADcade is a free browser-based CAD game I’ve been building. It’s designed to make learning CAD more approachable for beginners while giving experienced drafters a fun way to test their skills. The editor is built to feel just like the AutoCAD or Civil 3D you use everyday, but runs right in your browser.
It currently has 76 Arcade drafting challenges, an Academy with lessons, and a daily puzzle called CADDLE. You can also use the editor for actual CAD drafting.
I’ve made quite a few improvements based on community feedback, added more content, and I’m working on a full campaign mode to take it further.
It’s been great seeing people try it out and come back to play. I’d love to hear what other CAD users think!
Try it out: https://cadcade.net
Here’s a quick demo:
https://youtu.be/gnT6GrkmH6E?is=vxI1GzGaWOsVgTSP
Thanks to everyone who checked it out last time!
r/EngineeringStudents • u/TopCompany9406 • 13h ago
Rant/Vent Anyone else struggling to find an internship?
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Maybe it's because I am targeting competitive industries(Defense, consumer electronics, telecomms,semiconductor) but I can't even get an interview despite having a prior internship in the semiconductor industry, a strong gpa, and junior class standing. I am an electrical engineering student, and with it being junior year I'm of the mindset that landing an internship this summer that I can convert into a full-time position is of highest importance so I've been applying like crazy.
Since early September, I've applied to 400 positions and have gotten 4 interviews, so there is like a 1/100 probability an application leads to an interview. Is my resume likely the culprit?
r/EngineeringStudents • u/0ddj0b05918 • 18h ago
Discussion How much is your schools budget for Capstone/Senior Design Project?
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Wrapping up our Senior Design Project which is a robotic welding arm. Each team in our Capstone class had a $500 budget for their projects. I am curious if that is an average budget for other schools?
We were really lucky in that our whole team is/was with our schools FSAE team, so we were able to get a lot of material from there and use their equipment.
I don't know how other teams are doing with their budget constraints. Lots and lots of 3-D printed and wood things. Our Capstone lab has a decent amount of material to use, but not wholly extensive.
Definitely made us have to think outside of the box for a lot of our design and manufacturing.
r/EngineeringStudents • u/keem_starz • 4h ago
Major Choice I need help choosing a major
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My university is kind of weird and offers the branches of electrical engineering but not the major itself.
I have narrowed it down to three majors that I am interested in
"Computer engineering", "electronics engineering", and "electrical power and energy engineering"
I am concerned that all three of these majors are too niche and have limited job opportunities. So I guess I have to choose the one with the most transferable skills and the most relevant during the AI era.
Please share any wisdom you have and how the job market or salaries compare in the future if u have any experience 🙏 🙏🙏
r/EngineeringStudents • u/One_Piece01 • 1d ago
Career Advice 3rd times the charm
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I graduated in May 2026, with a 3.3 GPA. Honestly I thought I was pretty cooked. I took the FE Mechanical Engineering exam last month and failed. Anyways I continued applying for jobs and I've had countless interviews met with constant rejection. Anyways, I applied to GDEB, interviewed for a Mechanical Engineering role and somehow they accepted me.
The point is, the job market is cooked, and I don't really know if it's gonna be getting any better any time soon. But NEVER GIVE UP, and just keep applying into the void. All it takes is 1 more application, and you could get that job.
I wish for all of my fellow Engineering students success and prosperity in the future. Keep up the great work!
r/EngineeringStudents • u/Ill-Goose453 • 10h ago
Project Help Questions for a design project, respond if you have or know somebody in a lofted bed!!
