Engineering Science so far has been like riding a roller-coaster with no seatbelt, blind. Confused? Let’s review and use a scene from “The Office” as an analogy to further explore the idea.
Here, Andy’s boss, Deangelo (me) is attempting to sell Andy (EngSci) as a paper salesman to a client, Boris (you, in this case, not to be mistaken with the robot).
“I can’t sit here and tell you that he’s [Andy] gonna be a success.
I want to say this line is just to set the scene but the sad fact is: EngSci will not be a success for you every time; it’s a learning experience; how uni is meant to be.
Uh, I can’t sit here and tell you that he’s even the best man for the job.
But I can say this.
He’s got potential.
Sure.
Full of potential! If anything this section depicts what EngSci has to offer. You get what you make of it and more.
You know, I always say, ‘go big or go home.’
Why else are you studying engineering? ‘Go big or go home’ is the essence of EngSci; if you don’t give everything 100%, you’re not going to stick around too long.
You go with this guy; you could be making the biggest mistake of your life.
Or the biggest good decision of your life.
You may be thinking, “hold on how does this relate to EngSci?” Due to EngSci’s versatility, we end up learning a lot which naturally comes with pros and cons. The workload can become overwhelming but you’ll never have another dull day, sleep less and twitch whenever someone mentions “Heat Conduction”.
It’s either gonna be the best thing you ever did, or the worst thing you ever did.
Fact.
If you want some boring, white bread clock-watcher, who’s gonna get you your paper when you ordered it for the agreed-upon price, Andy’s not your guy.
EngSci is not your everyday economics major (sorry). No matter how many various explanations or conversations you’ve had as to what you think EngSci is, chances are, it will still surprise you. Nevertheless, in contrast to Andy, it will not disappoint.
You ever play Russian roulette? Time to spin the chamber, Boris, by signing up for another year.”
In EngSci’s case, the biggest risk is your electives. They may be the best courses you’ll ever encounter or make you wish you chose a structured degree with limited flexibility. Some may even force you to end up taking more electives than need be.
You could go with a specialization like mechanical or software where there’s most likely the light that is a job opportunity at the end of that dark tunnel and the assignments don’t push you to interact with your peers, who are, inevitably all geniuses (which helps). However, just know you’ll be missing out on something truly special.
-Marah
Reference:
The Office, Season 7, Episode 22, 23:48-24:39