College So Far...

Over Christmas break of 13', I was laid off of the job that I'd had for 5 years. Over the next few months, I decided to go school for Mechanical Engineering. Since it'd been 10 years since I'd finished Algebra, I got brushed up over last summer. And since I'd never taken Trigonometry before, I hurriedly taught myself the basics the week before taking the Compass placement test offered here at OTC. Thankfully my scores were high enough to place me directly into Calc I.
In the fall of last year, I started school for the first time. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of only taking Calc. I'd thought that I would be able to CLEP out of Chemistry, English, and Economics. Come to find out... without imminent deadlines, it's really difficult for me to get motivated about studying. Also, after it was too late, I realized that the Chemistry CLEP test covered Chem I and II, but only gave credit for Chem I. My lack of motivation to test out of the other classes led to taking 20 hours in the fall. And in order to make up, I'm taking 12 hours now in the summer. I'm still behind on a few general education classes, which I'll be taking this fall. But I'm ahead in some core classes, as I'm taking Physics II and Calc III now. This will allow me to take some classes in the fall that require those classes.
It's turning out to be a blessing that I still have gen eds to take, as a lot of the classes that I need to take next aren't available until the spring. Among those classes are a few from MSU and MS&T. So my fall is currently looking really light on classes (relative to my other semesters this year, at least). In the spring, though, I'll be tested even more that I've been the past two semesters. I'm planning to take 20+ hours, including 3 junior level engineering classes. But I believe that with enough determination and sleepless nights, it's possible!