Perhaps I didn’t give it much thought till now. But what are my expectations and goals I want to go back to school and from this degree? That’s what I will be exploring today and on a quarterly basis as I progress through my studies. Especially since the cost of going for another degree and resigning from my job has a lot of costs financially and time.
How Long Will I Be Studying?
tldr:
- 4 years to finish the degree
- all my credits transferred covers the breadth and elective requirements and a course in discrete mathematics
- May not finish the degree but I plan to finish half at the minimum
- Will decide based on my assessment after studying for 2 years
For those of you who have not been following my previous 3 posts in this series, I am going to start my first year in Mathematics and Physics starting this fall. I have a degree in Computer Science, and if you know anything about Computer Science, there are not many courses that overlap with Physics aside from Calculus and perhaps an introductory course to programming.
In a previous post, I discussed what credits I was able to transfer. To give a brief overview, I will have to retake all my Math courses aside from Discrete Mathematics because my courses did not focus on analysis (think of it as not being theoretical enough). Therefore, my transfer credits only cover any courses I need to take outside of Math and Physics which is not much. Therefore, I’ll need 4 years minimum to complete the degree.
To be completely honest, I am not even sure I would even complete the degree. My only motivation to go back to school was to cover my curiosity and take a few more computer science courses. I think 2 years of Math and Physics will be sufficient to have enough base knowledge to explore myself with the guidance of the internet. I will evaluate after sophomore (2nd year) whether I should finish the degree or not.
A friend from University was in a similar situation where he quit his job to learn programming out of curiosity (he did not show too much interest in working in tech). Seeing how he went back to the workforce halfway to the program makes me doubt myself. Without a clear goal in mind of what you want out of your 2nd degree and the option to return to the workforce makes me wonder how can I keep myself from following that path. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with quitting if you decide the field is not for you. However, I worry that it’ll be a hindrance to myself from making the most out of this journey.
What I desire is to make the most out of my studies for 2 years and then determine whether or not it is worth my time and money to continue.
Criteria to Continue Studying
There are a few factors I will consider whether or not I’ll continue my studies:
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Do I enjoy my courses: Ultimately, if I am in misery then there’s no point in continuing my studies. There weren’t many benefits from obtaining another degree to begin with. If I am in misery, it’s better to quit and work. Even if I detest my job, at least I’m making money while in misery which is way better than being in a situation where I lose money and still be in misery.
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Am I Learning: The entire point of going back to school is to learn. If I am not making any progress in my studies, then all my time, money, and effort were pointless. Therefore, I aim to learn as much as I can by doing well in my courses and taking every opportunity to learn the subject more whether that be talking with my classmates, professors or searching for materials on the internet to supplement my education. I aim to learn for the sake of learning and not cramming information the night before to pass.
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Academic Performance: Although difficult, I am aiming for an A- or higher CGPA (>= 10.0/12.0) during my studies. There are a few reasons for this which I’ll get into a bit later. Simply doing fine is not acceptable due to the loss I’ll be incurring from going back to school. In addition, you should always strive higher than what you have already achieved. In my Alma mater, I have achieved a B+ (3.35/4), so the next letter grade is an A-. So if I stray far from that goal or finding myself stagnant due to my incompetence then I do not think it’s worth continuing my education. I am not saying I must achieve a good grade to make my education worth it. If I truly enjoy the subject and spending great efforts to reach my goal then I would be satisfied even if I fail to reach my goal of obtaining a CGPA of an A- or higher.
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Opportunities: If I find a better opportunity or interest, then I may ditch my education to pursue it. This could be working at a firm that is working on a project that catches my interest. As I stated earlier, I am not fully committed to completing my degree. If I feel satisfied or I find a great opportunity, I’ll leave school and go back to work.
What I Hope to Achieve
It should come as no surprise that I want to have a solid foundation in Physics and Math (why else would I go for more schooling). It is a common trap for students to think they have a solid foundation in the thing they are studying. Having decent or good grades does not mean you have a solid grasp of the concepts. I also do not want to take my learning passively, whereby I attend class and study for the sake of obtaining the credit. If I am going back to school, I need to be learning and absorbing the information in a manner that makes me appreciate the subject. As stated earlier, I am aiming to have an A- CGPA and SGPA which will be a struggle in itself. Mathematics and Physics become extremely hard in upper years so I am a bit worried if I can achieve this goal. Having a good AGPA and CGPA allows me to have a good chance in graduate school and obtain scholarships to help pay my tuition. The University rewards those on the dean’s list with $750 (if I obtain an A-) or $1000 (if I get over an A-). While it’s not much, it’ll help me buy books and any equipment I would need to aid in my studies.
