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Week 11

Major problems...

It just seems too early in our lives to decide a lifetime career. I don't know about most other people, but I have a feeling many of us are not ready to make that kind of commitment, not yet. Many of us (freshman) are inexperienced in the fields of study that we have chosen and are hoping to get a glimpse at what it's like so that we can gather a better understanding for what we truly want. I am in that position right now. I am declared electrical engineering but I have no experience in the field and I am relying on the Engineering-specific classes to show me that I can do it and I can enjoy it. For now, I am just going with the flow. The whole class moaned and groaned at my cliche of a question (I get it lol), "How do you know what you want to do in life and is there a defining moment?" I gather that most of the groans were a mixture of 2 emotions.

1. Irritation because every adult asks a high school senior if they're ready for their career path. The fake answer is usually "oh I think so" followed with a nervous smile but in reality its probably a hard NO.
2. Panic because its a hard NO to the previous questions. I applaud those who have a plan set in stone and they're chasing it, but a lot of us are still aboard the struggle bus, chugging along to the next bus stop, people getting on and people getting off. 

So, no, I am not 100% confident in my major but it sparked more interest in me than the other majors so I am investing in it at the moment. The electrical engineering pathway is a load of math, physics, and engineering classes. Some graduate in four years, many take more time to finish, but I have also discovered that a lot of people take an internship their 3rd or 4th year and then come back. There seems to be a push to graduate in four years but I am learning that in most cases for engineers, it just doesn't result in that and it's not a bad thing.

During our anonymous read of our classmates struggles, one student had a very unfortunate incident in which their advisor had crafted their schedule wrong and set the student back on their pathway. When the student approached their advisor about this problem, the advisor said it would figure itself out. That's a detaching response not reassuring in any way and quite frankly, I feel really bad for this student. Her question at the end of the document was "What possibilities are available to improve the personal connection between students and advisors?" This is an excellent question considering you depend greatly on your advisor to help you sort out your academic life and when they are not helpful, you are helpless. 

Dear Student,

First of all... :((((

Secondly, you may want to change advisors. This one does not seem down to earth with his students. (I had one in high school like that, you could tell him anything and he would just be like "Oh ok sure" and never really solve anything).

Lastly, I would talk to Taylor Close. She mentioned she had a long-time hustle with her advisor(s) that were unhelpful or talk to any other students that may have had to sort out a similar issue.

And remember, when life bites you in the ass, bite it back. Go bite your advisor.

Powerful Questions?

We read an article about questions. At first I thought "oh my gawd, how can someone write an 18 page essay on questions??" but when I started reading it, it was surprisingly interesting (even though I still think they could have narrowed it down to 12 pages). It covered how when the right questions are asked, it can have a huge impact on the audience. Strategic questions are crafted to make your listeners think actively and engage them into your speech. Questions beginning with "how" and "why" are usually pretty good examples of this. They normally result in an open ended answer which is more thought-provoking than a "yes/no" type of question. When used in argumentative work, it can have a huge impact on persuading the audience towards your point. 


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