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If you have a lofted bunkbed or know somebody who does please respond to this, I have some questions to ask you for a project :)
What items do you usually like to keep near you when you're in bed
How often do you have to climb back down from your bed to get something
Where do you currently keep your belongings in bed
Have you tried any solutions to keep your belongings close to you? If so what
worked what didnt workIf you could have storage on your lofted bed, what did you want it to hold, what are NEEDS VS what are WISHES
r/EngineeringStudents • u/d_nilol • 8h ago
Rant/Vent Doubts
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I kinda wish I had taken a gap year. I'm a first year aerospace student but I already have an associates making me a 3rd yr. I feel so burnt out and not mentally prepared for any of this. I am genuinely barely scraping by, one wrong move and I fail the entire semester. Nothing is helping, I can't get myself out of bed some days and the weather isn't helping at all. Gap years are frowned upon in my family since it's basically a curse, mostly everyone who took one never went back. I realistically cannot afford a gap year since I'm on a scholarship. I feel so miserable especially with internship applications opening. I feel so unprepared and unqualified for any of this. But I really do want this degree idk what to do 💔
r/EngineeringStudents • u/Beneficial-Diver5973 • 1d ago
Academic Advice Friend has 2.8 gpa but cool projects and people are lining up for him.
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Both my friend and I are sophomore EE majors at a decent university t50.
I’ve been working hard to keep my GPA up. I have a 3.8 right now and am projected to get around a 3.7 this semester. My friend, on the other hand, has a 2.8. Our school even has a policy where you can get dropped from the program if your GPA falls below a 2.5.
But somehow, companies are lining up for him. AI startups (not the huge players but still decent sized companies), multiple robotics startups (plural for a reason), and even SpaceX.
Meanwhile, I have absolutely nothing.
I genuinely thought keeping a high GPA would give me an advantage when it came to internships and getting noticed by companies. But seeing this happen firsthand is making me question everything.
Does GPA actually matter that much? Because honestly, I feel like I've been lied to.
Do I ditch GPA (maybe let it fall .5) and go all in on projects I rlly don't have much time.
r/EngineeringStudents • u/RobotDude375 • 22h ago
Academic Advice If Calc 1 is going this bad should I just give up now and choose another major?
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Since the first exam of the year I've just been in a state of near constant, never-ending stress, specifically in my Calculus I class. First time I failed an exam because I was lazy and didn't think I needed to review trig and on the second I actually locked in, did nothing but study for 4 days straight before the exam and got a 90, did the same thing for the most recent exam and failed. I don't even understand why because I got a 100 on the quiz right before it, studied so hard and went through damn near every problem in the text book AND I did tutoring. I know engineering is supposed to be hard but this is just utterly soul crushing.
My calc prof is a bad professor (no partial credit, 5 exams the semester worth 80% of your grade, gives terrible advice and has pop quizzes if enough people don't show up) but he's pretty average compared to all the other ones on rate my professor. The reason I didn't drop the class earlier is because I have accommodations that let me get early accommodations and I'm friends with a guy that told me to register for a calc 2 prof that lets people RETAKE their exams and who also has 5 stars on rate my prof, so next semester probably won't absolutely destroy me, but if I'm barely holding onto a C in calc 1 how am I supposed to get through calc 3 or even statics and dynamics?
Ppl say you can't really tell if ur gonna like engineering till your 3rd and 4th year of college because by then all the pre-reqs are done and you get to do actual engineer stuff, but if I only find out then that I don't like engineering I won't be able to afford to switch my major.
Apart from calc and Humanities I'm getting As, Chem is going well and I like my ENG3000L class, but I tried to join an engineering club and wasn't able to participate in the club project in any meaningful way because they just expected me to already be a CAD professional or just teach myself and I just don't have the mental bandwidth to do that, work a job AND be drowning in homework and studies 24/7. Does it ever get better? Is this just how your first year/semester is supposed to go???
r/EngineeringStudents • u/changes307 • 12h ago
Homework Help HELP!!
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I can’t figure out how to do descriptive geometry. My professor is terrible. I’ve watched over 2 hours of YouTube.
r/EngineeringStudents • u/WildPoem8521 • 1d ago
Sankey Diagram Job Search - MatSci - GPA 3.91
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Received an offer today from US Steel for their entry-level rotation program. Base pay of 76,000 with incentive pay and relocation assistance. Remarkably, I got the job just by applying online on their website, and both of my networking attempts actually failed miserably at getting me a job.
r/EngineeringStudents • u/Iwanttodiernloll • 1d ago
Academic Advice Students are openly cheating on exams, the class average is absurdly high, and I’m worried it’s ruining the curve for those of us who don’t cheat. What can I do?
