I realize the odds are against me, I just want to know if I’d be wasting my time or not. I’m 25 right now, I want to apply to UT when I’m 30. I already have a BA in visual art from a small public wisconsin school. Right now I’m working in the texas oilfields to pay off my debt, and then I’ll save up for this engineering degree since I don’t want to get in debt again. In total that will take about 5 years.
My highschool GPA was over 3.9, but my college GPA was 3.0. I was real lazy in college but I trudged along just to finish. And I didn’t take a single math course in college as my ACT score was high enough at 28 total. If I need to I think I can take it again and do much better, as I have a few years to study! In EC’s I did nothing in college, and I was the president of art club in high school, that’s it. No AP classes besides art. I plan to take calc classes at a community college before transferring to my final 4-year destination. Other than that I will just have work experience in manufacturing and the oil field. So do you think if I do perfect in those calc classes and maybe retake the ACT (or SAT?) I have a chance? The question is what do they look for in non-traditionals.
As to why I’m doing this, well during my art degree I realized I wanted no part in the art or graphic design world, I didn’t know why I just didn’t see the point to it. But I was too stubborn to drop out and too lazy to switch majors. So my first job out of college was in manufacturing and I loved the fact that my work was fulfilling a concrete functional purpose. My bosses were engineers and seeing them designing systems and fixing problems inspired me.