Cue up "Pomp and Circumstance"...

[GasSavers_DaX]

That's right folks, in a mere 11 days I'll be walking across the stage and shaking the president's hand. No, not George Bush...Wayne Clough, the president of Georgia Tech.

August 4th will mark the end of my 6 year journey towards a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering. I'm getting excited and at the same time this all feels so surreal. School is all I've known for the past 18 years...what happens next?

This week is hell - finishing up my senior design project, preparing a presentation and two reports. It's all good though...not a worry thanks to senioritis. I really am not sweating any of this stuff...I've just got my eye on the prize.

So yes...August 4th, I plan on being smashed before the ceremony (9AM...yikes), during the ceremony, and after the ceremony. I'll be sure to post an awesome picture of me in my getup.

To all those that have graduated, I'm sure you know how I feel. To all those still in school - hang in there, graduation will come. Don't rush it...enjoy your stay in school. I don't regret for one instant taking 6 years to get my bachelor's...best damn 6 years of my life.

[krousdb]

I still wake up in the middle of the night thinking that I'm late for an exam. I don't miss those days at all.

[Compaq888]

I still have 4 years left. Waiting list is 2 years then the program another 2 years. I'll try to get another degree while i'm on the waiting list.

[The Toecutter]

Got a little under one year left for my degree in electrical engineering. Only 4 years. I ain't got money to throw around.

School is all I've known for the past 18 years...what happens next?

a) You spend a few months or years under your parents' roof looking for a job as they ***** at you. Yes, it does happen to people that chose something practical instead of some lame liberal arts degree, quite often.
b) When you finally get the job, you get a drug test. They want to find evidence of certain diseases so they can bar you from insurance coverage, and perhaps sell that DNA.
c) You work 60 hours a week for the pay of 40 beause your employer put you on a salary and doesn't have to pay you overtime.
d) If you complain, you may get fired and blacklisted. Word travels around the corporate world.

Welcome to the real world! They say all that hard work pays off...



Please, take this with a grain of salt AND a little seriousness. Contradictory, I know. It was meant to be a little to the dark side of funny.

[tomauto]

Great job!!! In may watching all the seniors was kinda of exciting and the general consensus was that, it only gets harder from freshmen year. Even though I was a freshmen, I spent a bunch of time with a few of the seniors at my school, and they all seemed like really great and hard working people.

Personally, I dont care how long it takes to graduate, but a mechanical engineering degree is worth it. That is what I need to strive for! My first year was kind of crazy, but the U.S. needs so many more of them and the field is very open. There will be a job for you...don't worry.

[Compaq888]

Nothing funny about A or D. That is exactly what's happening to me right now. I can't even get a simple job at the movie theatre.

[Mighty Mira]

Originally Posted by krousdb

I still wake up in the middle of the night thinking that I'm late for an exam. I don't miss those days at all.

I think everyone has those dreams.

About a month ago, I had the dream where there was a class that I had been skipping for so long I had forgotten about it, and I needed it to graduate.

It would be nice when getting a technical degree if you actually spent the time learning the stuff you went there for instead of 3 years of technical and 1-2 years of political indoctrination.

[krousdb]

Originally Posted by Mighty Mira

It would be nice when getting a technical degree if you actually spent the time learning the stuff you went there for instead of 3 years of technical and 1-2 years of political indoctrination.

I don't remember any political indoctrination during my 4 years. I guess I got lucky.

[The Toecutter]

Ahh, political indoctrination. My university is a private and Catholic. So naturally, they were indoctrinating the engineers with Ayn Rand right-wing BS.

"You can go wherever you want to go. Don't get worried if you get laid off, that's how the free market works. You'll surely find someplace else. Engineers can go anywhere."

Or how about "Lockheed Martin and Boeing have this nation's best interests at heart. They'd be excellent companies to work for."

And other such gems as the time I got intro a class discussion with an engineering professor about electric car technology, the first day I was there in some bull**** intro class 3 years ago.

"And that's why your next car might use a fuel cell, because no battery car will ever exceed 100 miles range."

I sure as hell set his *** straight with multiple, referenced examples. (TZero at 300 miles range, Solectria Sunrise at 373 miles range, Jester EV at 200 miles range, electric Mitsubishi Eclipse at 250 miles range, ect.)

"The battery doesn't last long enough."

Again, I mention the cycle life of NiMH batteries. 1,200 to 80% discharge published by Cobasys, 1,750 cycles to 100% discharge published by Team Fate at UC Davis. Then I basically explain what that means with a car having 100, 200, and 300 miles range respectively and the amount of miles it would theoretically last. Mentioned RAV4 EVs at that time having approached 100,000 miles(Some have exceeded 150,000 miles on their first pack today in 2006, most haven't been driven that far yet). Shelf life of nickel batteries is something that really shouldn't be a concern, as individuals are using 30 year old NiCds in EV conversions still delivering over rated capacity.

"But they can't accelerate or perform like a normal car."

Again, more examples. (TZero at 0-60 in 3.6 seconds, GM EV1 at 0-60 in 7.5 seconds, KAZ limousine with 193 mph top speed, electric Lotus Elise with 0-60 in 5 seconds, ect.)

"They would be too expensive."

Again, I mentioned off the top of my head a 1999 study by Cuenca and Gaines titled "The Evaluation of Electric Vehicle Production and Operating Costs". Basically, a long range EV could be mass produced and sold for the same price as a gas car since the 90s.

"They simply move the pollution to the smoke stack."

Again, I mention a study by Chip Gribben titled "Debunking the Myth of EVs and Smokestacks" on how even from a coal plant, emissions are greatly reduced over a comparable gas car.

"They would overload the grid."

I again provide the necessary figures, and mention yet MORE studies that show the grid can handle tens of millions of EVs.

"Consumers didn't want them."

Again, I mentioned that the EV1s, RAV4s, EV+'s, all had waiting lists of thousands of potential 'buyers'(the cars were mostly never sold, only leased), AFTER most potential 'buyers' had already been weeded out due to not meeting the compaies' rigid criteria such as income, political views, engineering background, ect. Then I mentioned the study tritled "The Current and Future Market for Electric Vehicles" conducted in 2000 from the electric Vehicle Transportation Coalition. Immediate market for EVs in California in 1999 from new car buyers: 12-18% with 95% confidence interval.


Everyone in the classroom was looking at me like I was some sort of freak. It was awesome. I was 18 at the time.

[Matt Timion]

Congrats DaX! After 7 years and 3 different majors (also took 2 years off to travel abroad) I graduated 1 1/2 years ago. I was going to take a year or so off and go into graduate school, but I've enjoyed not going to school so much I might just make a habit of not going back to school

I think life got about 500x easier when school ended.