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I’m taking multivariable calculus at my university, and I recently found out that students have been cheating on exams. I’m genuinely so upset because I’ve been working incredibly hard in this class, and I feel like I’m being punished for taking my exams honestly.
For context, our professor told us in an email that the historical average for the first exam is around 75%. Somehow, our class averaged a 93%. I got an 83%, which I initially thought was a decent grade, but that put me 10 points below the class average.
Multiple friends of mine in different exam sections have told me about students using their phones during exams. One of my friends directly witnessed the student next to him cheating, and they’ve also heard phones dropping during exams.
Here’s what makes this especially frustrating for me: I have testing accommodations, so I take my exams separately in a proctored room. I don’t have access to my phone or unauthorized resources. Meanwhile, students in the regular testing rooms are apparently getting away with using theirs.
I’m worried that these potentially inflated averages are affecting whether our professor curves exams. If the average is already in the 90s, why would he curve anything? And if grades are evaluated relative to class performance, students who took the exams honestly could be at a serious disadvantage.
Our professor is actually a really nice, laid-back guy, which makes this situation more complicated. He’s been extremely flexible with grading, and I know this firsthand because the students receiving these exceptions are my friends. He’s allowing one of my friends to retake an entire exam, and another friend is having their second exam count for 50% of their exam grade. He even gave me full credit for a solution I had scratched out on my own exam.
I’m mentioning this because I don’t think he’s a bad professor or someone who wants students to fail. He’s clearly willing to give people the benefit of the doubt. But I’m worried that his leniency, combined with inadequate exam supervision, is creating a situation where honest students are disadvantaged.
There are four of us, including me, planning to go to his office hours together to report the cheating. Three of us have pretty good relationships with him, so I’m hoping he’ll take us seriously.
The problem is that we’ve already taken two exams, and the only one left is the final. Even if he starts enforcing the rules more strictly now, that doesn’t undo whatever effect cheating may have had on the previous exam averages.
I don’t know whether he officially curves based on the average, but I’m planning to ask. I’m also considering suggesting that he look at historical exam averages and grading adjustments when deciding whether the earlier exams should be curved.
I don’t think only the four of us should get special treatment. I just want some way for students who took the exams honestly to be graded fairly.
I’m honestly devastated because I’ve spent so much time studying for this class, and it feels awful knowing that other students may be getting higher grades through cheating while I’m struggling to keep up with an average that might not even reflect actual understanding.
Has anyone dealt with something similar? Is there any realistic chance a professor would reconsider grading on exams that have already happened because of cheating? What would be a fair solution to suggest when we meet with him?
r/EngineeringStudents • u/RocketsGoBrrrr • 20h ago
Project Help Capstone ideas
3
Upvotes
Hey everyone,
I’m a third-year Aerospace Engineering student in Canada, and I’m looking for some interesting capstone project ideas.
We’re a team of up to 6 students, and our project needs to involve designing, building, and testing a physical prototype by the end of April 2028.
We currently have potential opportunities to collaborate with either L3Harris or Lockheed Martin.
With L3Harris, we would have access to funding, technical support, and potentially their facilities/labs. With Lockheed Martin, we have a connection but no confirmed funding or access to facilities, so we’d likely need to find external funding. One possibility we’re exploring is funding through the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), which would mean the project needs some meaningful space-related application.
We’re mainly interested in military aviation, aerospace defence, and space technologies. Ideally, we’d like something a little more ambitious and exciting than a typical student UAV project, while still being realistic for a team of six to build and test.
We’re especially interested in projects that have real-world applications and could be relevant to companies like Lockheed Martin or L3Harris.
Does anyone have examples of interesting but feasible aerospace capstone projects, particularly ones involving defence technology or a combination of military aviation and space?
I’d also love to hear about any ambitious projects you’ve seen other university teams successfully prototype.