Although I have not mentioned in my previous posts, when applying to go back to school, I originally did not apply to study Mathematics and Physics. I applied to Computer Engineering and Engineering Physics because I was scared of studying purely in Mathematics and Physics. In addition, I wanted to learn more about hardware because I came to be interested in the subject in my final year of university where I took a course in Parallel Computing. Being outside of Engineering makes it very difficult to enroll in circuit design & analysis and in microcontroller courses. However, I decided a few days before the New Year’s (months after I applied to Universities) that I should study Mathematics and Physics. This was purely because computer engineering will not help me understand natural phenomena as much compared to studying Physics. Secondly, I want to challenge myself and go outside of my comfort zone. Going into Engineering felt like taking the easy route and would limit my resolve (not saying Engineering is easy but it’s less of a challenge imo compared to studying purely in Mathematics and Physics).
Furthermore, I want to avoid repeating a mistake I have made in my Alma mater which is not talking with my professors much. Although I have no plans to talk with my professors much during freshman, I definitely will take advantage of office hours for help and advice in the field. One of the factors as to why I did not consider graduate school is my lack of contact with my professors. I do not want to repeat this mistake, especially since if I do want to pursue a career in Mathematics or Physics, I would need to go to graduate school.
Research and Internship
Co-op is a great way to earn money and gain experience during your studies. While I do have work experience having done a 4 month Highschool co-op, 16-month internship and about a year of full-time experience in the tech industry, it’s very narrowed to working on the infrastructure side of software development. I never worked on software projects (I do write scripts, programs, and debug code at work but that’s not my main role). Therefore, it would be nice to have more development experience. In addition, getting a job as a student is far easier. I want to get a foot in the hardware and communication industry of tech such as working on the software side of CPUs/GPUs or in networks whether that be Wireless Communications, 5G, or Bluetooth. For fun, I also want to challenge myself to companies that are notorious for their difficulty such as Google. Other fields I considered were in the aerospace industry where knowledge of Physics and Math would be required.
However, doing co-op will delay my graduation by another year which is not
something I am interested in doing. So I may just try a term or two of co-op
and stop (co-op is 4 months long and there are 4 co-op terms students need
to complete the co-op program).
While I do want to gain some experience
during my studies, I also want to take the opportunity to do research. Math
and Physics graduate schools are keen to have students with research experience,
so I would prioritize any opportunities to do research.
Abroad Studies and Clubs
Friends are important and are a great resource to seek help in your studies. I greatly benefited from interacting with my classmates and with anyone who hangs out in the labs. So I will not deny that I will need to make friends during university. However, I don’t think the typical student in my program will be enrolled in the clubs I would be interested in. I haven’t looked at the clubs at the University and the current pandemic has effectively stopped clubs from functioning (or at least limited club activity significantly), the clubs I am thinking of are: a bible study club, Taichi if it exists, Cybersecurity
I do know there are some science and engineering clubs I could attend to but most of the students there won’t be my classmates such as the club that works on making space rovers (i.e. essentially an engineering club). I think the most effective way to make friends in your program is to meet them through classes (which may not work during the pandemic …).
Abroad studies have been in my mind ever since the Italian department has invited me to study at Florence University after I spent 2 semesters studying the language when I was a freshman. I’ve been interested in studying/working in another country to experience how different it is.
In recent weeks, I’ve been thinking that it would be better to study in France if I were to do an abroad study so that I can practice and learn French. Exposing yourself to a country that speaks the language is the best way to learn the language. I have a long-term goal of becoming bilingual by the time I am 30 years old so abroad studies would definitely be a stepping stone towards that goal. If I were to do abroad studies, I would probably only do it for a semester and only during my 3rd year.
Summary
While I do not expect myself to spend 4 years to finish the degree, I aim to solidify my foundation in Mathematics and Physics and learn for the sake of learning. It is in my belief that I will be able to evaluate after 2 years whether I should continue my studies after I have a clearer idea of the subject, opportunities, my academic performance, and personal evaluation of my education. I have outlined what my goals are in a broad sense such as what grades I want to achieve after each academic year but my goals will be more refined as each quarter passes. I hope the goals and expectations I have laid out are realistic and achievable. Though my biggest hope is that I would not regret my decision to go back to school. The possibility of dropping out of school or doing terrible scares me a lot but I guess I’ll have to try and see what happens.